Warm-ups

Warm-up. We all know we need to do it - so why don't we always do it? And more importantly - do we do it correctly??

The simple answers are: many of us look for short cuts and are sometimes willing to take unnecessary risks often thinking "I'll just hit around and get warmed up to play" or "Oh, I'll be ok - it won't matter this time" (That is exactly what I thought 10 minutes before I tore cartilage in my left knee while "just hitting around"). I truly believe that we all do in fact know better but sadly enough most of us are guilty of doing just that - not properly warming up before starting a game or practice. And yes, it is just as important to warm-up properly prior to practicing as it is before the finals of the Hilton U.S. Open!

Ok, I have eluded to it a few times now but - what exactly is a "Proper warm-up"? To properly warm-up does not mean to take a ball into the court and try your hardest to break it. In fact, a proper warm-up should start long before you ever enter the court. The sport of Racquetball involves the whole body and thus you need to warm-up the whole body and not just your hitting arm! A proper warm-up should include moderately intense exercise for 8-10 minutes followed by light stretching and finally hitting/chasing the ball around the court. The 8-10 minutes of exercise can be easily performed on a stationary bike, treadmill, or any exercise equipment; however, if you do not have access to exercise equipment the same goal can also be achieved by jumping rope, running in place or chasing (preferably) your own kids around the playing facility. The easiest way to know if you have exercised enough is that you really should "break a sweat" before you stop.

The goal of this exercise is simple: you need to make the muscles work.

Increased muscle activity will produce heat as well as increase heart rate and circulation. The body circulates the blood to move the heat produced by the active muscles to the skin and thus causes you to sweat. It is not appropriate or advised to try and warm-up in a sauna or a steam bath. This simply increases your body temperature and although it does make you sweat it does not increase the temperature of your muscles nor does it get your muscles ready to play. The idea of exercising in a sauna or steam bath is NOT advised and is actually VERY DANGEROUS as it can lead to a variety of heat injuries such as heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

Now that you know why you should do what you already knew what to do - please please please - practice it! Maybe, just maybe, we can send one less person to the orthopedic surgeon.