Table Tennis Warm Up – 7 Tips (Exercises & Games)

Last Updated on October 26, 2023 by Sorin Petroj

Following basic table tennis warm-up routine is essential to improve your game and prevent injuries and muscle strain during the match.

Generally, table tennis warm-up exercises last five to ten minutes and end with another five minutes of stretches and freehand table warm-ups. You should perform light jogging, stretching, and flexible warm-up exercises during this period.

Get sweaty! There’s no substitute for practice for honing reflexes and improving your coordination with a good warm-up.

These table tennis warm-up tips aim to get you on the court with advice from expert coaches and hit the first ball feeling all set and ready. Also, you don’t have to lose training time when warming up. Here, we share seven table tennis lessons from coaches and pro players.

The best ways to learn table tennis skills online are available at:

1. TableTennisDaily Academy (TTDA)

2. Table Tennis University (TTU)

Table of Contents

1. Set And Allocate Your Warm-Up Time

It would be best if you wanted to make sure that you feel ready and all set up before hitting the court, and that is why it is essential to allocate a proper time for warm-up. Understanding how much time you should give yourself for a proper table tennis warm-up is crucial.

The general rule of thumb is to provide at least five minutes to perform basic warm-up exercises and cardio with two minutes of light jogging and three minutes of practicing table tennis movements and footwork.

The cool-down periods should last five minutes, with stretching and flexibility exercises performed at the end of every workout. The warm-up exercises are usually done before stretching and practicing table warm-up movements.

Players worldwide use different types of warm-up routines, so it may become overwhelming to choose a suitable model. The good news is Mark Kovac from Tennis Congress has shared a standardized table tennis warm-up routine. Here’s the breakdown of the time you should allocate for a high-quality and complete table tennis warm-up.

Table Tennis Warm-up time a total of 15-20 minutes

2-3 Minutes Pre-Warm-Up Jogging: It is a good idea to start the warm-up routine by jogging twice around the court to raise your heart rate.
5 Minutes Warm-Up Exercise: You will need to spare five minutes to perform 15-30 jumping jacks and high knee run-ups to the net by running back and forth with short strides and by flicking your hip with heels as you run. If you have time left, it is a good idea to hone your reflexes with a couple of Carioca steps in each direction and by taking brisk walks across the court.
3 3-minute table Movements And Footworks: The goal is to practice different movement patterns you will use on the court. You can start with shadow forehands and backend, which you can do with or without your racket.
5 Minutes Stretching: Table tennis warm-up stretches involve rotating shoulders and wrists forward and backward. Consider turning you 20-30 seconds ahead and back. Next, focus on your forearms and wrists. Many people wonder what types of hand stretches one can perform, and many options exist. We have shared tips on mastering the table tennis warm-up stretches best recommended by coaches and players in the upcoming sections.

2. Master The Basic Table Tennis Warm-Up Exercises

Part of your warm-up before playing table tennis is to do some warm-up exercises. There are different types of table tennis warm-up exercises, but you must first understand the purpose of the warm-up exercises.

It is a good idea to start your warm-up routine with cardio exercises, as this is the fastest way to get your heart rate up. Here are some examples of table tennis warm-up exercises recommended by pro players and coaches:

Jumping exercises: If you want to have good footwork, agility, balance, and coordination, there are ways for you to do so. One of the ways is to jump rope. It can be a bit tricky to find a good jump rope. My suggestions for a good jump rope would be to get one made from steel, with foam-coated handles, and measuring from 1/2 inch in diameter.

You can substitute jumping ropes with jumping jacks. In that case, try doing two sets of 25 jumping jacks to help get your body ready for the movements you’ll need to perform in tennis while raising your heart rate and building endurance. Doing 20-25 jumping jacks is an excellent way to stretch your arms when you wake up.

Carioca: Carioca is an essential warm-up exercise that involves stepping over, across, and behind your right and left leg as you rotate your trunk and twist your arms when stepping. Carioca and single-leg with arms are stork exercises that you will often see demonstrated by rockstar performers during warm-ups. The goal is to challenge your balance and coordination when stepping with your legs along the trunk.

Liam Pitchford’s Table Tennis Warm-Up Routine

CHECK THE LIAM PITCHFORD’s MASTERCLASS

Standing knee lifts: You can do these while standing in place. Tennis involves rigorous bodily movement and requires a lot of balance and coordination. Try doing three sets of knee lifts to tone your thighs. While you’re standing in place, try lifting your knees to touch your arms.
Glute exercises: Give yourself a quick workout by performing butt kicks for 15 to 20 seconds. The training will help you build up the muscles in your knees, glutes, quads, calves, and hamstrings. Targeting your knees, glutes, quads, calf muscles, and hamstrings is essential for jump training during warm-up. Also, you only need to do three sets of butt kicks to train your muscles and glutes.

Liam Pitchford Masterclass

Mini-tennis Warm-Up: Mini-tennis warm-up is an excellent way to drill your groundstrokes and volleys without expending too much energy. You can practice a short functional tennis match with your friend or coach to get a feel and warm up your joints. But this depends on the time you can allocate for completing the warm-up exercise session.
Dynamic Jogging: Hone up your reflexes with two minutes of shuttle run dash after the exercises with progressive arm circles. A couple of laps around the table tennis court will get your blood flowing. A quick way to do that is 20m shuttle runs, dashes back and forth across a line.
Side Shuffle: You may also want to practice side-to-side shuffles. For a quick way to get the sweat going, take a few laps around the table tennis court and do some shuttle runs, dashes, and shuffling side-to-side.

3. Master The Warm-Up Stretches

If you want to level up your table tennis game and become a pro, you should try to discover what stretches and warm-up routines top players use. There are four types of basic stretches that you can include in your warm-up routine: straight leg march, hand walks, standing truck rotation, and lateral lunges.

Generally, players choose any of the stretches and perform two sets of 10 reps. Research shows dynamic stretches are the most effective ones. Dynamic stretches involve stretching with movements without intervals, while static stretches are where you hold a stretch for a prolonged period.

Do not rush into complex stretches, but dedicate yourself to simple exercises and make progressive advancements. You can first focus on improved movements. Being more flexible will make improved activities easier. Start with these stretches to improve your flexibility and maintain good health.

4. Master Your Strokes And Drills

You don’t want to forget your basic strokes and tactics. It is essential to practice table tennis movement warm-ups, just as it’s important to do the stretches and exercises when warming up. Take some time and drill with a partner to help improve your strokes.

Players generally dedicate at least 4-5 minutes to master their strokes. Push off the ping pong table to bounce the ball at different angles to improve your reaction time. Do the same to practice your spin shots.

Do shadow-play exercises, where you pretend you are playing against an opponent, to practice your techniques. Remember to use your cross-court, down-the-line, and serve tactics. If you don’t have a racket yet, read the article about the best ping pong paddles and choose the right one.

5. Maintain Your Balance And Posture

You must work on your postures and keep your balance. For most players, it is obvious that the stability on one leg should be a big priority when training and during warming up. So, when doing warm-ups, you should do a lot of single-leg work for self-assessment and ensure that you are stable on both sides.

If you struggle with posture, pick a spot in front of you and focus with your eyes. Look at your spot from time to time, as this will help you with your balance. Another thing you can do to maintain a proper balance is to keep your toes pointed to the sky.

You will need specific muscles in your lower limb for good posture, so the goal should be to generate more force into the ground when warming up. Also, consider keeping your back straight and butt tight as far as possible when performing hamstring sweeps or butt kicks during the warm-up.

Be sure to practice your neutral positions so you can serve and receive well. For a neutral serve, rally a ball cross-court. Set a base near the centerline and take a balanced stance with your racket hand behind you. If you come to the net, follow up with your forehand and backhand volleys, and do this for every ball you hit.

6. Go Over Every Possible Shot

There’s no time for a sudden change in your playing style, so be sure to spend some time experimenting with shots before the start of the match.

In the following video, see how world-class players such as Ma Long and Fan Zhendong warm up. First, forehand drive, then forehand spins. Then, backhand drives and backhand spins. It is a short warm-up before the start of the match. It is also important to feel how your opponent is warming up before the start.

Plan where you want to aim each shot during warm-ups and think about how you’ll strike. Your strokes can still improve even though you’re already in the middle of a match, but make sure you try every type of shot you think you will use during the game before it starts.

7. Keep An Eye Out On How Your Opponent Hits The Ball

Players usually practice what they do best, and during the warm-up, you can get a competitive edge by observing them. Watching your opponent warm up can give you some information about their game style. This is one of the most underrated table tennis warm-up tips that no one talks about, but it can provide you with a competitive edge during the match.

Watch your opponent’s practices during the warm-up. Look for clues into the timing and direction of their toss during warm-ups. Get a feel for when they plan to hit and in which direction they are aiming the serve. How the server tosses and switches the ball might indicate how they want it to bounce. Watching their toss and motion could give you a clue as to how they want the ball bounced after it.

So, as you see, completing a proper dynamic table tennis warm-up takes no more than 12-15 minutes. The tips and the warm-up routine are used by many rockstar players and are also recommended by expert couches worldwide.

While the above are the seven essential tips for table tennis warm-up, you must consider yet another point before starting your match. Taking mental preparation and following a pre-warm-up strategy is vital for amateurs and big venue players.

Pre-Table Tennis Warm-Up Tips to Consider:

One essential point you must note is to wear a proper suit and appropriate table tennis shoes to prevent falls. From a nutrition standpoint, make sure you have snacks on the court and take water breaks as often as you need.

Next, you must make mental preparations. The first step of your mental preparation is identifying what you will do in each position. It would be best if you prepared for each possibility and then rehearsed the appropriate tactics.

Consider watching full warm-up demonstrations by table tennis players to get a basic idea. The objective is to get little information and take notes from expert coaches and players.

If you struggle with time allocation for a perfect warm-up before a big venue match, the number one tip is to watch live streams and broadcasts. Watching live broadcasts will give you the best idea of how much time players allocate for their warm-up and the feeding drills to incorporate into your routine.

Warm-Up Exercises & Games – Conclusion

Keep in mind that you are doing this primarily for your health. Beware of injuries because even though people think you can’t get injured in table tennis, it’s still possible, especially when you reach a certain level where you move more and have stronger punches.

Make it a routine for you before every training session or match. These are the essential suggestions on how to achieve a proper warm-up. Try your way, but don’t skip it.

The essential part is to prevent injury and make yourself a stretching routine. This way, you can play in any table tennis club for a long time.

This way, you will always be ready for matches. In addition, you will feel better after each workout. Leaving the racket and going home or doing a good stretch before leaving is not the same.