Pickleball Warm-Ups and Cool-Downs
As with any sport, it’s important to properly prepare your body to play a pickleball game. Pickleball warm-up exercises ensure that your muscles are stretched and ready to play, and cool-downs bring your body back to resting mode so you can safely play again next time. Putting in an extra 5-10 minutes of work before and after you play will pay off by keeping you healthy and improving your game.
Warm-up Routine
Pickleball is a full-body sport, so a good warm-up should feature dynamic stretching of the whole body. This approach will reduce pickleball injuries and allow your body the full range of motion it needs to get ready and play.
We’ll break it down by targeting different muscle groups to keep the warm-up short but effective.
Arm circles: Make small circles for 30 seconds by moving your arms in a forward motion, then make large forward circles for 30 seconds. Next, switch directions and make backward circles starting with small circles and moving to large circles for 30 more seconds.
Core twists: To stretch the trunk of your upper body, stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart. Primarily using your core, twist your shoulders to the left, then to the right, while keeping your hips facing forward. Do 10 twists to each side.
High-knee marches: Slowly bring one knee at a time up to hip height. Tap your knee to your palm before taking the leg back down and repeating the motion on the other leg. Continue this pattern for 30 seconds.
Overhead stretch: Take your arms above your head and stretch as far as you can (like you’re trying to make your body as long as possible). Swing them back down just behind your hips, then take them back up. This should stretch your arms and lower back. Repeat this for 15 reps.
Ankle-rolls/balance: Lift one leg and roll your ankle in one direction for 3 rotations, then switch directions. Put that leg down, and repeat the exercise on the second leg. Do 3 rounds of this on each leg with the same side-to-side motion.
Standing side-crunches: With your hands on your head, lift one leg and move it up and out to the side while crunching your elbow down to meet your knee on the same side. Repeat this move for 10 on each side.
Court length forward/backward jog: At a comfortable pace, jog up the length of the pickleball court, then jog backward to return to your starting point. Repeat this 3-5 times.
Court length side shuffles: With knees slightly bent, move your body in a side-to-side motion and move across the width of the court. Repeat this 3-5 times to practice the lateral motion that you will perform during a game.
These exercises will increase your heart rate, raise your body temperature, and get blood flowing to the right muscles so you can play your best and remain healthy while doing it.
Check out this video from PrimeTime Pickleball to see some of these stretches in action:
PrimeTime Pickleball warm-up routine
Cool-down Routine
When the game is over, it’s tempting to walk right off the court and move on with your day, but forgetting to cool down can be detrimental. Taking the time for a quick cool-down stretch is in your best interest.
Slow walk the length of the court: If your heart rate is really high after a tough game, you’ll want to slowly bring it back down to your resting heart rate. A good way to do this is to decrease the intensity of your cardio, which in this case would mean walking as opposed to jogging or sprinting on the court. Walk back and forth a couple of times until your breathing returns to normal.
Across the chest arm stretch: Pull one arm across your chest using the other hand for support. Hold for 10-15 seconds, and then switch sides.
Quad stretch: Kick your foot back up and grab the toe of your shoe with your hand near your glutes. Hold this position for 10-15 seconds, making sure to grab onto something with your other hand if you’re struggling to balance yourself. Switch legs and repeat.
Side stretch: Stand with your feet wider than hip-width apart. Put a hand on your hip and bring the other arm over your head towards the other side of your body. Hold the position here for 10 seconds, then switch to the other side. Static stretching like this can help elongate your muscles.
Toe touch: Stand with your feet together and bend at the waist for one of the best hamstring stretches. If you can, touch your toes. If you can’t, push your hands down your legs until you feel a good stretch and hang there for 10-15 seconds.
Inhale/exhale overhead stretch: Inhale deeply while you take your arms out to the side, continuing upward until they meet above your head. Look up at your hands and stretch your whole body out. Exhale, then bring everything back down to your sides. Repeat 5 times.
By the time you’ve finished your cool-down, your heart rate and your breathing should be almost back to normal, and you should be ready to carry on with your day.
Final Thoughts
Make your warm-up and cool-down your own by adding any other stretches or exercises that you feel are necessary in order to play your best and prevent injury. Some ideas are lunges, side lunges, leg swings, and wrist stretches.
The risk of injury is much higher for those who don’t do warm-up stretches. Before you play your next pickleball match, take a few minutes to warm up properly. The best pickleball players in the world always stretch, and so should you.
