Your pickleball game doesn’t begin when you step on the court to practice dinking. It starts with getting your body ready to prevent injuries.

The warm-up is key, but it’s often skipped or not done right. A thoughtful warm-up is the first step to playing your best, preparing your muscles, enhancing overall coordination, and alleviating ongoing pain.

There are four steps to perform a pickleball warm-up properly: elevate your heart rate; mobilization; dynamic flexibility; and activation.

The reason you need to elevate your heart rate is to fire up your engine, widen your blood vessels to get blood pumping to your muscles, gradually raise your core body temperature for improved muscle flexibility and efficiency, and begin focusing your mind on your intention for the day.

Because pickleball requires total body movement and often unpredictable moves, you need to incorporate a variety of movements and exercises that engage you in all planes of motion.

I usually start by doing 30 of three types of jumping jacks. I do 10 of each type, mixing five squats after each type of jumping jack. So, 10 regular jumping jacks and then five squats. Then I will do fast feet, where I quickly move my feet out wide, then in close.

Next, I do skaters. Think of speed skaters, how they move side to side. I jump side to side. Again, I usually do 10-30 of each. You can jog in place, do butt kicks, or skiers, where you keep both feet together and jump side to side like a slalom skier.

Mobilization or mobility is next. This step lubes your joints for action and improves range of motion through targeted movements. I start with three-way neck rotations, then move to my shoulders and do big arm circles in both directions.

Next, I move to my trunk, where I twist side to side, swinging my arms loosely. Now I move to my hips and do hip circles and then work my knees by doing knee circles. Finally, I move to my ankles and do ankle rolls. You can also do wrist circles and elbow circles. So you can remember to hit all the important areas, start from the head and work your way down.

The third part of your warm-up is dynamic flexibility, which means boosting how far you can move across several joints when they are under pressure. The idea is to challenge several joints at once (like your hips, knees and ankles) in a smooth, coordinated way. Dynamic flexibility isn’t doing yoga moves and stretching in place. Dynamic flexibility involves active movements and increases the range of motion while reducing the risk of injury.

I like to do side-to-side lunges or front lunges with a t-spine rotation quickly. Perhaps do alternating front lunges or back lunges.

Finally, there is activation, which gets your nervous system ready for action. Boost your reaction time, speed and power for the game ahead. In the activation stage of your warm-up, you’ll focus on short, low-intensity exercises that incorporate a burst of speed or power for less than 10 seconds.

This is the time to run up to the kitchen line quickly and then stop with feet planted wide apart. Maybe do some quick lateral shuffles and stop in the ready position. Do fast pogo hops forward and back on the court lines. Run quickly back from the kitchen line like you are going after a lob.

Try to replicate moves you will be doing when you play pickleball. All of these movements increase the number of muscle fibers that can be activated for game-enhancing performance.

Sample warm-up

Now let’s wrap this all up with a sample warm-up!

Heart rate: 10 jumping jacks, 10 seal jacks, 10 cross jacks, and 10 skiers. Rest 30 seconds and then repeat two more times.

Mobility: 10 arm circles each way. five shoulder rolls each way. three-way neck rotations five times each. Trunk twists, 20 total. Knee and ankle circles five times each way.

Dynamic flexibility: Hamstring and quad stretches 10 times each leg. Arm swings back and forth 10 times. Waking lunges 20 times. Wrist flexion and extension 10 times each. Try side-to-side lunges 10 times each way.

Activation: Quick sprints from the baseline to the kitchen five times. Do some lateral pogo hops along the baseline, five each way. Jump squats five times. Lateral hops side to side on the kitchen line, five each way.

A final word: if you don’t know some of the exercises mentioned, please look them up on YouTube to see how they are performed. Or you can ask me when you see me on the Sequim Picklers pickleball court at Carrie Blake Park!

Afterward

After the game, what’s next? Recovery, hydration, nutrition, stretching, foam rolling, and sleep!

After playing for fun or in a tournament, you need to recover. You need to recover not just the day of playing but even the day after. Drink plenty of water, or if you have played for several hours, hydrate with a sports drink. Also, don’t forget to eat a snack or light meal. Protein is important for muscle repair! Eat some carbohydrates as well to replenish your energy levels.

On the day of or the day after, do some light movement like walking or cycling. Stretching is vital. Stretch the hamstrings, quads, hips, and glutes. You stretch to maintain flexibility and to help with muscle soreness.

Remember, stretching is different than the warm-up. Stretching involves holding the stretch for at least 20-30 seconds at least three times for each muscle stretched.

I love foam rolling or a massage gun. Foam rolling releases tension and increases circulation. You can also work the muscles by using a lacrosse ball or just a simple tennis ball.

If you are like me and play in three- to four-day pickleball tournaments, I suggest you get massages! Massages are worth the investment. I call a massage my preventative maintenance, like what you need to do to keep your car up and running.

Last, but not least, adequate sleep is crucial for muscle repair and recovery. I like to drink some warm milk with turmeric powder mixed in or Chamomile tea with turmeric powder before bed. The turmeric helps with inflammation while you sleep. The Chamomile tea helps you gently fall asleep.

If you follow these suggestions, you should be able to play pickleball for a long time by minimizing injuries and taking good care of yourself.

_______________________

Pauline Geraci is a certified personal trainer, fitness nutrition coach, strength and conditioning coach, Tai Chi & Qi Gong certified.