the 5 minutes before that actually matter

Honestly I used to think a warm-up was just a vague jog and some arm circles. Turns out I was basically doing nothing. What actually made a difference for me was switching to stuff that's specific to padel — lateral shuffles, some split-step practice, a bit of shoulder rotation. Like actually mimicking what you're about to do rather than just... existing near the court for a few minutes. Took me an embarrassingly long time to figure that out tbh. Five minutes done properly and my first few points feel completely different to when I rush in cold.