The present article is an attempt to investigate the physiological demand of the most popular strokes, like, over head smash, over head toss, over head drop and the shadow movements in badminton drills on the basis of heart rate and blood lactate concentration. The study will certainly help the coaches and other specialists in finding out the demands and intensities of these badminton strokes and movements on the court. In the 1st phase of the study, VO2max of all the players was determined in the laboratory following a graded exercise protocol on a bicycle ergometer, till exhaustion. The 2nd phase of the study consisted of playing over head smash, over head toss, over head drop and shadow movement on the court on different days. The player had to play on one side of the court and he was fed the shuttle from the opposite side. The heart rate was measured on a PE 3000 (Polar Electro, Finland) polar sport tester (heart rate telemetric device) for every 5 sec interval and the blood lactate concentration; on an YSI 1500 sport model lactate analyzer. The mean VO2max of the present players was 57.4±7.02 ml/kg/min. The mean heart rates during overhead smash, overhead drop, overhead toss and shadow movements were 183±5, 180±6, 178±8 and 182±7 beats/min, while the mean blood lactate were 11.6±1.9, 10.2±1.2, 10.7±1.1 and 12.2±2.1 mMol/L, respectively. The study indicated that the heart rate and blood lactate responses during execution of overhead smash, overhead drop, overhead toss and shadow movements were high and no differences existed among them. Theses popular and common badminton strokes exertedhigh cardiovascular and metabolic stress on the players. Repetitive execution of these strokes during training may develop both the aerobic and anaerobic capacities of the players.