'Cardio Tennis' offers new workout

It looks like just another tennis workout as balls sail by and sometimes directly at pro instructor Tony Palafox.

But the plastic cones and the rope ladder along either side of the court suggest otherwise. This is "Cardio Tennis," a group class that combines traditional tennis practice with other endurance-building exercise.

On a recent brisk morning at a YMCA tennis court in Atlanta's trendy Buckhead neighborhood, three tennis players had a workout with Palafox, a former pro tennis player from Mexico City. Palafox has trained other professionals, including U.S. tennis champion John McEnroe.

"Did John McEnroe do this?" asks 42-year-old Caroline McCrary during pre-workout arm stretches and moving sideways in a circle with the group.

"Pros should do it _ it is good fitness," says the 70-year-old Palafox. Today's pros, he says, have access to personal trainers to build their stamina.

For everyone else, Cardio Tennis provides similar benefits, Palafox says, because it uses aspects of a regular tennis workout _ hitting balls _ with footwork exercises designed to build endurance.

Unlike a regular game of tennis, Cardio Tennis is focused on fitness and less on hitting great forehands and backhands. The program has 1,500 workout sites in 48 states, Puerto Rico and 25 countries. It started in September 2005 by the Tennis Industry Association as a way to get more people involved in the sport. Classes run from $8 to $20 per session, depending on the club. Palafox's YMCA charges $10 for members.

"When lower-skilled players go out and play with one another they are not hitting many balls _ they are chasing many balls. That doesn't get your heart rate up," said Michele Krause, national Cardio Tennis director for the Tennis Industry Association. "In Cardio Tennis, a pro is controlling the activity, you're hitting tons of balls ... and you have a great ability to stay in your heart-rate range for the recommended period of time."

Organizers claim the workout offers cardiovascular benefits because all the activity in each workout allows participants to hit their aerobic training zone, which is between 65 percent and 85 percent of their maximum heart rate. The workout also improves a player's tennis game because players get lots of tennis practice and tips on how to improve with instructors.

Cardio Tennis means more of a "total body" workout than just tennis alone or other activities such as running or cycling, said Randy Braith, director of the an exercise physiology lab at the University of Florida, who is not involved in the Cardio Tennis program. Both upper and lower body get a workout, he said.

"I can run a gazillion miles, but it's hard," McCrary says during the 45-minute workout's only down time _ when Palafox exhausts his ball hopper and players break to pick them all up again.

"We look forward to picking up the balls," jokes Cam Fenton, 49, of Atlanta.

First, Palafox does stretching exercises with his group. Then he hits three or four volleys to a class member, who returns the serves, then runs to the side of the court to do jumping exercises over the rungs of the rope ladder, or footwork exercises around the plastic cones. Then it's back to the volley line and hitting balls again.

They work on their forehand and backhand, lobs, baseline shots and even close to the net. A workout session usually includes three sets of hitting exercises, with two breaks of picking up tennis balls in between.

Fenton started taking Cardio Tennis last summer and says she can burn about 600 calories per workout.

"I like to play tennis and try to get cardio in everyday," Fenton said. "Your heart rate jumps up huge because you're running."

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On the Net:

Cardio Tennis: http://www.cardiotennis.com/index.cfm