Do You Warm Up Properly Before You Play?

As you know, tennis is a very physical and demanding sport. It uses all the energy systems, most of the joints and muscle groups in the body, especially the larger muscle groups.

Question: Is preparation and recovery an important factor in the success rate of a player regardless of level?

There is no doubt about it, warming up and cooling down properly will help to improve your performance.
There are three main areas for you to think about: 1) be ready to play, 2) able to play and 3) reducing the likelihood of injury. Being ready to play means knowing how to warm up and cool down properly, whether you are practicing or playing a match. Being able to play means undertaking tennis specific physical training and exercise in order to play well from start to finish. Finally, combining good physical fitness with the proper warm up and cool down may reduce the chance of injury.

An effective warm up has several different components. First, it is preparing you to take part in vigorous and constant activity that uses the whole body. It should begin with a physical and mental (which most people forget) for practice or play and then move into an on court preparation consisting of all strokes you will be using. The warm up should be dynamic not static … meaning your body should be moving.

The structure of the warm up is important. It should be physical and then move to rallying and serving. The full warm up should take roughly 25-30 minutes.
• Begin with a jog around the court in order to get warm and raise your heart rate. This will also increase the blood flow to the muscles and prepare them for more activity.
• From this you should then move into a dynamic joint and muscle group warm up… focusing on tennis specific movements for your shoulders, arms and knees.

It is very important for you to do dynamic stretches in the warm up. The old way of warming up by jogging and then standing still and holding a stretch for 20 seconds or so is no longer adequate. Static stretching should be done after a practice or match and not before, because the muscle response to dynamic and static stretching is different. In the warm up the correct stretching is dynamic stretching … with different joints being moved in different directions all the time. The stretch is not held, but the joint range is increased as you move through the warm up. So as you jog, swing your arms up and over your head. Try some high knee skips or some low lunges. As you lunge, twist the top half of your body and touch your rear ankle. There are many different dynamic stretches that will help you with your dynamic warm up while keeping the warm up interesting and challenging, not to mention boring.

Remember the purpose for the warm up is to make sure every joint and muscle group is warm and ready to go.
• After you have completed the dynamic stretches please ensure your body is warm by trying a few short sprints to the net or service line. This will help you in getting prepared to move quickly around the court. Note: Do not try fast sprints prior to being warm as the risk of injury is increased.

This part of the warm up should take about 15-20 minutes.
• The final part of the warm up is on court. This should take about 10 minutes... Think of this as both tennis and mental warm up. So practice concentrating on the ball and making good contact on every stroke. Be sure to practice using footwork patterns that are appropriate to each shot before, during and after every shot …. Be sure to ALWAYS recover.

Some players like to do a “short court” warm up before moving to the baseline to hit because they can control the ball better and get more “feel.” Just be careful with your footwork as it becomes too static at times, creating a feeling of laziness.
• After the warm up, you should then hydrate and move directly into either a full practice or match play scenario without cooling down.

The warm up is important to get you warm, reduce the likelihood of injury and be prepared to play well from the beginning. The next concern is what happens at the end of practice? After vigorous activity, the worst thing is to just stop! The body needs to recover gently and slowly.
• First you should jog gently to help the body slow down.
• Then it is time for 20-30 second static stretches of all muscle groups. Try to work through the muscle groups in a logical manner, for example, from head to toe.
• A shower and dry clothes are also a must to helping to cool down and recover more quickly.
• Hydration to replenish lost fluid levels is vital and good nutrition within an hour or less of playing helps the recovery.

So in conclusion, being ready to play is vital. The warm up should be seen as an essential part of preparing to play. A good recovery routine is also essential and is a necessary part of being a tennis player regardless of level.