Hi Ed,

I am no sports scientist so have no idea what the best programme is! If it works for you then great. I hate running – just does my back in these days. Also I suffer from very sore toes and bendy fingers (arthritis). Nonetheless I still manage to play/coach about 15 hours a week; that provides most of my physical training! I do go to the gym once or twice a week to do some treadmill, stepper, cross trainer and weights. On the latter I don't go mad – just a gentle range of station work covering the important muscle groups. I also do a little bit of stretching, jumping and balance work.

John

Swimming would be a good exercise as it's not such an impact sport.

Another thing you could try is skipping. I was going to go down this route but unfortunately, family life and other things mean that I never got into it 100%. But it's what I would do as running would eventually do my knees or ankles in and badminton puts enough strain on my body as it is.

If you do running, try to end with a sprint up hill or something. Or run with a really heavy backpack. You don't necessary have to run further, just run smarter 

As i have to keep fit for my job i generally go to the gym 3 times a week or go out running to keep the weight down but since returning to badminton ive found most forms of circuit training to be beneficial such as tabata, p90x and insanity….all of these have helped my anaerobic capabilities and enabled me to play at a much better level…