Rushing into a game of tennis can be a big mistake when you haven’t seen a racket in years. I include both static and dynamic warm ups in my coaching in Ireland.This is to ensure your body is fully primed before stepping on court. A warm up of progressive intensity and appropriate exercises will elicit a number of physiological changes that will enhance performance on the day and minimise the aches and pains the day after playing.

Here are some tips for the perfect warm – up;

Warm Up Tips

• Gentle jogging – This is a great way to increase the heart rate, body temperature and blood flow to the working muscles.
• Dynamic stretches – These are flexible sport – specific movements that should be done particularly for the lower back, hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors and calves.
• Footwork Patterns – Complete several sets(15 secs) of a cross-over recovery drill or a figure of eight movement pattern between cones 2m apart.
• A Quick game of Volleys across the net – Using the service box and playing first to 10 should complete the warm up process. This will work on the eye-foot co-ordination, eye – hand co-ordination and competition drive required during a match.

This step by step guide should complete the warm up process.

A good measure of a warm up should be the formation of a light bead of sweat on the forehead.

This means you are ready for the next stage. I will discuss this in the next article entitled ‘Playing the Game – Tips’.