Warming up effectively before you compete in any sport is critical to maximise efficiency and to cut down on injuries. In tennis it is particularly important due to the constant pressure on the player.
Discuss with your coach what he advises are the best warm up exercises are suitable to you and your body.
We have highlighted 5 areas that it is most important to concentrate on before you play your game.
Raise The Body Temperature
Your body gets exposed to far more demanding situations whilst playing tennis than in normal everyday activity. It is critical that you raise your body temperature by warming your muscles up.
When the muscles are not warmed up, they are not too flexible, and it is possible to strain something with a quick movement. Like sprinting for a ball or suddenly stopping.
Getting The Feel Of The Ball
Just standing still and hitting the ball will not engage the whole kinetic chain. It is highly important that you immediately start to engage your full body in the activity. Start from quick and swift footwork for getting to the ball and then pushing from the ground and into body rotation and the strokes. Everything is done in a controlled manner with the whole body in coordination.
Raising The Focus Of Your Brain
During most people’s working day your brain did not have to work hard to coordinate the whole body, therefore it too has to be warmed up. It has to be alert as the rest of your body so that it does not make errors in calculations and forcing you to make mistakes on the court.
Establishing Good Timing and Contact Point
Your brain was not having to think about your movements in relation to small moving objects coming towards you before you stepped on the tennis court, now it has to do that. Mini tennis is the perfect middle step to perform this before you go on court.
Your eyes also do not need to track very accurately small moving objects and once you rally from the baseline, they will have to. So it is really important to see the ball clearly, warm up to the tracking of the ball and finding the ideal contact point.
Getting The Feel For The Ball
Even if you play daily, you know that you may start your match with old or new balls, and with old or new strings. This will give you a completely different feel, and you will have to adjust accordingly very quickly. The mini court is an ideal place to get the feeling of racket hitting ball.
A good warm up lowers the chances of hurting yourself, enables you to immediately start hitting the ball well and will increase your chances of winning.
