Warm up tricks ?

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I know its a lame excuse, but in tournaments, i often feel i'm far from my best, and one of the main reasons, is that i don't have a proper warm-up knock. I always try to run, move my body, but in the tournament i get into, usually, there's only 30 minutes for everybody to knock. more often than not my knocking partner at this time doesn't suit me (makes a lot of mistakes or plays irregularly)... worse, we may be 12 per table (3 pairs playing in each diagonal, playing one ball each turn).

When i arrive at the table for the first game, I lack confidence, its absolutely not the same than playing a match after 1 hour or even 30mns of proper drills. Worse, it already happened to me, i had to wait a few hours after those short 30minutes to play my match because singles start after doubles. I don't like doubles and don't play them... so after waiting 2-3 hours, i play a guy whos play 1 2 or more doubles match, is more ready than me, and he trashes me... good grief.

Of course, its the same situation for everybody, but I feel i'm a slow starter, and I'm getting old as well, where if i don't move properly because of a lack of form/warmup, my game becomes a disaster. when the game progresses, i usually get better, but its often too late. even if its a mini league format before the knockout tournament, because the league is only 3 or 4 players, losing one match, you're almost out.

Yesterday at training, i was playing with my very young kid (=not seriously at all), but at the end of the session, someone asked me to play, we just hit 3mns and we started to play sets. I was trashed 0-6 (including 0-11 the first set). I'm pretty sure i would have given a better fight to this guy, and at least taken a few sets. I think he was around the same level, perhaps just one rank better, but he had been drilling for more than 1 hour... still, in tournaments, it can be a similar situation, so its quite representative.

when i used to play in france in our local league, usually i could warm up 30mns with good partners with the whole table for us, and i think i was much more ready for the 1st match. I was much younger as well...
 
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From my point if view, it looks as if it's mostly in your head. Mental preparation. Be ready before you knock.

You know what you're doing, right? If there is so little table time (for everybody!), why don't you do shadow drills for warming up? You don't really need a table for that. It's nice if one's around, but it's not really necessary.
In many tournaments there is not a lot of table time to warm up, so one should be able to improvise.

I've found that this helps me a lot, but everyone's different, so maybe just give it a try and see if it can help you.
 
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I also play terrible without warming up. I make a lot of unforced errors. So I find a place that has a table, (usually my church) and practice with my ipong or another player. Then I head to the tournament early to practice there.

And I do agree that the mental aspect might make a difference. Focus on the opponent and tactics rather than the score.
 
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I have the same issue. People just don't like warming up where I play, and I play like shit if I'm not warmed up.

Personally, I start off slow and with less quality and effort to get warmed up. In a tournament you can't do that, so my advice would be to do shadow strokes if you can't do anything else. Do them before your actual warmup time comes.

When you do get on the table, just relax and trust your body and mind. If others also have a bad warmup session and are around your level, but kick your ass, then it's in your head. I'm not an expert nor do I play competitively, but I'd have to guess that you're simply sweating it too much and tensing up. I think @OldSchoolPenholder could have something for that.

One tip from me, to get your mental state higher at the start of the match, is to try your strongest weapons and win points with them. Develop a serve-attack that produces predictable results and wins you points, then use it. Use it early and test your reliable point winners. I can recall Larry Hodges (Was it him?) talking about pulling your big guns out early.
 
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There is not an easy solution to this, you could arrive at the venue early enough and try to team with people you know who are good warm up partners. You could play a practice match before playing the actual match. However, only way to get out of this is to get used to it and figure out how you can warm up against even players who cannot give you the ball you like. Just go through a period where you stop warming up more than 2 minutes before playing practice matches. I felt that kind of sorted it out in my head after a while ... the only thing I focus on when warming up these days is whether I am hitting the middle of the paddle and timing it right , does not matter whether the other guy can or cannot give a consistent ball. If I hit a few that I like I just tell myself I have warmed up enough. And if I have a doubt , I will try to play the first set conservatively, in the sense not do all my funky serves , which I might miss or miss the third ball .
 
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I have the exact same issue. I need at least 20 mins of proper warmup to reach my best condition. Especially when I play matches in the morning, I need more warmup time. It's a disaster for me in tournaments where there are 8 or more players warming up at the same table. I played worse than usual and lost early everytime.
I don't think it's in my head because I already tried not to think about it (and I actually didn't think about it), but the results told it all, I played a lot worse than normal level. IMO, warming up isn't just about warming the muscle up but also to find touch and consistency. Even the pros need a lot of time warming up, not just us.

I agree shadow drills may be a good method. Did anybody try heat rub? I tried it once on my shoulder and I think it was effective more or less.
 
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Archo mentioned me, perhaps he had this post of mine in mind:

These work for me, I offer you these in hopes it can help you or set you on a Path of Self-Discovery to see what works for you.

1. Sit and just breathe. Concentrate on the in-breath, concentrate on the out-breath. Zone out background noise, only 'hear/feel' your breath. Long deep breaths.

VARIATION: breathe in for a count of 4 (or 3 or 2 if you can't do it for 4 count long deep breaths) - hold for a count of 4 - exhale for a count of 4 - hold for a count of 4 - repeat = inhale 4/hold 4/exhale 4/hold 4

2. IIRC, this is called 'progressive relaxation'.

Relax your body by tensing each body part up, and then let go/relax. Feel that letting go after the tension, that's relaxation physically, mentally just let all thoughts go. Proceed to next body part and repeat throughout your body.

When you need to relax, recall that relaxation after the body part tensing. If you cannot get into relaxed state during TT, physically tense your body and then let go. In time, you shouldn't have to tense up to relax, you will be able to go straight to relax.

If you need to 'anchor' it to some act or thing ... if you touch your racket a certain way, or bounce the ball off the racket, or bounce ball off the floor, or think of a word and associate it with the relaxed state, or a routine of a few motions and/or coupled with the 'trigger word'.

Personally, before a serve, i hunched my shoulders up to tense up, then exhale and unhunch my shoulders simulataneously, bounce the ball off the floor 2x and then serve. I can't get into a relaxed state right off the bat. Still need to physically tense up. Sometimes I just breathe in/out with 2 long breaths.

3. Close your eyes, visualize/recall pleasant times or a beautiful scene... mountains, fields, waterfall, virgin snow, good beer/drink, good food, sharing intimate moment with loved one, recall childhood vacation, etc. Feel how happy you are in that visualized/recalled scene. Feel relaxed.

At some point, you don't have to close your eyes, you should be able to get into that relaxed state.

Truly hope these helps.

EDIT: Baseball players have a whole routine, generally tar the bat, loosen/tighten their batting gloves, take a few swings then approach the batter's box ... once in, dig in and it's on

Basketball players before foul shots will bounce the ball a few times, look up at the basket, etc.

You get the idea.... good luck in finding what works for you!

You may be anxious about not having a proper warmup which can negatively impact your game. Although not quite warm up tips, it may be useful in getting you into a relaxed state.

I like what Archo posted about using your strongest weapons early in the match. You would have developed your 'muscle memory' and you should be on autopilot when you play your strongest weapon or favorite tactic.

"Confidence breeds success and success breeds confidence."
~Mike Tyson

Using your strongest weapon/tactic may build confidence and that may lead you to being less anxious about not having a proper warmup.

Good luck! HTH!
 
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thank you very much for some of your tips. I didn't see the mental aspect as so important for that particular point but you must be right, it definitely is. Shadow playing is an excellent idea as well !!

In anything we do in Life, we are both Physical AND Mental. It is a Whole and not Parts. Integration of both Mind AND Body results in a much Stronger Person/Player.

Good luck in your Training/TT!
 
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i do see your point about mental training. Now, i try to do only positive thinking when i play games, even for a training game. focused on every point, try to never tell myself "you play like sh*t today" or "this guy is better than you". only positive thoughts whatever the circumstances and try to get the best of myself

and i start to see little changes. But i admit that mental game has never been my core strength (usually not thats its that bad, its average, sometimes its really sh*t, sometimes i'm really confident and playing positively).

But i guess like everything else, one can train his mental game
 
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Whatever you do, don't go "I'm playing like shit today".

What you can imagine, you'll make reality. You'll just keep playing like shit. It takes more effort to change anything, so if you think you're playing like shit or that you're on fire, you'll remain in that mentality most likely.

Just dismiss it as a mistake and try to do better on the next point. It doesn't matter how you were doing before.
 
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yes it took me time to understand that. but i'm getting it more and more

Three things:

1. Shadow strokes to make you sweat.
2. Improve your serves.
3. Feel free to just do general exercise as long as you sweat.

Positive thinking is underestimated. The point is not that you will necessarily play better or that you even have to think positively. The point is that you need to tell yourselves things that get you ready to compete and it won't happen if you play say things that make you feel anxious.

Consider if you are playing a great server. Should you tell yourself that you will kill his serve or that you are going to get a nasty serve to your elbow? Both are probably lies but the first actually gets you better prepared to read his serve than the second. If the first goes too far for you, say something like, I can return 95% of these serves. He is going to have to fight.

At least this prepares you to play the point out.
 
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Okay. A couple of extra thoughts.

1) I agree that it sounds, for you, like you have to train the scenario of playing a match with NO warmup. If you start your training like that, where, you are not warm, you have only hit a few balls from each wing, and then you go right into a match, and you do that to start every time you train for the next few months, you will learn how to TURN ON when you are not warm.

2) As has also already been said: In a tournament scenario, any movement that gets your body warm, particularly shadow training, WILL HELP.

3) For ball feel and touch: self serve in place: all you need is a racket a ball and a floor. And ball bounce against a wall: all you need is a racket, a ball and a wall.

The ball bounce is like what Marcos Freitas is doing on the edge of the table, but with a wall:


Those things will get you touch, and ball feel.

4) If you take a ball and topspin it, self hit style, with or without a table, for a couple of minutes, (this one takes more space) that can also give you some ball feel.

Sent from Inside The Chamber of Secrets by Patronus
 
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