It is very important to exercise and warm up before you play a racket sport. Your joints and muscles are stiff and you need to loosen them up before beginning your play so that you avoid any injury.
There are specific and targeted exercises that need to be done before you start playing. Firstly stand upright circle your arms clockwise and anti clockwise for at least ten counts on each side. Playing a racket sport will need you to loosen your wrist as well; so stand straight and keep your arms outstretched in front of you. Hold on to one wrist and stretch it and bend it forward and backward. Repeat the same with the other wrist.
Now hold your racket using both hands and lift your arms up. Bring the arms down behind the head; so that the racket touches your neck. Repeat this at least ten times. This is loosening the shoulder muscles. Now hold the racket behind your buttocks and push your arms back. You will feel a stretch on your upper arms. Do this for at least five counts; holding the pose for a few seconds each time.
Now stand straight and hold your elbows on top of your head and stretch your body sideways. Do this on both sides. Once this is done; again stand straight and stretch your back. To do this keep your hands on the back of your thighs and stretch as far back as you can. Hold this pose for five counts and get back to your original position.
For those who do not like to do simple warm up stretches before the start of their game you can try doing about one hundred skips as a warm up or jog around the court and then do some jumping on the spot. These are all very necessary as if you do not do it you may in future injure yourself. The warm up routine slowly gets your heart to beat faster and gets you ready for your racket sport.
Even after you play do some stretches to slowly get your heart beat to slow down. The warm up and cool down is most important part of your workout and hardly takes more than five to seven minutes.
