I'm very much a beginner at badminton, and don't always have access to a court. However, I do want to improve, and as such, was wondering if anyone could either point me to a thread where this topic has been discussed or tell me some drills to do? Thanks!
To add to this, I should add, I'm a male and fairly fit. I've tried skipping and going on runs, which I have noticed translate a level of success onto the court. I would like to try to improve my speed and aggression on court.
Off the top of my head. Generic exercises that help with badminton: Squats, Lunges, Burpees, press-ups, situps, Planking. Specific drills: Shuttle runs. Hitting shuttle against a wall. Practice serve against a point on a wall. Corner drills. Shadow shots. Bouncing a shuttle with a racquet 100 times.
I really like questions like this as I am a proponent of serious training. I know you have asked about "speed and aggression" on the court; I will also include conditioning as well. Cardiovascular (general): running, skipping (as you have indicated), intervals, hill sprints and stairs. In addition, I have added cycling to my general conditioning routine. What I have noticed in the improvement in my quad strength. This in turn is translating into power(my area is very hilly). Cardiovascular (specific): court runs, six-corners drills (these are killers when done with little recovery). Speed/Power: plyometrics, weights, fast foot drills. Coordination: get yourself an agility/quick ladder Technique: badminton drills of all kinds (lots of stuff on YouTube). I also include a lot of flexibility exercises. Hope this helps.
Thank you very much for such a detailed run down, really appreciate it. And I totally agree with you on training seriously, whilst I've only played for 8 months or so, I've noticed the badminton players I tend to come across don't really focus much on improving anything but smashes and swing technique. I'll be sure to apply this, and thanks again!