Badminton

Badminton is a sport with rapid actions and unmeasured aerobic activity. It involves approximately 30-40 minutes of lunging, rapid forward and rear movements, high jumping, shuffling, striding and uncontrolled landings, often at full extension with minimal breaks.

Common injuries associated with the sport include Tennis Elbow, Achilles Rupture, Repetitive Strain on the wrist and the highest level of eye injuries in all racket sports, so aim to wear some form of eye protection.

Avoid the traditional method of warming up, simply walking onto the court and hitting the shuttlecock a few times back and forth. Regardless of your level aim to spend 5 minutes working on your mobility exercises, followed by a further 10 minutes warming up, either with a light jog or ideally a skipping rope before commencing your static warm-up stretches.

Dynamic movements under control should follow the static stretching to help prepare you for the game, dependant upon your level, you may also wish to perform the foot drills.

Prior to going on to the court look at performing simple lunges to the front, rear and side, ideally 8 each leg in all directions. At any periods of rest aim to keep yourself still moving, even between each point simply lifting and lowering the heel alternatively on each foot will help to relax the muscles of the leg, and thus reduce the risk of injury and allow for greater performance.

Use all the static warm-up stretches, and include the following to prepare you for your game.

 

 

Because badminton is often a very sociable game, the cool down normally happens at the club bar. Avoid going from what can be high activity to complete rest, spend a minimum of 5 minutes cooling down, you could even aim to finish the game 5 minutes early, and use the last 5 minutes to practice shots, allowing for the heart rate to come down gradually.

Use the cool down stretches and also those above to help prevent muscle soreness and injury. Aim to hold the stretch for 15 seconds, then take a deep breath in, and on the exhale aim to increase the stretch for a further 15 seconds.