{"id":1156,"date":"2026-10-22T01:17:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T01:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1156"},"modified":"2026-10-22T01:17:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T01:17:56","slug":"warm-up-sideline-to-sideline-beats-lazy-middle-rallies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1156","title":{"rendered":"Warm-Up: Sideline-to-Sideline Beats Lazy Middle Rallies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe title=\"\u201cLet\u2019s rally down the middle to get warm\u201d \ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2642\ufe0f\ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2642\ufe0f\ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2642\ufe0f I am always extra warm after a side\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TdJdD8q4jJ0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<p>Troy Akin pushes back on the default \u201clet\u2019s just rally down the middle to get warm.\u201d He\u2019s always more warmed up after sideline-to-sideline rallies that force real lateral movement.<\/p>\n<p>If your warm-up never makes you shuffle, you\u2019re not actually preparing for points. Trade a few lazy middle feeds for side-to-side rallies before the first game.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Middle-only warm-ups under-prepare your legs<\/li>\n<li>Sideline-to-sideline forces the lateral movement matches need<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Next open play: first 5 minutes only cross-court \/ sideline rallies \u2014 no middle feeds<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"tdd-newsletter\">\n<p><strong>Get the 5 best pickleball tips every week<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/subscribe-forms.beehiiv.com\/v3\/loader.js\" data-beehiiv-form=\"0e5f3fe0-e4d3-4036-8d7f-c33b311980b2\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thedropdrive.beehiiv.com\/subscribe\">Subscribe free<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Troy Akin pushes back on the default \u201clet\u2019s just rally down the middle to get warm.\u201d He\u2019s always more warmed up after sideline-to-sideline rallies that force real lateral movement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[600,2,602],"tags":[1218,1217,160,87],"class_list":["post-1156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drills","category-footwork","category-practice","tag-lateral-movement","tag-sideline","tag-troy-akin","tag-warm-up"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/01-doubles-at-the-net-over-shoulder-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}