Bowling Warm Up Strategy

bowlingball.com, Originally Posted: 6/5/2012; Updated: 7/19/2023

By learning an effective bowling warm up strategy you will use your time delivering practice shots to your advantage. Identifying the lane condition and getting lined up for strikes and spares should be the objective while warming up before competition. Developing a bowling warm up strategy will enable you to shorten the time it takes to get lined up and to make good adjustments on the lanes.
Let's examine a few quick tips which will help you use your practice deliveries to your advantage:
1. Develop a pre-practice stretching routine to loosen your bowling shoulder and arm, legs, and back muscles. Stretching the big muscles of your legs, rotating your arms and loosening muscles around the shoulders, and rotating the torso slowly will help loosen the lower back muscles and not only work at preventing possible injury, will assist you in hastening the full speed bowling ball delivery process.
2. Make practice slides without the bowling ball on all sliding areas on the approach you are likely to engage during competition. Test the corners for the approaches on your starting pair of lanes and the middle of the approaches to ensure smooth sliding capabilities. You certainly want no surprises when you begin delivering the bowling ball when it counts toward score.
3. Roll the first couple of practice deliveries at half speed. Avoid trying to throw the first shots at full operating speed. Build toward your full speed gradually.
4. Dedicate a couple of deliveries rolling your spare ball to the corners of the lane where you will likely encounter the 7 and 10 pin spares during your competition. Make sure there are no unusual or unanticipated lane condition changes so you avoid carelessly missing a spare.
5. It is a popular strategy to test the lanes during practice with a ball which is not your most aggressive coverstock. Using a medium oil bowling ball which has a smooth and controllable back end ball motion is a useful way to read the mid-lane and back ends.
6. While you are testing the lanes and trying to locate the pocket with your initial alignment, try and roll your ball at full speed for at least two or three deliveries before beginning competition. Many times bowlers will deliver the strike ball in the first frame of competition at a greater speed than was used in practice, partly because of excitement and partly because of the desire to get that first strike. It is important to roll your last couple of practice deliveries and your first strike deliveries at the same speed so you properly read the lanes and make sensible angle adjustments or ball changes as necessary. Regulating your ball speed is a key part of the game.
7. Watch warm-up deliveries of fellow players with whom you are familiar with their delivery styles so you get alternative visual pictures of the lane conditions.

Using warm up deliveries to your advantage is vital to getting off to a good start in competition. Develop your own warm-up routine and use your practice time purposefully. When the lights come on, getting that first double is a confidence booster. Make your practice deliveries count.
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