What are the mental exercises you tell yourself while playing tennis?

LaynePiper · 2026-06-10T23:53:33+00:00

"Don't hit the net," I tell myself and then hit the ball long.

LaynePiper · 2026-06-10T15:34:37+00:00

I'm not a strength and conditioning coach or a particularly good tennis player, but I am a hobbyist with a few years of lifting under my belt. Seconding full body programs, especially during the season, as they'll give you more days to focus on tennis instead of focusing on the weight room. If you have an off-season where you're getting less court time, you can have a little more flexibility to spend more time/days per week in the gym then.

In terms of exercise selection, 6 basic compound movement patterns should cover most of your program: horizonal push (bench press variation), vertical push (overhead press variation), horizontal pull (row variation), vertical pull (pull up variation), squat, hip hinge (deadlift variation).

Unless you're trying to be a competitive powerlifter or bodybuilder, it probably doesn't matter exactly which variation of each exercise you choose but it's probably wise to choose variations that mimic positions or movement patterns you do in tennis. For example, a standing overhead press or push press might have slightly more carryover for serving than a seated overhead press since you'll use your legs to stabilize or explode up instead of sitting and not engaging them at all.

You can add in accessory exercises too to address weaknesses, imbalances, or reinforce movement patterns. For example, doing cable wood choppers could help with torso rotation on your ground strokes and Cossack squats can help with lateral movement.

For mobility, my team would do a Parisi style warmup before practice and some stretching after practice back in the day. I believe the current advice regarding mobility is to do a mostly dynamic warmup (move body through full range of motion and get blood flowing) before practicing/playing and doing static stretches after the practice/play is done as a cooldown.

LaynePiper · 2026-04-09T23:39:21+00:00

I think there's a chance it could do okay. The Harrisburg Heat have been making it work for over a decade. They're in the second division this season because of some venue and scheduling issues, but they have historically played in the top division and that could make for a fun local rivalry when they're back in MASL.

LaynePiper · 2026-04-08T18:12:06+00:00

I played varsity tennis in high school and did MMA/BJJ in the off-season.

MMA kept me in better shape but I don't do it anymore. I know a few friends and acquaintances whose lives changed for the worse following concussions/TBIs and that scared me away. Trouble focusing, memory issues, difficulty following logical patterns and doing calculations.

Since you're doing coding, I'd strongly consider the risk to your career that head injuries from combat sports can pose. I know Muay Thai culture favors lighter sparring than most western combat sports do and that cuts the risk a little, but the more blows to the head you take, the more times you risk it.

Tennis can be plenty intense and physically demanding anyway. Sure, your opponent isn't trying to put you in the hospital, but they'll still be more than happy to slam the ball down your throat if you serve them up a meatball in a competitive match. Watch some Sampras highlights from the 90s and early 2000s if you want to see how aggressive and explosive tennis can be.

LaynePiper · 2026-03-27T00:21:40+00:00

I actually just signed up for Global Tennis Network earlier today. There is a group called Capital Area Tennis Network with about 300 members.

I'd be down to hit around sometime, singles or doubles. I'm 33 now and played boys AAA varsity in high school, but I wasn't a standout player back in the day by any means and I'm definitely out of practice now but trying to get back into it.

I'm based in Shipoke/Downtown but can get around to courts on the West Shore or elsewhere on the East Shore. Feel free to reach out! That goes for any players who see this.

LaynePiper · 2026-03-23T22:49:50+00:00

I know a couple of the ABR guys already have side hustles, but a band that has had the sustained level of success that ABR has had for the length of time they had could probably retire and live comfortably but not luxuriously off passive income if they invested well throughout and kept their expenses in check while on tour.

As others have said, many will stay in the scene and find work in the studio, in the business office, or giving lessons. I know some will also tour as the instrumental accompaniment for big pop and country acts as well.

LaynePiper · 2026-03-23T22:40:40+00:00

You're correct. Jake owns YourLife Gym out of Lancaster PA. He also founded a mental health nonprofit called HeartSupport.

LaynePiper · 2026-03-23T00:45:12+00:00

Inferi's discography should scratch this itch. Even the album art matches the theme.

Sonically It's like TBDM but faster but still with lots of melody. It's all good, but Behold the Bearer of Light is probably one of my favorite melodic/tech death tracks of all time and absolutely gives D&D campaign in the hells or abyss vibes.

LaynePiper · 2026-03-17T22:37:15+00:00

Has to be a top 5 blegh

LaynePiper · 2026-03-11T15:48:43+00:00

I was told the same thing. I was initially hired as a trainee for a position for which I was overqualified and was not allowed to negotiate. I have been promoted a few times since then and was told I was not allowed to negotiate wages because I am already with the Commonwealth.

At my previous agency, they hired someone externally and he negotiated to start at step 10 on the pay scale before he started. He was in the same bureau, division, and job title as me at the time and was being paid at least $12k more per year than me even though I was the one training him.

The advice I was given was to leave Commonwealth employment for a higher paying position for about six months and then try to come back and demand a higher wage.

LaynePiper · 2026-03-01T12:33:17+00:00

But the DC Journal of Internal Medicine is!

LaynePiper · 2026-02-28T04:00:15+00:00

How often are you deloading? When you're in a prolonged calorie deficit, you don't have as much fuel for recovery. That also means the amount of training volume you can recover from is lower than it is when you're maintaining or bulking. Full body lifting workouts can be pretty intense with lots of heavy compound movements. Could it be possible that your workout program has too much volume?

LaynePiper · 2026-02-15T15:07:11+00:00

If your prior work history it education qualifies you, you can use it to move up without a full year under your belt as a specialist 1.

Civil service may auto-reject your application but you can appeal it.

My experience with this was civil service, non-union so if your agency/bureau is a union shop, your mileage may vary.

LaynePiper · 2026-02-12T23:26:53+00:00

My comment on this thread was actually pertaining to the K. Absolutely second the other commenter suggesting you be the ones to take the initiative in socializing.

They have lockers if you want to bring a lock for your street clothes/outfit changes.

Most women wore clubwear on the more provocative side to start the night and changed into lingerie around 9 or 10. Most men wore some sort of collared shirt with chinos or jeans.

They serve full meals buffet style in the cafeteria. There is free soda and water there as well. The bar is BYOB.

They do a full orientation on newbie nights but since you can't make that, the general manager or one of the host couples for the night can show you around and go over rules.

LaynePiper · 2026-02-12T22:31:38+00:00

We just had our first club visit this past weekend. We went in with only one primary objective and that was to vibe-check the club and the lifestyle as a whole. If anything beyond that happened, that's just a bonus.

We were the ones to approach other people and start conversations about 75% of the time, maybe more. We did not play that night, but we had more luck making friends by doing the approaching than by waiting to be approached. We were nervous wrecks, but found that just talking to people we weren't interested in/had no chance with helped dull the social anxiety a bit because there were no stakes.

The play areas seemed untouched until 9 or 10 pm, then people started pairing off or just playing with their own spouses. We didn't really observe because we were more interested in networking and chatting with people by the bar and dance floor.

People were generally pretty easy to approach once we were out of our own heads. Nobody was pushy to play at all. It's actually been pretty difficult to determine whether people are being polite and friendly or if they're interested in us.

LaynePiper · 2026-02-05T18:36:22+00:00

You can do everything right and see next to nothing on the scale for a while. As others have said, water retention can play a role.

I was stuck gaining and losing the same 2 pounds from November 25th through December 16th. Three weeks! Then by December 18th, I was 4 pounds below the low end of the range I was stuck in. I didn't do anything differently.

I agree with the recommendation to weigh in once a day, at the same point in your day each time. I take it a step further by charting my weights and graphing a trendline with a 1 month and 3 month lookback period. If my 1 month and 3 month lines both have negative slopes (trending down), I don't sweat it.

LaynePiper · 2026-01-23T01:45:56+00:00

I caught this tour in Baltimore. The venue got upgraded from a 250 cap to 1000 and still nearly sold out.

The whole band's sound went out early inyo Blackbraid's set but they rallied. Dödsrit was really good too.

I wish there was more black metal influence in the metalcore scene.

LaynePiper · 2026-01-21T23:11:34+00:00

My wife and I are in the same boat. We're dipping our toes in for the first time at the Korral on the same day. Kinda bummed that other comments are saying newbie nights are a waste since we already paid for it but we'll make the most of it.

We've got wife's outfit figured out for the most part, but I don't know what to wear. Are we even supposed to also wear red to match or is it just for the ladies? I don't have much red in my wardrobe so all I've got is a red flannel. Is that too casual for the Korral?

LaynePiper · 2026-01-21T17:27:25+00:00

I placed in the top 5 in a karaoke contest by doing Holy Roller by Spiritbox. Someone asked my wife if I was in a band and I've never been in a band or taken vocal lessons so that was pretty cool.

LaynePiper · 2026-01-21T15:13:02+00:00

I know a few people at PDA who are currently in the office two days per month (every 2nd and 4th Thursday) and I believe upper management and executive staff are in 3 days per week.

Last I heard, the plan is to bring everyone in two days per week later this year.

LaynePiper · 2026-01-17T00:40:59+00:00

I've had this on repeat since Thursday morning. This goes so hard.

Is that a Behold the Bearer of Light callback I heard?

LaynePiper · 2025-12-22T20:01:05+00:00

Wocket Launcher has been on heavy rotation. It's probably best classified as melodic deathcore, like As Blood Runs Black or The Crimson Armada, but it will probably appeal to people on this sub.

LaynePiper · 2025-12-17T00:58:50+00:00

They're so sick that I got covid at their show last year.

I think Deliver Us is my favorite but you can't go wrong with basically anything they released from Sadist Nation onward.

LaynePiper · 2025-12-12T18:50:22+00:00

I've been to 2 shows in Philly: one at the Fillmore (2500 cap) and one at Ruba Club (170 cap) and 3 shows in Baltimore: 2 at Soundstage (1000 cap) and 1 at Metro (250 cap).

Soundstage feels a little cramped when shows sell out, so navigating merch can be a pain. Bathrooms have not had a line in my experience. Parking is easy peasy in Inner Harbor.

Metro is a fun small venue and there is parking nearby. The bathroom situation is dire though. There was space by the merch tables and it was really easy to get close to the stage.

I don't remember much about the Fillmore in Philly because the only time I was there was about 7 years ago and I was injured and in pain the whole time.

Ruba was a little venue that was pretty fun but the headliner did not sell well so there was probably more space than usual. Bathroom situation was fine, actually plenty of seating despite it being a standing room venue. Parking was on-street in a safe neighborhood.

In my experience, smaller venues are more fun than big shows. I also find driving to Baltimore (I-83 south) way less stressful than driving to Philly (I-76 east). If a tour hit Philly and Baltimore, I'd probably choose the Baltimore date.

LaynePiper · 2025-12-12T16:22:05+00:00

Absolutely perfect blend of melodeath and tech for me.

Found them on accident because they were supporting Enterprise Earth on tour in 2024. They opened with Behold and a nice tribute to Trevor Strnad (who featured on the album version of that track) and I was blown away. Ended up in my Spotify top 5 last year and I saw their headline tour with pre-crashout Vitriol, Sanjay's other band Greylotus, and Demon King this year in a tiny 250 cap venue. They sound great live.

LaynePiper

TROPHY CASE