January is the perfect time to reset your routine and build habits that actually support your body. If you’re someone who loves staying active with pickleball, tennis, golf, or regular exercise, you already know the value of movement. But here’s a question: are you truly preparing your body before you exercise, or are you rushing through a few quick stretches and calling it good?

If you’ve been dealing with chronic pain, stiffness, or that nagging feeling that your body just doesn’t move the way it used to, the problem might not be your sport, it might be what you’re doing (or not doing) before you start playing.

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‍The Warm-Up You Might be Skipping

Most of us treat warm-ups like an inconvenience. A few arm circles, maybe touch your toes, and you’re good to go. But here’s the truth: a proper warm-up isn’t just about getting your heart rate up. It’s about preparing your joints to move through the specific ranges of motion your sport demands, and more importantly, strengthening the directions where you’re weakest.

Think about it. When you play pickleball, you’re rotating, lunging, reaching overhead. When you golf, you’re twisting through your spine with power. When you’re on the tennis court, you’re exploding laterally and decelerating quickly. If your shoulders, hips, ankles, and spine aren’t mobile and stable in all those directions, your body compensates. And compensation leads to pain, stiffness, and injury.

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A Better Approach to Warming Up

This January, we’re challenging you to rethink your warm-up. Instead of a generic routine, what if you spent just 10 minutes targeting the specific movements your body needs most? Here’s what that looks like:

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The 5 Priorities for Your Warm-Up

1. Be Present in Your Warm-Up  

This is your time. Don’t rush through it. Commit to the next 10 minutes as an investment in your body. This isn’t a box to check, it’s how you show up for yourself before you ask your body to perform.

2. Isolated Joint Mobility 

Focus on your shoulders, hips, and ankles. These are the powerhouses of movement, and they need to move freely in all directions. Controlled circles, rotations, and range-of-motion exercises wake up these joints and prepare them for what’s coming.

3. Dynamic Contralateral Activity 

This means challenging opposite sides of your body at the same time; think split lunges with rotation, reaching across your body, or movements that involve your upper and lower body working together. This primes your nervous system and mimics the complex patterns you’ll use in your sport.

4. Core Training 

Your core isn’t just about abs. It’s the bridge between your upper and lower body. Engaging your core during your warm-up creates stability and protects your spine when you move explosively.

5. Plyometric Warm-Up  

Even light jumping, hopping, or quick footwork drills prepare your muscles and tendons for the speed and power demands of your activity. This is where you transition from mobility to performance.

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Why “General” Doesn’t Work

Here’s the thing: everyone’s body is different. Your shoulders might be stiff in external rotation. Your hips might lack internal rotation on one side. Your ankles might not have the dorsiflexion range you need for a deep lunge. A generic warm-up doesn’t address any of that.

When you target the specific directions where you’re weak or stiff, you’re not just warming up, you’re actively improving your movement quality. That’s how you reduce pain, prevent injury, and feel strong in your sport.

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Your Next Step

The outline above is a great starting point, but the truth is, your body has its own unique story. Your injury history, your movement patterns, your flexibility and strength levels – they all matter. And they all change what your ideal warm-up should look like.

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That’s where we come in.

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Schedule an appointment at Maven to learn what a proper warm-up looks like for your specific body. We’ll assess your movement, identify the directions where you need the most work, and build a personalized routine that sets you up for success, not just in January, but all year long.

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This is your year to move better, feel stronger, and stay in the game. Let’s start with those 10 minutes.