- Walk or lightly run for three to five minutes to slightly loosen and prepare muscles for direct stretching.
- Hold each stretch for two to ten seconds.
- Repeat each stretch two to ten times or as many times as needed until muscles feel loose and ready to play.
- The shorter the stretch is held, the more repetitions should be made. The longer a stretch is held, the fewer repetitions should be made. For example, a stretch held for two seconds should be repeated ten times or a stretch held for ten seconds should be repeated two times.
- Mild discomfort means the muscles are being stretched
- Do not bounce. Relax and exhale.
- When stretching for sports like baseball, hockey, golf, tennis, to name only a few, you can and should use the specific equipment you’ll use in the sport during your warm-up stretches, to stretch the muscles that will be using that equipment. Please refer to the picture to see an example of how the athlete uses his equipment to stretch.
Stretching the Shoulder:
- Roll both arms short and wide, forwards and backward.
- Hold the left elbow behind the back of the head and pull down with the right hand.
- Hold the right elbow behind the back of the head and pull down with the left hand.
- Hold the left hand with the right hand with both arms extended and pull the left fingertips backward with the right hand.
- Hold the right hand with the left hand with both arms extended and pull the right fingertips backward with the left hand.
- Start by holding the bat, racket, club or stick above the back of the head with both hands and pull down.
- Hold the bat, racket, club or stick behind the lower back with both hands and move upwards.
- Hold both hands together above the head, taking turns to reach as high as possible with each arm.
