Tight forearm

hi alois,

I have a problem with the forearm muscles when I try to snap it during the forehand topspin. My coaches said I am too tense with my forearm but I feel that I'm barely even tighten it. But I do realize that the my forearm will start to tighten when I train my footwork drills. At the start I can relax a bit, but once I reached the end where I'm feeling tired, it will start to tense up.

So my question is, can you explain to me the concept of muscle relaxation and also how to relax your forearm under fatigued conditions?

Hi Eugene,

You can keep the arm relaxed through the stroke.  There is only the point where you need to stop the stroke and recover for the next ball where your arm needs to be able to stop or change direction.

The best way to practice this is while you are doing a simple forehand drill focus on how much tension you have going through the arm.  Then as you start to become fatigued, try to relate back to those feelings you had when you were doing the stroke in a relaxed way.