The seven-minute warm-up that prevents most padel injuries

Watch any club at 7pm: four players walk on, three touch their toes for ten seconds, one swings the racquet twice, and they start. Forty minutes later somebody pulls a calf and somebody else is icing an elbow.

A proper warm-up needs no gym and no equipment. It needs seven minutes, in the right order, every single time. And it is not stretching - static stretching before sport reduces explosive output for the next 30-60 minutes. Everything below is dynamic.

Why most warm-ups fail

They are too generic (padel does not live in your hamstrings, it lives in your thoracic spine, hips, shoulders and wrists), too short (tendons need five to seven minutes of progressive movement) and too static.

The sequence, minute by minute

Minute 1 - pulse-raise. Thirty seconds of skipping in place, thirty seconds of lateral shuffles. Get the heart rate to about 110-120. Cold mobility work barely counts.

Minute 2 - thoracic spine. The joint that quietly causes most elbow, shoulder and lower-back problems.

• Open books, 5 per side: on your side, knees bent, rotate the top arm open and let your head follow.
• Thread-the-needle, 5 per side: on all fours, reach one hand under the opposite arm, then open to the ceiling.

Minute 3 - hips.

• World’s greatest stretch, 5 per side: deep lunge, elbow toward the floor, then rotate the hand to the ceiling.
• 90/90 hip rotations, 10 reps: seated, both legs at 90 degrees, rotate to swap sides.

You will feel the difference on your first sprint to a drop shot.

Minute 4 - shoulders.

• Wall slides, 10 reps: back against a wall, arms in a goalpost, slide up and down keeping contact.
• Band or towel shoulder dislocates, 10 reps (or big arm circles if you have neither).

Minute 5 - wrists and forearms. The 45 seconds that protects your elbow, and the part everyone skips.

• Wrist circles, 10 each direction.
• Forearm rotations holding the racquet by the handle, elbow tucked, palm-up to palm-down, 10 per arm.

Minute 6 - primers. Small, fast, explosive.

• Pogo hops, 20: tiny stiff-ankle bounces.
• Lateral bounds, 5 per side, sticking each landing.
• Squat-to-stand, 5: touch the floor, explode up.

Minute 7 - racquet-specific. Slow shadow forehands and backhands, 10 each, rotation coming from the hips. Then 5 shadow bandejas per side - the shot that most often hurts cold. Start with two minutes of mini-court rallies before going full court.

What changes after thirty days

• The first three or four games stop being your “warm-up period” inside the match.
• The morning-after aches shrink, especially shoulder, wrist and lower back.
• Thoracic and hip range measurably improves. One day you reach a cross-court ball you would not have gotten three months ago.

Frequently asked

Short on time? Five minutes is the floor. Cut the primers before anything else. Never skip the thoracic spine work.

Can I do it at home before leaving? Minutes 1-5 yes, then re-prime at the club with pogos and shadow swings.

Second session of the day? Warm up again. Tissue cools and the nervous system resets within a few hours; minutes 1-3 are usually enough.

Is this enough to prevent injuries on its own? It covers the acute, cold-tissue half. The other half is strength and weekly volume - see padel after 40.

Prefer it as a guided video with a coach correcting your form? It lives in the Padel Mobility classroom as a daily warm-up lesson.