: 3-Minute Warm Up Basics

Take a few minutes to warm up every time you play Pickleball

Every day and every game is different, but you will be most successful by hitting each shot a handful of times before you play.
This is exactly what the Pros do before every match.
A warm up is not a drilling session, just a quick run through to get you calibrated for the session.
Warming up your body is also important to prevent injury, but we do not cover that here.

Two players stand across the net from each other, on the left or right side of the court.
These two players use one ball to warm up.

It is MUCH SLOWER for all 4 players to warm up using one ball, so use two balls to keep is short and sweet.

Start with very easy dinks for about 5 shots each.
Dink to forehand and backhand.
Mix in speed-ups as well, for shots that bounce high or balls you can take out of the air.
Always expect a speed up, so have your mind and paddle ready.
Reset speedups so they bounce in kitchen, or attack back.

One player (A) stays at kitchen line and returns the ball out of the air, or off a bounce, back to their warm up partner.

The other player (B) starts at the kitchen line and hits a dink or reset volley, with goal of getting the ball to bounce in the kitchen.
After each shot, player B takes a step back and either hits a drop shot, reset volley, or a drive (hard shot).
Player A should always be ready for the drive and focus on not popping it up for player B to hit hard out of the air.
When Player B is back at the baseline, they hit a few drop shots and drives before working their way back to the kitchen, step by step, working on drop shots, reset volleys, and drives, over about 45 sec.
Player A and B switch roles and repeat the process.