Episode #32 Season 24: Shaun Boyce & Justin Yeo

In this insightful episode of the Atlanta Tennis Podcast, host Shaun sits down with Justin Yeo, a world-renowned tennis coach and fitness expert, to discuss an often-overlooked yet critical aspect of tennis performance: glute activation. From injury prevention to improving power and balance on the court, your glutes play a central role in your ability to move efficiently and perform at your best.

About Justin Yeo

Justin Yeo is an experienced tennis coach with a deep understanding of biomechanics and athletic performance. He has worked with players of all levels, helping them unlock their full potential on the court. With years of experience both as a player and a coach, Justin brings a wealth of knowledge on how to build strength, prevent injuries, and improve tennis technique through functional training and smart exercise routines.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• The importance of glutes in tennis: Why strengthening your glutes can enhance your performance, reduce the risk of injuries, and increase your power on the court.
• Common mistakes players make: Discover how failing to properly activate your glutes can lead to tight quads, knee pain, hip issues, and even poor foot alignment.
• Simple glute activation exercises: No gym? No problem! Justin shares practical exercises, including Pilates-inspired moves, that can be done anywhere – even at your desk – to strengthen and activate your glutes.
• How glutes affect tennis performance: From power generation to balance and movement efficiency, your glutes are the unsung heroes of your game. Learn how to tap into their full potential.
• Real-world results: Justin shares a personal success story about how glute activation transformed the career of a professional tennis player, propelling her from a ranking outside the top 400 to the top 100 in the world.

Why This Episode is a Must-Listen for You

Whether you're a recreational tennis player looking to improve your game, a coach who wants to optimize player performance, or someone interested in learning how to incorporate functional strength exercises into your fitness routine, this episode is packed with practical advice for all levels. If you’re struggling with knee pain, tight hips, or lower back issues, the information in this podcast could be the key to addressing those concerns and improving your overall mobility.

Key Takeaways

• Glutes are your most powerful muscle: Activating and strengthening your glutes can help support your hips, knees, and lower back, leading to improved posture, less discomfort, and better on-court movement.
• The power of Pilates: Pilates-based exercises are incredibly effective for building functional strength in the glutes, especially when performed correctly.
• Exercises you can do anywhere: No need for a gym membership – simple glute exercises can be done in just five minutes a day to increase strength, balance, and overall athletic performance.
• A focus on longevity: Whether you’re in your 30s, 40s, or beyond, strengthening your glutes is key to ensuring long-term success and injury prevention as a tennis player.

Who Will Benefit from This Episode?

• Tennis Players – Whether you're a seasoned pro or a recreational player, strengthening your glutes will help you generate more power, move more efficiently, and prevent injuries.
• Coaches – This episode offers practical insights into how glute activation can be incorporated into training programs for tennis players of all levels.
• Fitness Enthusiasts – Anyone interested in functional fitness and athletic performance will find this conversation helpful, especially if you’re looking to enhance your training and mobility.
• Anyone Struggling with Pain or Discomfort – If you experience knee, hip, or lower back issues, glute activation exercises can help alleviate these problems by improving posture and muscle balance.

Share Your Story!

Do you have any interesting stories to share with the GoTennis community? We’re here to hear your voice! Share your story on the dedicated page My Tennis Story. If you have any feedback for the betterment of our community, please share!

We’ll be welcoming new guests in the upcoming episodes. Hopefully you’ll be our next guest who can have a more insightful conversation with us.

YouTube LIVE Replay: https://youtube.com/live/H5UgXaa-DUw

Shaun Boyce USPTA: shaun@tennisforchildren.com

https://tennisforchildren.com/ 🎾

Justin Yeo: https://www.instagram.com/yeocoach/

Bobby Schindler USPTA: schindlerb@comcast.net

https://windermerecommunity.net/ 🎾

Geovanna Boyce: geovy@regeovinate.com

https://regeovinate.com/ 💪🏼🏋️

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[Music]

Welcome to the Atlanta Tennis Podcast.

Every episode is titled "It Starts with Tennis" and goes from there.

We talk with coaches, club managers, industry business professionals,

technology experts, and anyone else we find interesting.

We want to have a conversation as long as it starts with tennis.

[Music]

Hey, hey, this is Shaun with the Atlanta Tennis Podcast,

powered by GoTennis. While you're here, please hit that follow button.

And after you listen, please share with your friends and teammates.

Also, let us know if you have questions or topics you would like us to discuss

and we will add them to our schedule.

With that said, let's get started with 10 minutes of tennis.

[Music]

That is the, that is our starting point this morning.

And it is 10 o'clock.

So we are with our 10 minutes of tennis at 10 a.m.

Eastern time, now Justin Yo is on Puerto Rican time.

So you are an hour in the future.

So you are now the world renowned Australian Tennis Pro in Puerto Rico in the future.

So Justin Yo from the future.

Hey, if you actually, if you were at home in Australia,

you'd be like half a day into the future.

So you'd be way into the future.

So 16 hours ahead from getting.

Exactly. So right now you've only got an hour advantage.

But give it to me.

Why does everything point to your butt?

Everything.

If anything, I can use myself as an example.

You know, you're strengthening your butt is so important.

But what I think what people get confused

in what I have to do a lot of correcting is that when they

into a sweat stance, quite often they're in their legs and in their quads,

which is why their quads get so sore and so tight or their knees get sore and so tight.

It's because they're just not activating their glutes.

And, you know, there's a couple of exercises they're used to spending the gym with a lot of people

40s, 50s, even 60 year olds, even golfers as well.

And it's to explain to them that you need to, when you do the exercise,

you need to fire the glute and the VMO at the same time.

The VMO muscle, if you're basking me out, it goes all the way across

from the hip all the way down to the front of the knee.

It's the major muscle that looks like a ball drop off of your knee.

And that muscle there specifically, when it's driven and activated at the same time as the glute

is activated, they're both not only supporting the hip, but obviously you're generating your

most power and your most efficiency. You're taking off most of the pressure of your pelvis,

your hip and your knees. And even is your balance, you know, because otherwise it all ends up on the

outside of your foot. So now you've got foot issues as well. So a lot of this can come all just from,

you know, weak glutes. And when I say weak glutes, it's just because they're not fired.

Doesn't mean they have to be big, because they have to be strong with fire and to be used.

And coaches, majority of us, who stand still and the big ball, they do a lot of feeding and not a lot of

eating, lose those glutes straight away. So the knee starts to fall in because the glutes not working,

and then they wonder why they're getting sore knees when they're out there doing that hours and hours

and hours. So your glute is everything, your squat is everything. And if I can probably share

anything after the last year's conversation about 50s, 60s, even 40s and 30s, whatever you do, try to get

your deep squat. So I never lose a deep squat because the deep squat is definitely a major factor

for longevity as a tennis player. You know, we see tennis players walk around like they've got a

broomstick up their ass because their hips are so tight and they're not really using their glute

ball because everything's in the front. So, you know, a deep squat will keep that range of motion in

your hips, keep your glutes firing so that you're utilizing the glute. Remember to us the most powerful

muscle in your body. So biggest, the most powerful muscle in the body, why don't you sit?

That's true. I like that. I thought it was the back and not the largest muscle, the back, the

your lats, your lats would be probably the widest of luck, but they're not the biggest, the biggest

most powerful muscle is usually good. Most powerful for sure. Well, in that case, how do we, for those of

us that don't have a gym membership and when I'm doing squats that everybody sees in the gym,

I can just do my Pilates and that's that's a great way to start building.

Absolutely. Building my butt. Pilates is very functional. So Pilates that activates all of those

muscles if you're doing it correctly. That's the challenge with Pilates is that Pilates is

constant using all the muscles and that's why it's so hard to turn them on.

And in that case, if I can do the, we do a lot of Pilates here. My wife is a Pilates instructor,

so we, we intermingle the Pilates with the tennis world with the things that we need to work on very

specifically. And so to be able to say, all right, everything points to my butt. I get it. Let's say

I believe you and let's say all the listeners believe you. Everybody says, fine, well, what do I do? I

don't have time to go to the gym. I'm just like everybody else. We were talking in the, in the earlier

conversation about everybody being maxed out right now. Right now, meaning this is alive. So we're

in November of 2023. Everybody's maxed out. Everybody came out of COVID and tried to just

hit the ground running and we're struggling financially and we're trying to figure out what to do,

whether you're struggling financially or trying to build or grow or whatever it is you're trying to do.

There's so much going on. So I need five minutes, ten minutes to get on the mat,

to take a deep breath really. Can I combine that? It's one of the reasons why I like Pilates a lot.

I can combine working on my butt to become a better tennis player to become a stronger athlete,

potentially live longer. That was also part of our earlier conversation. But then also just take a

deep deep breath and take five minutes to relax and work my butt. Easily what we got to recall,

some of the backbones we have is because we've got tight hips and tight quads. So if you're working

the glutes which are the opposite muscles you can be doing, you know, you can be doing bridges,

you can be doing open, open thrust with your hips which then fight other glutes and open up what's

tied in the front. There's so many exercises. I mean I, I go and go and go and all and I have to

five minute glute exercises at your desk. It'll be there, I guarantee you know, there's so much

resources that people can do to take five minutes to work on their glutes every day. I mean it's not

easy. We're sip none of them right now. If you don't use them, they just get dead. So you know,

that's the other issue we have is that we're all sitting way too much compared to what we used to

since working in startups and working in some big business stuff that I do. The only thing I hurt

now is my butt or my lower back because I'm sipin all the time. I never had lower back issues,

I never had bummage when I was coaching all the time because I was always standing. I did that

sore feet and I did that sore legs. It's standing all the time. But you know, I rather had that

but I saw that and glutes are the supporter of all of that. So but these, and I can give you a

quick story and that one real quick. I won't tell you a name but she was in like the 400 something

in the world in Australia and she wanted to be in the top 100 and we spent all the nuts who

years getting the damage on top 100 and very interesting about a year in. I was so like why is she

looks so unstable hitting the ball? Why had it going to be a shed with big butt? And I'm like why is she

not generating enough power either? So we'll go over a little stick because you know you can't touch

a person but I worked with a stick and I said come on, squeeze, squeeze, I mean it was like a piece of

jelly. I mean she had big quads and what she was doing was doing everything in the legs and nothing

in the butt and even though the butt was there, it wasn't being activated. It wasn't big and then

when she activated she realized she really didn't have much butt muscle underneath what was there.

So you know you can identify someone with a decent side butt and you're like oh man that must be

powerful. You gotta check whether it's working or not and whether there's muscle in because she didn't

have muscle and when we changed that it changed their nut and that and like I said she went from like

400 to 100 and that last 12 months it was really hard work on her butt but it made her gain

especially one hand it back and this one hand it back and seeing on a thing off but she again

I probably could say man because she doesn't even remember anyway. It was so long ago but anyway.

Well and that's I like that because that's a difference between an aesthetic look again

what we were talking about. Yeah ahead of the conversation. An aesthetic look is say okay I want

my butt to look good in a picture or are you using your butt to win tennis matches and I think

we're here listening saying okay I'm not I'm not looking to get the butt larger or shape it. I need it

for power. I need it to be able to move well. I need that strength and that's where the Pilates comes

in. That's where the the activation is you say of activating those muscles and getting to use them.

It isn't just leg day. It isn't just arm day and that's where I go back to Pilates a lot but that's

where that all of the muscles and everything working as a group. You can look down and say wow they

look really fit. I had a guy taking drills with me one one time and he looked really fit. He was

he was shaped properly and he was a bodybuilder previously you know he looked good but that guy

was out of breath three points later and it was just he wasn't necessarily fit so how it looks

doesn't necessarily give you what it's going to be able to do. Right and so I'm 50 I picked up the game

at 10 for 40 years I've been I'm a right-hander been hitting my forehand off my left hip not my right

knee. Okay and so just recently 250 grabbed a trainer first time in my life and I said let's just do

some testing so I understand everything and then we build from there and when he did he did some

individual isolated glute muscle activation strength stuff I couldn't even use my right knee

I couldn't he was just getting me to do a stand-up one leg and I couldn't even push off and get my right

glute to lift me up and my left one up down up down up down and soon as we found out I was like okay so

hang on a second I've been hitting forehand from my left side this is my right hip and I'm this I'm

hitting it that hard I'd mention how much harder I can hit if I'm using my right glute so I'm doing

a lot of transitional stuff now that it's never been for 40 years intense and so I would say that

anybody you know test your butt too because it's 50 different on both sides and completely not only

change again because you can imagine a servo is too I wasn't using my right glute I was using my left

glute to go up and rotate and you put my right glute this wasn't just no wasn't there it's still

like it's only just coming there now. And there you go that's our advice for today everybody get

your butt checked out we'll see what we can make. Have a negative word to say but but this is the time

you can say but I'm okay but with two T's Justin you thank you so much we'll see you next week.

Well there you have it we want to thank rejuvenate.com for use of the studio and be sure to hit that

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