The Warm Up

Warm-up’s are key to injury prevention and completely different to stretching!

 

WHY WARM UP?

Ever handled Blu Tack?

If stretched whilst cold it easily breaks; if warmed up first
it becomes far more pliable.

Think of this analogy with your warm-up session.

 

HOW DOES A WARM-UP HELP MY TENNIS?

An adequate warm-up increases heart rate, circulation & body temperature, improves muscle elasticity & efficiency and helps joint flexibility. It also improves your pre-game co- ordination and reaction time.

Don’t be tempted to cut down on your warm-up period particularly in cold weather!

Always factor in an adequate warm-up session before any practice or match; ideally around 20 minutes.

If you are recovering from an injury you may need a longer warm-up than normal.

 

SOME WARM-UP IDEAS

• Slow jogging round the court adding side-stepping, high knee jogs,
  skipping jogs left and right along one of the lines of the court.
• Add some small shoulder rolls / trunk rotations
• Start off rallying in the service box hitting some soft ground strokes,
  volleys and half volleys to help sharpen your reaction time
• Progress to no-man’s land and then to baseline rallying.
  Avoid making your strokes too ‘competitive’!
• Finally, go for the serves.

Your physiotherapist or coach can give you more specific advice on warm-ups.

Contact me for all your physio needs

NEXT MONTH: FLEXIBILITY & STRETCHES SOME WARM-UP IDEAS