CNNSI.com - SI for Women - In the Gym: Net Gain - Monday January 31, 2000 04:24 PM

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Net Gain

An injury caused Mary Pierce to change her every move -- which changed her game and fitness level. Now she share her winning strategy

By Dana Hudepohl

Elite-level training got Pierce back on top of her game. Simon Bruty
Three years ago Mary Pierce couldn't swing a tennis racket, much less push Lindsay Davenport to a third set in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open -- as Pierce did this summer. Nerve damage in her right shoulder (an overuse injury) kept her off the court for three months in 1996.

That December she turned to the International Performance Institute, an elite-level training facility on the campus of the Bollettieri Sports Academy in Bradenton, Fla., visited by such athletes as tennis's Anna Kournikova, Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant and Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra. IPI trainers focus on perfecting movement skills, building core strength and rehabilitating the muscles supporting an injured area, which can be overlooked by the athletes' personal or team trainers the rest of the year.

FAQ
Which is the best way to strength-train: low weights and high repetitions or high weights and fewer repetitions?
It all depends on what you're after. Low weights plus high reps equal tone and definition. High weights plus low reps equal strength and size. In either case, begin with low weights and high reps& -- key for warming the muscles so that you can later add weight or reps without risking injury.
Muscles adapt to a weight within a few weeks: You must challenge the muscle by upping the poundage in regular increments -- small for tone, bigger for size. Start with a weight that will just begin to fatigue muscles after 20 reps. In your first and second sets, do 15 to 20 reps. In the third set, increase the weight by 2.5 to five pounds for arms (more for legs) and adjust the reps to 12 to 15. (You should be able to maintain form through 15 reps, but not 20.) At later sessions, add sets and increase weight as muscles adapt.
OUR EXPERT: Ken Baldwin, International Association of Fitness Professionals' 1999 Personal Trainer of the Year

The goal for Pierce's trainers: to rehab her shoulder and, more important, to reprogram the way her entire body moved. Her first day at IPI, trainers stripped her movements to the bare bones. To relieve shoulder stress on serves, she learned to use not just her arm but also her hamstrings, glutes, back and shoulder. (She also learned how to strengthen those muscles in the weight room.) To better cover the court, she worked on her running form while making rapid changes in direction forward, backward and side to side.

Each element of Pierce's off-court training now has purpose. "Even though most of my points last 10 seconds or less," she says, "I used to train by running for 30 minutes, which actually made me slower in my matches." She's learned to focus on her elasticity and explosiveness -- envisioning her body, from toes to fingertips, snapping like a whip; her muscles as springs catapulting her off the court surface.

Training sessions begin with Pierce tiptoeing the length of the court, then alternately skipping forward, backward and sideways, sometimes with her eyes closed (to hone balance) and shoes off (to improve foot stability). She practices groundstrokes attached by bungee cord to a trainer who yanks her from behind as she lunges for balls. These holistic workouts, along with a more healthful approach to nutrition -- and rest -- have paid off. Pierce, 24, has boosted her strength, flexibility, speed and endurance. Her serves, which used to average about 90 mph, are now in the low 100s, and her ranking has risen from No. 20 in 1996 to No. 6 this fall.

Although Pierce visits IPI only every few months, she gets her workouts via E-mail when she's away. That suits her lifestyle: She's on the road at least half the year, and she's trying to spend more time in the Cleveland home she shares with fiancè Roberto Alomar, second baseman for the Indians.

"If I had to just hit balls every day," says Pierce, "I'd go crazy. In three years [with IPI] I haven't been bored once. I leave feeling quicker and stronger. There's no wasted energy or time."