That 10 minute warm-up? Take a look at what the WTA pros do before they even pick up a racquet.

A match warm up for the pros is not just a quick hit; it really shouldn't be for the rec player either.

Back in the heat of August I had a chance to watch a few WTA players warming up for matches at the Pilot Pen Tournament at Yale. Their pre-hitting routines were eye-opening. Those bag checks you see on the Tennis Channel really just scratch the surface of what some of these players and coaches carry around a tournament.

The bags were chock full of portable fitness equipment: jump ropes, cones, medicine balls, rip cords, thera bands, flex bars and more. The players used the gear, jogged and s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d.

Top left to right, Sybille Bammer jumps rope; Yaroslava Shvedova tosses the medicine ball while Ipek Senoglu (not pictured) runs cones; Sara Errani works a rip cord; and bottom, left Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova squeezes a flex bar.

Most rec players hop out of their car and after a quick 10 minute warm-up say "do you want to get started?" And then we wonder why we are stiff, slow starters? 

Get the gear: Most sporting good stores carry the above portable fitness equipment. Online I found the Jump rope and RipCords at Tennis-Warehouse; medicine balls, the  Thera-Band Flexbar ,  Exercise Bands and Core Balls on amazon. OncourtOffcourt.com carries a package called the Etcheberry Equipment Package. It contains just about everything you need in one.

If you are wondering about the tape on Errani's shoulder, take a look at this post.