At age 10, Coco Gauff could hold her position in one difficult exercise for three minutes. Twenty years later, that same exercise remains her secret weapon. Behind Gauff’s explosive playing style on court is a simple core training exercise that she swears by.

Gauff has often been asked the secret behind her explosive movement and signature playing style. She credits her toughness—both on and off court—to one simple exercise she's practiced since childhood. The big reveal: planks.

"I mean, I've been able to hold a plank for like three or four minutes since I was 10 years old. So maybe it was born in me,” she said jokingly, as per Talk Sport.

Gauff shared how her fitness coach, Stephan, enjoys making her train her core. However, Gauff herself isn’t the biggest fan of this workout, admitting to giving Stephan a hard time during core workouts. That said, she admitted to understanding the true value of core training, especially holding planks.

Gauff is no stranger to exercise, revealing that she has been training since the young age of eight. Although she doesn’t enjoy exercising as much as many other athletes, she acknowledges its benefits and has continued it throughout her life.

A look into how Coco Gauff has been training since childhood

Like many budding athletes, Gauff has been exercising since a young age. However, the only difference between her and other athletes is that Gauff never particularly enjoyed exercising.

As per Talk Sport, Gauff worked with a footwork efficiency specialist and physical trainer since the age of eight. Jeff Drock, her childhood trainer, used to help her with specific strengthening programs designed to fix an old habit.

Drock revealed that Gauff had an off-habit of falling on hard courts. It resulted in her often “ending up on another court after hitting a ball.” Fortunately, this was correctly addressed very early in her life with the help of deceleration activities and fixing her imbalance.

She also took part in agility training from a young age, and the results of her training are now clearly visible on court. However, she shared how she never lifted weights and did not particularly enjoy yoga either, although she did practice the latter.

As a child, she was never pushed to train too intensely, putting in just two to four days a week for an hour. However, as an adult, she now takes training much more seriously.

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Written by

Avantika Das

Edited by

Ashvinkumar Patil