 Hello and welcome from Berlin, Germany. My name is Philipp Halfmann and I am the Director of Exercise and Sport Science at the IAAPH and I am also the author of Advanced Concepts of Strength and Conditioning for Tennis. In last week's episode I will explain how to cure tennis elbow. In today's episode I will explain the benefits of a proper warm-up routine. I will explain the purpose of the warm-up routine, its benefits and then towards the end I will also show you a dynamic warm-up routine that you can do on your own. Are you warming up before a retraining session? For most of you the answer is no. Many recreational tennis players don't warm up at all or perform warm-up exercises that are inappropriate, which generally results in a decline in overall performance and increases the risk for injury, for example tennis elbow. The objective of the warm-up is to decrease the risk for injury, but does a warm-up really accomplish that? The plausible answer is yes, even though there has not been any scientific evidence supporting that a warm-up will actually decrease the risk for injury. Reason being is that it seems to be very difficult to isolate all the variables. The concept is to increase muscle tissue temperature. If your muscle tissue is less bisque, particularly at the joint capsule, then elastic properties of the muscle tissue are diminished and efficiency of neurotransmission and proprioception is compromised, which means that your coordination suffers. By performing a proper warm-up routine you enhance the dynamics of the muscle tissue, making it more tolerant to stress, increasing neuromuscular efficiency and improving stability, which suggests that the risk for injury is decreased. The enhanced dynamics of the muscle tissue are improved elastic properties, greater efficiency of neurotransmission, and third improved proprioception. Because proprioceptors, which are sensors that help locate body positioning, are more dynamically enhanced with the dynamic warm-up, the risk of overextending yourself into a muscle strain due to the lack of tissue pliability is diminished and your ability to maintain stability improves. Also, improving elastic properties by generating more blood flow to the muscle tissue and hence elevating muscle temperature has a positive effect on being able to generate more power. Therefore, I suggest that improving your ability to maintain stability and increasing your range of motion at a joint would actually reduce your risk for injury. Next, I will introduce you to a sample warm-up routine. The high knee pull is a dynamic stretching exercise for the lower body, which focuses on reducing the risk of injury, optimizing power production capabilities, and improving flexibility. It targets the glutes, hip flexors, and hip adductors. Take a step and raise the left knee towards the chest. Grab your leg with both hands just below the knee. Pull the knee as close to your chest as possible and hold the knee for one second. Release the left knee again, take a step and raise the right knee and repeat. The buttocks kick is a dynamic stretching exercise which focuses on reducing the risk of injury, optimizing power production capabilities, and improving flexibility. Now kick yourself in the buttocks with the heels of your feet. It targets the quadriceps. The straight leg kick is a dynamic stretching exercise which focuses on reducing the risk of injury, optimizing power production capabilities, and improving flexibility. Keep leg straight and raise it as far in front of you as possible. The opposite hand touches the toes of the raised leg. Release the leg back to the ground and repeat. It targets the hamstrings. The bilateral lunge is a dynamic stretching exercise which focuses on reducing the risk of injury, optimizing power production capabilities, and improving flexibility. Take a step sideways and bend the knee until the left knee is at 90 degrees and the right leg is straight. Keep the weight on the heels. Now push off with the foot again, return to athletic stance, and perform a lateral lunge to the other side. It targets the hip AB ductors, the hip ad ductors, and the glutes. The lunge and twist is a dynamic stretching exercise which focuses on reducing the risk of injury, optimizing power production capabilities, and improving flexibility. Take a large step out with the leading leg. Drop trailing knee towards the ground in a controlled fashion until both knees are at 90 degrees. Rotate the torso all the way from right to left. Keep weight on the forward heel. Stand up and progress into the next lunge. It targets the glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, hip flexors, and obliques. For a comprehensive section of warm-up exercises with videos and pictures, take a look at advanced concepts of strength and conditioning for tennis. Well, that's it again for today's episode. As usual, opinions differ. What's your point of view? Let us know below in the comment section. A brand new episode will be available next Sunday, so make sure you don't miss it and subscribe. In the meantime, I recommend you watch some of the previous episodes. You should really watch them all. If you like what you saw, tell your friends. I'm sure they will appreciate it. I'm Philipp Halfmann. Thank you for watching and auf Wiedersehen! Go at dennaussongs.com