Most players warm up by walking straight to the three-point line and letting it fly. Ten minutes later they've grooved twenty long misses, taught their arms to heave before their legs woke up, and called it getting loose. The session inherits whatever the warm-up grooved — so groove something worth keeping.
Close before far, always
The principle behind a real shooting warm-up fits in one line: line and arc before distance. Your shot's two most precious qualities — a straight path to the rim and a high, soft flight — are easiest to feel and cheapest to correct at point-blank range, where the legs aren't taxed and every rep gives instant feedback. Establish them close, then carry them outward. Distance is the last ingredient you add, never the first.
Here's the ten minutes.
Minutes 0–4: One-Hand Form Shooting, the foundation drill of every great shooter. Stand three feet from the rim, shooting hand only, guide hand behind your back. Full motion on every rep — dip, rise, extension, snap, hold the finish. You're watching two things only: does the ball fly straight, and does it drop in from above? Work toward 25 makes. This block is a form check disguised as a warm-up; if something's off today, you'll know it here, at three feet, instead of discovering it at twenty.
Minutes 4–7: two hands, short range. Move to the blocks and short baseline spots, still inside eight feet or so. The guide hand rejoins as a bookend — steadying, never pushing. Same full form, same held follow-through, and now your legs start taking real load on every rep. Feel the dip doing the work.
Minutes 7–10: walk it out to mid-range. Free-throw line, elbows, short wings. Full shots in rhythm, feet arriving set, one settled beat before each dip. You should feel the close-range line and arc traveling with you. If the shot suddenly flattens or sprays at fifteen feet, that's information — take one step in, rebuild the feeling, then step back out.
A warm-up that doubles as a checkup
Because the sequence is identical every day, it becomes a daily diagnostic for free. Somewhere in the middle block, film one rep from the side — a single clip is enough for CoachVision to check your line and arc before you spend them at distance, which turns your warm-up into a quiet daily physical for your shot.
By minute ten you've done something most players never do: you've earned your first three-pointer. Legs loaded, line grooved, arc established, form verified. Now the real session starts from a foundation instead of a cold heave.
Ten minutes is nothing to spend and everything to gain — same ten minutes, every session, and watch how differently your hours end.