Bowling Stretching For Strikes

bowlingball.com, Originally Posted: 6/5/2012; Updated: 11/21/2023

If you implement a routine of bowling stretching for strikes, you give yourself the best chance of getting your competitive session off to a good start as well as avoiding possible injuries. Please consider developing a routine of bowling stretching for strikes to give you the best use of your limited practice time before league and tournament competitions.
Stretching exercises before you begin bowling are a good way of getting the muscles of your legs, arms, and shoulders loose and warmed up. Since we must walk and swing our bowling balls in a synchronized manner and deliver the ball between 18-21 mph launch velocity accurately and consistently to achieve desired results, it makes sense to stretch our bowling muscles before beginning to bowl.
Here are a few tips to prepare for bowling:
1. Use slow and smooth stretching exercises working the big muscles of your legs in preparation to bowl. Stretch your hamstring muscles, the big muscles of the legs, using toe-touching or ankle touching exercises to a point where the legs feel warm and stimulated and hold the stretch for 10-15 seconds without forcing the stretched muscles. Because you must make a good knee flexing motion and a long sliding action when delivering the bowling ball, your legs need to be stretched out enough to avoid injury.
2. General calisthenic exercises or aerobic exercises commonly used at home can also be useful for stretching your leg muscles prior to bowling. If you stretch your legs properly, you will start off your session with good footwork tempo.
3. Limbering the shoulders before bowling will work nicely. Rotate your arms in a swinging, full-range of motion of large circles and then reverse the rotational direction. This type of motion loosens the shoulder sockets and the big muscles of the arm and gets your blood flowing before you bowl.
4. Stretch your arm across your body to a full extension and with your opposite hand placed on your elbow of the arm which rests against your torso, gently stretch the arm so the shoulder muscles get loosened. Hold the stretch for 10-15 seconds and then release and stretch your other arm. It is always a good idea to stretch both sides of your body, arms and legs, in the same manner during the warm up process.
5. Loosen your wrists and ankles with circular motions to stretch the tendons and ligaments, particularly for those of you living in cold climates.
6. Place your hand into your ball and make some practice swings back and forward without releasing the ball. After a few swings, then perhaps you can allow your bowling thumb to release from the hole while keeping your fingers in their holes and catch the "mini-release" in your opposite hand. Flexing your hand open and closed several times also stretches the ligaments in your gripping fingers and gets the blood flowing in your hand.
7. Make sure your first couple of deliveries are at semi-speed. Build up to your full operating speed during your warm-up deliveries. By building gradually to your full speed, you will retain consistent tempo throughout your session on the lanes.
Develop a pre-shot routine, like the pro bowlers use, so each time you prepare to bowl, you perform your physical stretching exercises and take the first several deliveries at half throttle. Be precise in your warm-up routine just as you wish to be precise when delivering the bowling ball.

There are numerous types of exercises which can help you prepare to bowl. Develop your own routine based upon your age, your degree of body flexibility, and how much time you can dedicate to warming up before competition.
Since our policy at bowlingball.com is to recommend you consult a certified bowling instructor or local bowling professional to help you improve your game, the same holds true with consulting your physician and/or physical trainer about warming up properly before beginning your session on the lanes. If you want good scores, learn the art of bowling stretching for strikes.
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