Pickleball Strategy: Pre-game warm-up

So the other night at pickleball I re-introduced myself to some newbies to pickleball, and asked how they were enjoying themselves. They remarked that they liked the game but are feeling more and more sore after pickleball. I asked them if they were warming up before playing, and astonishingly...they weren't. Dynamic warm-up and flexibility training is an essential element of any pre-practice or pre-competition routine and helps prepare the body for the demands of today’s pickleball game. An effective warm-up does five very important things for pickleball players.

1. Increases body temperature allowing muscles to work more efficiently.
2. Gets the heart and lungs ready for vigorous activity.
3. Stretches muscles actively, preparing them for the forces experiences during pickleball.
4. Engrains proper movement patterns and the coordination needed in pickleball.
5. Wakes up the nervous system and gets the brain talking with the muscles.

A dynamic warm-up, which involves stretching with movement, accomplishes all of these tasks.
Warming up for pickleball is an important part of your routine. Research suggests it can speed nerve transmission, increase blood flow to the muscles and assist in injury prevention. The aim is to increase your breathing and warm up the specific muscles to be used in each stroke and court movement. Start with low impact movements and gradually build to more dynamic movements that contract and stretch the muscles through their full range of motion. Start at the baseline and move forward to the net, then repeat each movement backwards to the baseline:

• Walk on heels
• Walk on toes
• Right leg lunge, then rotate upper body to the left. Repeat on left leg, and alternate
• Lift right knee to hip level, then straighten knee, repeat on left leg and alternate
• Lunge sideways
• Skip
• Jog
• jog with knees high in front
• Jog with heels to buttocks
• Side steps
• Side step crossovers.

On the spot with racquet:

• Split step then shadow forehand, repeat for backhand 10 times each side
• Split step then shadow forehand volley, Repeat for backhand volley 10 times each side.