AIM7 Fitness App Founder On Warming Up for PB

Blocking Shot, Shoulder Pain, Happiness & Snacks

Author

FIT PICKLER
June 27, 2024

Health, Fitness, News & Fun for Picklers of All Ages

What's Cooking in the Kitchen This Week:

  • Interview with AIM7 Pickleball Fitness APP Founder Erik Korem

  • Fitness Expert Glen Dawson: 3 Simple Moves For Shoulder Pain

  • “GOT IT” and “SURVEY CONTEST” WINNERS ANNOUNCED

  • Blocking in Pickleball, Turning Defense Into Offense

  • 5 Health Benefits of Pickleball

  • Health & Happiness Coach John Zackour On Pickleball Positivity

  • 6 Pickleball Fueling Snack Ideas

  • The Fit Pickler Survey Contest: Enter Today!

  • Rally Rundown: Local Highlights

  • Coach Mary: Are Returns More Important than Serves?

  🎙️INTERVIEW

AIM7 Pickleball Fitness APP
Founder Erik Komer on
The Importance Of Warm-Ups

At the USA Pickleball World Convention we met Erik Korem, the founder of AIM7, the first Pickleball Health and Performance App designed to keep you healthy on and off the court.

Nothing like his App has ever been delivered to the market before. AIM7 has been able to demonstrate that after 90 days, the average person experiences a 20% reduction in stress, double digit improvements in sleep, mood, motivation and energy.

We asked him to sit down with us for an interview to share his most important piece of advice for Injury Prevention in Pickleball.

Here are some highlights from our conversation:

Fit Pickler: How did you get started in this field?

Erik: I spent 16 years in the NFL and in college football as a sports scientist, and performance coach. And I helped pioneer the use of athlete tracking technologies here in the United States.

When I was at Florida State University, in 2010, we were putting these devices on the pads of our players. And we could understand what they were doing on the field for the first time: how fast they ran, how many yards they covered, accelerations, decelerations. And we used that information to help build better programs to keep our players healthy. And, in one season of implementing this new plan, we had an 88% reduction in injury.

So, my career became turning data into human performance solutions. And I wanted to bring these type of solutions to the average person.

Fit Pickler: How did you come to focus on Pickleball specifically?

Erik: In Pickleball, there are a lot of injuries and people are in pain. It's not that Pickleball is inherently dangerous. You see, I think we'd all agree Pickleball is a sport, but the problem is, we're just not treating it like a sport.

So, if you don't do the basics, like warm up, cool down, mobility movements, and even a little resistance training, you're going to have injuries, and you're going to be in pain. And that's going to keep you from having fun with your friends on the court.

Fit Pickler: So, how does you App achieve these goals?

Erik: Very simply, it tells you exactly what you need to do each day every time before you step on the court: How to warm up before you get on the court, how to cool down when you get off the court and even tools for breathwork to help you focus and improve your game.

Fit Pickler: Tell us more about the importance of warming up and how your App helps.

Erik: When you warm up to go on the court, if you do a thorough warm up, you are giving yourself a little dose of medicine every single time. Warm-ups should include 4 things.

First, you need to get your heart rate up, and you want to get your core temperature up. Because when your core temperature increases, your muscles become more pliable, they move easier.

Next, you want to mobilize your joints. It takes a while for your joints to feel like they warm up. It's because they do not get direct blood flow. The only way you get a joint to move for a full range of motion is you have to have blood flowing to them. So, we take you through a very thorough process of flexing and extending and rotating the elbows, hips, knees, ankles and shoulders.

Then we do something called dynamic flexibility, which is like lunging and squatting motions. You need to add load to your body in different planes of motion. So when you are on the court and you are reaching and bending for a ball, you don’t want that to happen at full speed when you are on the court without having warmed up. That is how people hurt themselves.

And then the last thing is we do is what's called activation, it'll include a little bit of balance, which is something that we struggle with as we age, and some very low intensity bouncing exercises.

Because the most common types of injuries are strains and sprains. And then people are falling and having fractures. And to prevent the falls and fractures you need to improve your balance and you need to improve your strength. How do you do that? Resistance training and balance training.

Fit Pickler: What about on days you don’ t play, what are the benefits of the App?

Erik: On days that you don't play or even days that you do play, let's say your shoulder’s bothering you. You can go through a 12-week program with Dr Kyle Richmond, who's a expert in mobility and pain, to help improve your range of motion and get out of pain. And we do that for your shoulder, low back, hip, knee, ankle and more, so, it's not just on game days. It's basically a Life App.

Fit Pickler: What if you don't have an acute injury and you aren't playing that day?

Erik: We have resistance training programs that you can design based off of your time demands, your fitness history, the type of equipment you're comfortable with using and our next update will allow users to say, “I want a 5, 7, 10-minute routine” and we will have beginner, intermediate and advanced trainings as well.

Fit Pickler: This sounds like the perfect fit for our community, Is there anything you’d like us to know in closing and are you willing to offer our community any discounts?

Erik: We are so excited about serving this pickleball community, we're all in on Pickleball. We're the only solution in the market. And I'm excited for people to grow with us on this journey. And we know we are impacting lives because while most fitness Apps lose 80% of their customers after the first 30 days, Aim7 has a 90% retention rate after one month.

And Yes, to the discount. I would love to offer your community TWO MONTHS FREE. The App will be $9.99/month in August and as a special bonus, users who pay yearly receive 30% Discounts on all Thorne Supplements!


To get the discount click the button below to sign up and use code FIT60

🏆JUNE WINNER OF THE “GOT IT” CONTEST
This month’s Prize: “PICKLEBALL PICKLEBALL PICKLEBALL”
T-ShirtWinner: “Beth T.”
Congratulations!
(Check Your Email for Details)

© Original Design by The Fit Pickler

Got FOMO? No Worries, you can pick up a cool pickleball shirt of your own
at TheFitPicklerStore.com Use Code FITPICKLER20 to get 20% OFF

🏆JUNE WINNER OF
“THE SURVEY CONTEST”
Congratulations “Monique O.”
Check Your Email for Your Prize

 🏋️ STAYING FIT with GLEN

Relieve Shoulder Issues with 3 Simple Moves You Can Do Anywhere

🥷 SKILLS

Blocking in Pickleball
Turning Defense Into Offense

Pickleball is a game of finesse, strategy, and power. While aggressive shots like drives and slams often steal the spotlight, a well-executed block can be equally effective, especially when facing players who rely on power and pace. Today we are exploring the mechanics, variations, strategic applications of blocking, and how to master this often-overlooked “offensive” weapon.

What is Blocking?
Blocking in pickleball involves intercepting an incoming shot before it bounces, usually at the non-volley zone (NVZ) line. Unlike a volley, where you hit the ball in the air after it has crossed the net, a block involves reacting to a hard-hit ball and redirecting it back to your opponents' side.

How is Blocking Done?
1. Ready Position: Start in a balanced athletic stance with your weight slightly forward and your paddle up in front of you, around waist height. This position allows you to react quickly to any incoming shot.

2. Paddle Angle: As the ball approaches, angle your paddle slightly downward. The degree of the angle depends on the incoming ball's trajectory. This downward angle helps to keep the ball low and prevents it from popping up, making it harder for your opponents to counterattack.

3. Soft Hands: Keep your grip relaxed and absorb the energy of the ball with your paddle. Avoid swinging or hitting the ball; instead, let the ball bounce off your paddle, using a "cushioning" effect to control its direction.

4. Target: Aim your block at the feet of the player who hit the shot or towards their weaker side. This forces them to hit up on the ball, making it difficult for them to generate power or angle.

👨‍🔬HEALTH NEWS

5 Health Benefits of Pickleball

Catherine Nobile, PsyD, a NYC psychologist and director of Nobile Psychology and Aditi Nerurkar, MD a Harvard physician and author of The 5 Resets, discuss 5 health benefits of Pickleball.

While most of know about heart health and respiratory fitness, other benefits like increased cognitive flexibility may be less well known.

Nobile says, “This sport's fast-paced nature and ever-changing dynamics necessitate quick decision-making, the ability to adjust strategies swiftly, and the capacity to adapt to opponents' actions and teamwork nuances.”

🤣 HUMOR

🔦 COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

Health & Happiness Coach John Zackour On Pickleball Positivity

You may recognize the name John Zakour from his cartoons in past issues of The Fit Pickler. Besides being a gifted cartoonist, John is also a health and happiness coach.

Check out his delightful take on “Positive Pickleball” and his latest Pickleball Cartoon.

👩‍🍳NUTRITION

6 Pickleball Fueling Snack Ideas

Looking for tasty, energy fueling, easy-to-pack snacks for your next pickleball game or tournament?

Look no further! This great article has snack ideas, recipes and pictures for bars, wraps, smoothies, energy balls and more!
Check it out here…

🧭 COMMUNITY NEWS

RALLY RUNDOWN:
LOCAL HIGHLIGHTS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The First Association dedicated to Recreational Pickleball Players! Find other Players, Deals & Discounts from Pickleball Vendors!
Go to RPPA.org and take advantage of the FREE Membership Offer!

PickleCon is coming to Kansas City August 8th-11th! The event will feature
60-plus vendors and more than 100 pickleball courts.
Learn More at Picklecon.com

HOLDING COURT with
COACH MARY

  💪  ARE RETURNS MORE IMPORTANT
THAN SERVES?

Are Returns More Important than Serves?

Elijah explains that there are three levels:

1. Beginner, or “Safe” Return:

• Make sure I am behind the baseline, with my paddle in front.

• Wait and Stop, Hit, continue up to the NVZ line.

• Stroke is compact, almost a half swing and simple, paddle face open so that you can get your return high and deep, allowing you time to get to the Kitchen line quickly.

2. Intermediate Return:

• Move up closer to the baseline.

• Paddle position is low, with a compact swing, but bigger swing than the beginner return.

• Paddle face is more closed.

• Start your swing and start moving through the ball with a little bit bigger swing. You are moving through this shot, rather than stopping and hitting. You will now get to the line quicker.

3. Advanced Return:

• Move up right behind the baseline.

• Take a bigger backswing, and a full stroke as you move.

• Take the ball on the rise, almost like a short hop.

• Use plenty of topspin!

• You will have a positional advantage and get to the Kitchen quicker.

I had one of my higher drill classes watch this video first, and then we drilled it with stations. I posed this question: When would you incorporate the intermediate and advanced returns?

Several of them got it right!

1. When the serve is mid court or short to the forehand.

2. When you are using Rally scoring. Weaponize your return when you can score with it!

Remember to know your own mobility limitations and move only as quickly as you can with balance to prevent injuries.

Not Yet a Subscriber? Click Below to Get Our Newsletter Every Week - Its FREE