What’s the talk on the street here in Northeast Ohio? Pickleball. It’s absolutely Pickleball. Everyone is either playing it or eager to learn. The origin story of the new hotness is that three dads on an island near Seattle concocted this hybrid between ping pong, tennis, and badminton in 1965 to keep their kids from slouching around the neighborhood saying, “I’m bored!” And even though it developed rather humbly as a cross between three different games, the rules are easy, the vibe is pure fun, and it’s a great way to stay fit with friends.
No wonder it’s so popular! More than 36.5 million people play it now, and its popularity has grown by 223.5% over the last three years. The fever just keeps growing! We see it (and play it) here at ReSet Lounge, your Chagrin Falls spa.
Today, we want to talk about muscle training and conditioning so that you can prevent pickleball injuries and boost your power and agility on the court. But if you do get a pickleball-related injury, know that ReSet Lounge has a wide variety of effective wellness therapies that can help you recover quickly so you can get back on the court sooner! So, if you’ve got sore muscles, book an appointment with us and feel better faster! But also, try these 8 tips for conditioning yourself, preventing injuries, and overcoming injuries for your best pickleball season yet!
1. Push-ups for Upper-Body Strength
Swinging that pickleball paddle requires strong arms, strong shoulders, and a strong core. Push-ups help you with all those things, especially if you maintain the proper form during exercise. Make sure to hold your stomach and back straight as you do your push-ups, as this will prevent injury while strengthening all those areas. Push-ups are not everyone’s favorite, so if they’re hard, start by bracing with your knees instead of your feet. Then move up to full push-ups.
2. Planks for Core Power
Speaking of core power, planks are one of the most powerful conditioning exercises to help you strengthen your abs, lower back, hips, and pelvis—the parts of you that help you quickly rotate, and remain stable as you twist, lunge, and swing for the ball. In fact, planks can help bolster your form on the court to prevent pickleball injuries. They can be hard to do if you’re not used to them, so start with a couple of reps of 5 to 10 seconds each, then gradually add more seconds per session over time. They will get easier as you do them, we promise!
3. Squats for Explosive Leg Agility
Being able to quickly jump, squat, and move from side to side helps you smash that shot or get into position. Squats can help you build powerful leg strength while also helping strengthen and stabilize your knees, so long as you perform the exercises correctly by keeping your knees directly over your ankles and not overextending past them.
4. The Bridge for Strong Glutes
Notice how all these exercises really work together to bring all areas of the body into strength and alignment? The glutes are important for this too because they can help you explode across the court more quickly. Glute bridges can also improve knee stability and strength while activating your abs and glutes.
5. Lunges for Stabilizing Knees and Ankles
Some of the most common pickleball injuries we see here at ReSet Lounge are knee and ankle injuries. One way to prevent those is by adding lunges to your workout. This helps build strength in your ankle and knee muscles, which keeps them more stable and enables you to twist and, well, lunge for the ball. If these are hard to do, use the wall or a chair to help you, and work up to stronger lunges. Also, consider adding lateral lunges to your conditioning as this will help a lot with the lateral movements you have to make while playing pickleball!
7. Bolstering Arm, Elbow, Wrist, and Hand Strength
Strength training exercises for the upper body, especially from your shoulders to your fingertips, will help you build paddle power and avoid injuries. We are seeing quite a few “pickleball elbow” complaints these days, partially because of the repetitive motion injuries involved. But strength training these muscle groups can stabilize and strengthen your arm from shoulder to fingertips. Consider forearm supination and pronation exercises and wrist curls as part of your conditioning regimen.
8. Pamper Sore Muscles and Heal Faster at Your Chagrin Falls Spa
In addition to regular training, don’t forget to warm up with stretches. Also, if you’ve got sore muscles already, we can help you there with our many wellness technology options designed to accelerate healing and reduce inflammation naturally. Here are just a few of our client favorites:
Red Light Therapy
Red light therapy and infrared light therapy are incredible, non-invasive, and relaxing ways to boost your pickleball performance and help you overcome sore spots. They can provide joint and muscle pain relief, reduce inflammation, and improve your body’s ATP production (the element that regenerates damaged cells). In fact, it’s great for all athletes!
Ozone Therapy
Our HOCATT™ Ozone Therapy Sauna capsule is truly next-level healing that will not only help you boost your pickleball performance but can also help you detoxify and transform your overall health by rolling several different therapy modalities into just one session. It flushes your system with the benefits of an infrared sauna, ozone therapy, infrared light therapy, and more, all at the same time, for deep healing on multiple levels.
Massage Therapy
Massage therapy is also a super way to work out sore muscle knots and accelerate healing after a pickleball injury, or just to get limber and loose before your next big pickleball tournament! In addition to hands-on massage with our wonderful massage therapist, ReSet Lounge has massage therapy and compression chairs that provide a personalized, full-body massage that you may actually fall asleep in. It’s that relaxing and relieving.
Infrared Sauna
Our relaxing infrared sauna uses three levels of infrared light to ease away muscle pain and soreness. This helps detoxify the system, boost your metabolism, and purify the skin while providing a comprehensive sense of relaxation.
NuCalm® Neuroscience Therapy
When you compete in a pickleball league, the higher level of competition brings with it more stress and pressure to perform. So before you head into your next match, consider NuCalm® to help you relax and destress. Tennis players swear by it! The therapy puts you in a relaxed state (without drugs) within 20-30 minutes, helping you to recenter, relax and focus.
Pickleball Pain Relief at Your Chagrin Falls Spa
Let this be your pickleball summer! And let ReSet Lounge be part of helping you make your pickleball dreams come true. Schedule an appointment for any of our wellness technology modalities, or for advice on getting the most out of your strength training, stretching, and conditioning regimen!
