How to Incorporate Pickleball into a Comprehensive Fitness Routine

Pickleball is a fun, accessible sport. It’s also an excellent addition to a fitness routine, as playing regularly can improve your strength, flexibility, cardiovascular health and more.

This article provides a helpful overview of how to make pickleball part of your fitness plan.

Fitness Plan Focus Areas

An important starting point for integrating pickleball into a workout regimen is understanding what your plan should focus on. A typical fitness routine addresses five key areas:

• Cardiovascular health
• Strength training
• Core exercises
• Balance training
• Flexibility

Let’s look at each in turn before addressing what might be a good workout plan.

Pickleball and Cardiovascular Health

A pickleball match is an excellent workout for your heart and lungs. As soon as play is underway, you can feel your heart and breathing rates rise significantly to give your body the nutrients and oxygen it needs.

If you play regularly, you’ll notice your endurance increases, and you don’t get winded as quickly or easily. Those are clear signs that your cardiovascular fitness is improving.

Pickleball and Strength Training

Pickleball engages many different muscle groups throughout the body. Your legs and arms, in particular, get a great workout.

Consistent play enables you to move around the court faster and hit shots with more force. As your muscle mass and tone increase, you’ll find yourself getting to more volleys and hitting more decisive shots.

Pickleball and Core Exercises

They may not be the first muscles that come to mind when you think of pickleball, but your core muscles are pivotal to your performance. A strong core helps you play the sport safely and effectively.

Pickleball engages muscles in your abdomen, back and hips. Regular play strengthens them, enabling you to perform twisting motions and lean from side to side more quickly and efficiently. It also gives you a more solid foundation from which to hit shots.

Pickleball and Balance Training

Good balance is essential on the pickleball court and in life in general. Playing the sport strengthens the muscles that are essential for balance. It also improves your body’s ability to understand where it is in space (called proprioception), which helps keep you upright.

As you play more matches, you’ll notice you can reach farther to get to volleys without losing your balance. That translates to better pickleball performance and a reduced risk of falls off the court.

Pickleball and Flexibility

Many movements required during a pickleball match help improve your flexibility, including long strides to get to shots, reaching out to contact the ball with your paddle, etc. These and other actions stretch and lengthen your muscles over time, helping you be more limber.

The evidence of that improvement is, among other things, your increasing ability to “cover the court.”

Putting It All Together: Pickleball as Part of Your Fitness Routine

Everyone’s workout needs are unique, but below is a sample plan you can modify for your requirements. Note that each active day involves pre- and post-workout stretching. You should experiment to find the most effective stretches for you, using resources like our lists of stretches for every day and stretches when traveling as food for thought.

Day 1

Play a vigorous pickleball match, being sure to stretch before and after.

Day 2

Cross-train with a different type of cardio, like swimming, biking, brisk walking or running, rowing or water aerobics. Here again, it’s crucial to stretch before and after workouts.

Day 3

Have a combined strength/core training day. There are several exercises you could include. For example, try push-ups, squats (standing with feet shoulder-width apart and lowering your hips like sitting in a chair) and weight lifting for strength training. Planks, crunches (like sit-ups but only raising your head and shoulders off the floor) and leg raises (from lying on your back) are excellent for strengthening your core. Stretch at the start and end of your workout.

Day 4

Play another vigorous pickleball match, stretching before and after.

Day 5

Have a combined balance/flexibility workout. Stretch before and after your session, but include more types of stretches and do more repetitions than you do on other days. For balance, try simple single-leg standing, flamingo standing (standing on one leg and bringing your other heel toward your buttocks), single-leg reaches (standing on one leg while pointing with your other foot forward, to the side and backward) and tandem stance (standing with your feet in a straight line, toe to heel).

Day 6

Enjoy one more vigorous pickleball match for the week, with stretching.

Day 7

Rest. While working out feels great, your body also needs rest to recover. Spend your day on other non-exercise activities as you look forward to your next match!

Stay Fit With Pickleball!

Pickleball can be an excellent addition to your workout routine, benefiting your body in multiple ways. Just be sure to talk with your healthcare provider before starting or significantly increasing a fitness regimen to ensure you’re healthy enough for the sport and to get guidance on avoiding pickleball injuries.

Don’t have a Baptist Health provider? Use our provider directory to find one, or call 1.844.6BAPTIST.

Next Steps and Helpful Resources