Pickleball is one of the fasting growing sports in the United States. It is estimated the number of pickleball players has increased by over 650 percent in the last 6 years. Although pickleball has its roots in the over-60 crowd, it now boasts players of all ages. It even has reached the intramural sport level in colleges. With its growing popularity, the level of play has increased and so have the physical demands on the body. There is now a need to physically prepare for the demands of pickleball.
My experience with pickleball
I first played pickleball around Christmas time of 2019. I was visiting my parents in my childhood hometown and they invited me to join them for some games (or matches?).
My parents had been talking about pickleball for months after getting hooked on the sport by some of their friends. Every time I FaceTimed with my parents, they told me all about their games – how fun it was, the great shots they made, and most of all how good of a workout it was.
I was skeptical on the last part (…and on how skilled they said they were). But boy was I wrong.
As a former varsity athlete at the college level, I like to think I’m in pretty good shape. However, I was surprised by the demands that pickleball put on me.
I was moving all over the court, getting in and out of squats and had my hand-eye coordination challenged.
It certainly was harder than I expected.
Should you work out for pickleball?
I think this question comes with every recreational activity people take part in.
“Do I really need to train for pickleball?”
Technically, no. Buuuuut….
I imagine that the majority of people that participate in pickleball will be middle-aged, at least. It has probably been a while since they (you) competed in a semi-competitive or very-competitive sport.
Plus, pickleball requires you to move around quickly, react to the ball and perform repeated movements.
The above can put you at risk for an acute injury during pickleball – like a pulled muscle, a fall, or something more serious like an Achilles tendon rupture or ACL tear. The repetitive nature of pickleball may also put you at risk for chronic injuries like tennis elbow, rotator cuff problems and plantar fasciitis (Greiner, 2019).
As a result, I suggest that you consider some home exercises to prepare you for the rigors of pickleball. Not only could these exercises limit your injury risk, they will probably lead to better performance (and confidence!) on the court.
A final thought on working out for pickleball:
I will adapt my favourite quote about recreational sport in middle-aged people to pickleball players:
“Get in shape to play pickleball, don’t play pickleball to get in shape.”
- Read More: How to warm up for exercise in 5 steps
- Read More: 9 tips to gain strength
5 Home Exercises for Pickleball
1. Lunge
The lunge is one of the 7 primal movement patterns that I suggest everyone should do in their training.
It is a unilateral lower body exercise – which means it primarily works one leg at a time. Most sports, including pickleball, require strong single-leg strength.
Performing lunges will increase your leg strength – primarily through the thigh and some of the glute (butt). In addition, it will help your ability to decelerate your body, which is related to injury risk in a number of sports. Also, the lunge will help with ankle and knee stability.
I suggest a 5-point lunge technique for your home training. The 5 points are best explained when considering a clock. You will step to 12, 2, 3, 4, and 6 o’clock, as shown in the photo below.
The lunge movement consists of:
- Start standing straight up with your feet below you
- Take a large step forward (1.5x your normal length)
- Immediately drop the knee of the leg that didn’t step forward down to the floor
- Drive off your front foot so you come back to standing.
- Repeat at the next “time on the clock” until you reach 6 o’clock
- Repeat with your other leg
I suggest performing 3 sets of 2-3 times through each of the 5 “times”/direction per leg, with a minute or two of break between sets.
If you would like to read up on sets and reps, you can check out my article explaining them here.
2. Glute Bridge
As the name suggests, the glute bridge will help you with developing glute strength.
The glutes are some of the biggest muscles in the body and are key components to performance and injury prevention.
From a performance side of things, the glutes allow you to move explosively forward and side-to-side. This will help when reacting to your opposition’s shot. Additionally, they are muscle that allow you to transfer force from your legs to your upper body. This will help with the more powerful shots you take.
The glute muscles help you decelerate your body, which I’ve already mentioned is a key to injury prevention. They also help control your knee position, which can prevent knee injuries.
To perform a glute bridge:
- Start by lying on the ground on your back, with the bottom of your feet on the ground and about 6 inches from your bum
- Pull your belly button in and feel your abs engage
- Push your feet hard into the ground while lifting your hips off the ground by squeezing your butt
- Hold for a 2 count at the top (squeezing your butt as hard as you can!)
- Slowly lower pelvis back down to the ground
** You shouldn’t feel this in your back. If you do feel this exercise in your back, think of rolling your pelvis underneath you before you start. This should make your lower back make contact with the ground under you. Then try to hold this pelvic position throughout the movement – and only lift your hips off the ground so far as you can maintain the good position through your hips and back.
3. Side Plank
The side plank is a very straightforward exercise but don’t mistake it for being easy or non-productive.
With the amount of trunk rotation and flexion that occurs in pickleball it is important to off-set it with anti-rotation and anti-flexion exercises. Performing “anti-movement” exercises helps you rotate and flex, and helps with decelerating those movements.
This can assist in injury prevention and provide robustness to the core.
The side plank addresses this nicely.
The principles of the exercise remain the same whether you perform the exercise on your elbow/forearm or with an extended arm.
The shoulders and hips should be stacked and perpendicular to the floor. This makes sure your body is straight up and down.
You should be squeezing your butt muscles throughout the duration, and your belly button should be pulled in a little bit. I like to imagine that I am bracing through my core at the same intensity as if someone were to karate chop me in the stomach. So, a solid brace but not max effort tightness in the core.
You should also try to have a straight line through your ears, shoulders, hips and ankles.
Ideally, you will start with a challenging duration of time (about 20 seconds) per side and slowly increase the time you hold your side plank.
Side planks shouldn’t be easy. You should check your body alignment and core tightness if you can easily hold a side plank for greater than 30-45 seconds.
4. Bent Over Row
Although we can’t see them in the mirror, the muscles of the back are some of the most important muscles of the body.
These muscles provide support to the spine, which can help decrease your risk of back injuries. Also, having strong back muscles will aid in maintaining your posture. This can assist joint health, movement abilities and decrease risk of chronic injuries.
From a performance side of things, the muscles of your back will be used in all shots in pickleball – either to help support your arm and shoulder or to actually perform the actions.
Bottom line, I have never met a person that has been negatively impacted by having a bigger and stronger back.
My go to exercise for back strength is a bent over row.
You can use a loaded duffle bag to add resistance to the rows if you don’t have dumbbells at your house. Personally, I would put some books in a duffle bag to add weight.
One thing to remember when performing bent over rows include keeping a big, wide back throughout the movement by trying to be as wide as possible at your shoulders. I liken this to a young, teenage boy trying to show off his muscles to impress girls. Or to make a “Wolverine pose”.
Basically, you want to keep a normal curve to your spine and stay engaged through the muscles of your torso to protect your back from injury.
To perform the rows:
- Pick up your weight(s), either with one hand or two
- Stand tall with a bit of bend in your knees and bend over so that your back is on a 45° degree to the ground
- Allow your arms (and the weights) to hang down to the ground, while maintaining a flat back position
- Initiate the row by pulling the weight to the level of the bottom of your ribs
- Pause for a second
- While in control, lower the weight back to your starting position
For rowing movements, you can usually do a significant number of reps. I would recommend somewhere in the neighbourhood of 12-15 repetitions.
#5 Shoulder External Rotation
I feel like everyone knows someone that has torn their rotator cuff. It may have been through sports like tennis or golf (or pickleball!) or a chronic injury from sitting at a desk for years.
The rotator cuff muscles attach to the humerus (upper arm bone) and help it move around in the shoulder joint. When strong and working properly these muscles make sure the head of the humerus is in the right spot in the joint and can move freely.
When the rotator cuff isn’t working properly there can be rubbing and pinching in the joint. This can wear out the tendons of the cuff. It is very much like constantly rubbing a rope against a sharp edge – eventually the rope will fray and break.
Having robust rotator cuff muscles, particularly the external rotators, is key to protecting the shoulder joint. Additionally, improving their strength can help improve posture and will assist in pickleball shots.
I like the seated shoulder external rotation as my go-to rotator external rotator exercise.
To perform the seated shoulder external rotation:
- Sit on the floor with your legs extended in front of you and a shoulder height surface (chair or table) beside you
- Place the elbow of the arm you want to work on the surface about 45° from your shoulder (elbow directly to the side of your side would be 0° and directly in front of you would be 90°)
- Bend your elbow so that your forearm is at a 90° angle to your upper arm (forearm is perpendicular to the ground)
- While keeping your elbow in contact with the surface, allow your forearm to rotate toward the ground (palm toward ground) while maintaining the 90° between your forearm and upper arm
- Go down as far as you can without losing elbow contact with the surface or allowing your shoulder to shrug up toward your ear
- Pause for 1 second then reverse the motion – again keeping pressure into the surface
Use a full water bottle or soup can to add load to this movement. You probably shouldn’t be lifting more than 5-10 lbs.
Shoot for 3 sets of 15 repetitions on the seated shoulder external rotation.
Final Thoughts on Exercises for Pickleball
If you are able to go through these 5 exercises for 2-3 sets of each about 2-3 times per week you should see improvements in your pickleball performance and in overall strength. Including these exercises in your weekly routine should reduce your injury susceptibility too!
Remember though, the goal is to slowly progress the weight you lift, so you don’t need to go crazy your first week.
- Read More: How to progress workouts
Disclaimer:
The information presented in this article and on HomeGymLife.com is for educational purposes only. HomeGymLife.com is not responsible for any injury that may occur while performing these exercises. No remarks are guaranteeing injury prevention. When beginning an exercise program, you should consult a health care professional.
References
Greiner, N. (2019). Pickleball: Injury Considerations in an increasingly Popular Sport. Missouri Medicine, 116(9), 488–491. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6913863/