Strength Training for Pickleball: Complete Guide & Training Program

Pickleball is currently taking over the world, one kitchen line at a time.

It’s fast, fun, and surprisingly demanding on your body, especially if strength training isn’t part of your routine.

Because if your legs are slow and your shoulders are tired, you won’t play your best, and your body will take a beating. And that’s no fun at all.

This program gives you the physical edge to play harder, recover faster, and stay injury-free, all year round.

Go directly to the program in StrengthLog.

What Is Pickleball?

Pickleball is a wildly popular paddle sport with elements of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong. It’s played on a badminton-sized court with a solid, oversized ping-pong-style paddle and a plastic ball with holes in it, a little like a Wiffle ball.

It’s easy to learn if you’re new to the sport, but it can just as well be a competitive game for experienced players, with professional leagues at the highest level.

You can play singles or doubles, with doubles being way more popular. You serve underhand, rally the plastic ball back and forth, and try to score points, which you can only do when you or your team is serving. Pickleball games are usually played to 11 points, and you must win by 2.

Pickleball started in the United States in 1965, where it’s been the fastest-growing sport for several years running, and it’s getting more and more popular all around the world.¹

A big reason is the learning curve: you can pick up a paddle and have fun your very first time playing. Also, there is less running than in, say, tennis, and since you’re so close to each other, especially in doubles, it’s a very social sport.

Despite the name, there are no pickles involved. One popular story is that it was named after “Pickles,” the family dog of one of the creators, who used to chase the ball and run away with it. Sadly, this story is likely a myth.²

(For more in-depth info about the history of the sport and how to play, I suggest visiting the USA Pickleball website, which has a bunch of great resources.)

Benefits of Strength Training for Pickleball

Pickleball often looks easy because the court is rather small and the ball moves relatively slowly. And yes, pickleball can be a light recreational activity if that’s how you want to play.

But in practice, when you’re on the court yourself, playing the sport of pickleball, you’ll notice that things can get quite physically demanding.

In a pickleball game, you’re doing frequent short sprints, lateral shuffles, and quick stops, all of which require fast reactions and explosive movements.

And while it’s certainly easier to pick up than many other racquet sports, a body with the muscle and strength to match your endurance and skill will have a big advantage.

Faster movement, more powerful shots, better balance and control, and injury prevention: strength training is the fastest and most effective way to improve a number of essential aspects of your play.

Top 8 Strength Priorities and Benefits for Pickleball

Strength Training Focus	Why It Matters for Pickleball	On-Court Impact
Lower Body Strength	The foundation for movement, lunging, and pushing off the court.	Faster movement to balls, stronger defensive recovery, and better stability during rallies.
Lateral Strength	Strength for side-to-side shuffles and direction changes.	Better court coverage and quicker response to wide shots.
Rotational Strength	Transfer power from your hips through the torso to the paddle.	Stronger drives and serves.
Core Stability	A stable torso when you swing and during fast movements.	Better balance and more consistent shots (especially when you’re reaching).
Explosive Power	Your body can produce force quickly in short bursts.	Faster first step, quicker attacks on high balls, and better reaction speed.
Grip & Forearm Strength	Paddle control and wrist stability.	Better touch on dinks, stronger volleys, and more spin control.
Shoulder Stability (Rotator Cuff)	Protects your shoulder joint when you swing and during overheads.	Reduced risk of shoulder injury.
Single-Leg Strength & Balance	You often play shots while you’re pushing or stabilizing off one leg.	Stability in your lunges to the kitchen line and better control when you hit off balance.

The Age Factor

As an older adult playing pickleball, hitting the gym becomes even more important.

Research shows that pickleball itself is not enough to maintain your strength as you get older.³ There is only one thing that does that, and that’s strength training. Not necessarily hoisting heavy iron, but some form of resistance training, be it weights, machines, resistance bands, or your own body weight.

In addition, falls are common in pickleball, and that goes double for older players. Studies show that strength training that implements the factors in the table above should be a part of your pickleball plan, not just for performance but to prevent falls and injuries.⁴

Strength Training for Pickleball: The Basics

Pickleball doesn’t really have formal “seasons” in the same structured way that many major team sports, like football or baseball, do.

In professional tours, there is something like what you’d call a season because tournaments are organized within a calendar year.

They generally kick off in January and run non-stop through late November or early December.

That means “off-season” is shorter than in most sports. We’re talking maybe 4 to 6 weeks as the year draws to a close.

Pros use this little window to heal up and pack in some heavy strength work before getting back on the court. But for regular players, the pickleball season is dictated by two things: your pickleball obsession and your local climate.

• In warm climates, there is no off-season unless you force one.
• In four-season climates, you have the outdoor season (spring/summer/fall) and the indoor season (winter). Indoor court space can be expensive or hard to get, so many play a little less during the winter, making it something of a default off-season.

When it comes to strength training, you want to at least maintain a base year-round.

Times when you’re not on court as much are prime time for heavy lifting and making your best gains.

But you also want to keep weight training in the rotation during your peak playing months, too, even if we’re talking maintenance lifting 1–2 times a week just to keep your strength and lean mass.

In addition, it’s a good idea to shift your gym focus somewhat during the month leading up to when your leagues/tournaments start (if you’re a competitive player). This is when you incorporate plyometrics and power and speed work to build on your “off-season” strength gains and make yourself as explosive as possible.

How Often Should Pickleball Players Lift?

How often you should hit the weights as a pickleball player depends on several factors, including your experience level, the time of year (in-season vs off-season), and how often you play.

Here are my recommendations that work extremely well for the majority of players:

Experience Level	Off-Season	Pre-Season	In-Season
Beginner	2–3 sessions/week	2 sessions/week	1–2 sessions/week
Intermediate	3 sessions/week	2–3 sessions/week	1–2 sessions/week
Advanced / Competitive	3–4 sessions/week	2–3 sessions/week	1–2 sessions/week

• Off-season: Build strength and physical capacity. Highest lifting frequency.
• Pre-season: Maintain strength while you shift focus toward more high-frequency pickleball.
• In-season: Reduce volume and frequency to avoid fatigue while maintaining strength.

Choosing the Right Strength Training Exercises for Pickleball

A good strength training program for pickleball includes both heavy standard lifts and more specialized exercises that fine-tune your strength for the sport.

However, most of your strength training should consist of the standard lifts. That’s because general strength and muscle mass are inherently functional.

Your pickleball strength pyramid:

1. Base: Exercises like squats, deadlift variations, presses, and rows. They build your foundational strength.
2. Middle: Power and lateral stability work, like plyometrics, lunges, and rotational exercises. Now you turn your foundational strength into pickleball strength and function.
3. Top: Sport-specific skill (actually playing pickleball).

If you only do “functional” pickleball drills, you’re missing out on the majority of the benefits strength training brings to the table.

I like to see at least the first half of your gym sessions spent on Base exercises, then you can add Middle exercises to fine-tune for the court.

It’s also a good idea to keep your strength work heavy and stable, and keep your “functional” work focused on movement quality and explosiveness.

Exercises for Pickleball Movement Patterns

Movement Demands in Pickleball	Go-to Exercises	Main Muscles Worked	Why It Matters
Explosive Lower-Body Power & Court Movement	Squat, Step-Up, Bulgarian Split Squat, Calf Raise	Quads, glutes, hamstrings, calves, core	Leg strength for starts, stops, and pushes toward the ball. Stability when planting your feet for shots.
Lateral Movement & Change of Direction	Side Lunges, Cossack Squat, Lateral Step-Up	Glutes, quads, adductors, hips	You constantly use side-to-side movement when you cover the court and reach for wide shots.
Rotational Power for Forehands, Backhands & Serves	Medicine Ball Rotational Throw, Woodchopper, Landmine Rotation, Core Twist	Obliques, abdominals, hips, shoulders	Rotational force drives shots and stroke mechanics.
Upper-Body Strength for Paddle Control & Shot Power	Push-Up, Chest Press, Shoulder Press, Dumbbell Row, Pull-Up/Lat Pulldown	Chest, shoulders, triceps, lats, upper back	Stronger drives, volleys, and overheads, and paddle control in fast exchanges.
Shoulder Stability & Injury Prevention	Band External Rotation, Face Pull, Y Raise	Rotator cuff, rear delts, traps	Stronger stabilizing muscles around the shoulder for lower injury risk.
Core Stability & Balance	Plank, Dead Bug, Pallof Press, Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift	Abs, obliques, deep core stabilizers, glutes, hamstrings	Better balance, posture, and body control during reaches, reactions, and rotational strokes.

Sound complicated? Never fear. All of the above movements are strategically covered with the ideal exercises in the Strength Training for Pickleball program.

Strength Training Program for Pickleball

This is a 10-week strength training program for pickleball players to help you hit harder, move faster, and stay injury-free. You’ll build both general and pickleball-specific strength as well as add lean mass and improve power, speed, and stability.

It’s suitable for players of any level. You don’t have to be a high-level pickleball player to follow it, but it will work great if you are.

A good strength plan will benefit your play regardless of whether you stepped onto a pickleball court for the first time yesterday or if you’re an elite player.

You can use it both as a year-round base-building routine to improve your pickleball performance and to prepare for a tournament. In other words, it’s for both non-competing pickleball enthusiasts and competitive players.

• If you’re not a competitive player (you’re into pickleball for the fun and health part of it) or you’re “off-season” (you’re not in the midst of competitions and have the time and energy to focus on strength work), I suggest you do weeks 1 through 7, then start the program over from week 1.
• If you are preparing for a tournament or serious competitive play, do all 10 weeks, and you’ll be physically ready once the real pickleball action starts.

Weeks 7–10 are pre-season prep weeks, and if you’re not preparing for a tournament or similar, you’re better off restarting your strength cycle.

You can run weeks 1–7 year-round. Strength training is fantastic not only for athletic performance but for general health, a fit body, and for an active life.

Program Overview

The Strength Training for Pickleball program is split into three phases: phases one and two are general-strength-oriented, and phase three focuses more on peaking performance for (for example) competitive play or a tournament.

Phase	Focus	Goal
Phase 1: Weeks 1–3	Foundation & Movement Quality	Build base strength, movement control, and core stability.
Phase 2: Weeks 4–7	Strength Development	Build lean mass, strength, and power for the court.
Phase 3: Weeks 8–10	Power & Sport-Specific Strength	Convert your strength gains into explosive, sport-specific movement.

This program is built around a 3-day-per-week strength schedule. That’s a training frequency that delivers optimal performance benefits and gives you plenty of time to play pickleball and recover without overtraining.

It has built-in progression so you can focus on the fun parts instead of planning and spreadsheets.

You can pick which days you lift to fit your schedule, but spacing your training days out with a rest day between workouts (like Monday, Wednesday, and Friday or Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday) is optimal for recovery.

Load Progressions and Rest Times

• Progression: Within each phase, try to increase the weight slightly (2.5–5 lb increments for upper-body lifts, 5–10 lb increments for lower-body lifts) when you can complete all prescribed reps without breaking form. During Phase 3, perform the reps explosively with maximum speed (without losing control of form). You’ll use lower loads in some exercises in this last phase; that’s intentional; your set ends when speed drops.
• Rest: Rest ~90–120 seconds between heavier lifts (strength-focused sets of 5–6 reps) and around 60 seconds for accessory or higher-rep work. Those ranges are guidelines, not edicts, so feel free to rest longer if you want or need. Power exercises (Phase 3) often need slightly longer rest (2–3 minutes) to maintain explosiveness.
• Deload: Feel free to take a Week 8 deload (-30–40% volume) or after completing the program if you feel fatigued. I have not pre-programmed any deloads, but don’t be afraid to adapt your sessions if you feel overwhelmed.

Dynamic Warm-Up (Do Not Skip)

Do this short warm-up routine before your sessions. It takes around 10–15 minutes and increases blood flow to your muscles, lubricates your joints, and improves performance.

1. Cardio (5 mins): Incline treadmill walking, light jogging, skipping, or stationary biking.
2. Dynamic Stretching (5–10 mins):
   • Leg Swings (forward/backward): 10 per leg/direction
   • Leg Swings (side-to-side): 10 per leg/side
   • Bodyweight Walking Lunges: 10 per leg (workouts 1 & 3)
   • Cat-Cow: 10 reps
   • Arm Circles & Arm Swings: 10 per direction (workout 2)
   • Band Pull-Aparts: 2 sets of 15 (workout 2)
   • Glute Bridges: 2 sets of 15 (workouts 1 & 3)

Then, for the first exercise of each workout, perform a few ramp-up sets where you increase the weight in steps until you reach your working weight.

For example, if your first set is 8 reps of squats with 150 lb, you might do: empty bar for 10–15 very easy reps, 85 lb for 8 easy reps, then 120 lb for 5 reps.

The stronger you are and the heavier weights you use, the more ramp-up sets you need. Someone who squats 500 lb will need more ramp-up sets to get there than someone who squats 100 lb, even if the weights feel equally heavy for both.

Strength Training for Pickleball: Workouts Week-By-Week

Below is an example of a week from the program with the exercises you’ll do during each phase.

The exact number of sets, the rep scheme, and details of all three phases, including % of 1RM recommendations along with the planned intensity and volume progression route, are available in your StrengthLog workout tracker app.

Weeks 1–3: Foundation & Movement Quality

Goal: Build base strength, movement control, and core stability.

Workout 1:

Exercise	Sets
Squat	3
Side Lunges	3
Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift	3
Plank with Leg Raise	2
Pallof Press	2

Workout 2:

Exercise	Sets
Dumbbell Chest Press	3
Cable Seated Row	3
Dumbbell Lateral Raise	3
Face Pull	2
Plank with Shoulder Taps	2

Workout 3:

Exercise	Sets
Trap Bar Deadlift	3
Step-Up	3
Dumbbell Row	3
High to Low Wood Chopper	2
Farmer’s Carry	2

Weeks 4–7: Strength Development

Goal: Build lean mass, strength, and power for the court.

Workout 1:

Exercise	Sets
Squat	4
Bulgarian Split Squat	3
Romanian Deadlift	3
Calf Raise	3
Plank with Leg Raise	3

Workout 2:

Exercise	Sets
Bench Press	3
Lat Pulldown/Pull-Up	3
Triceps Pushdown	3
External Shoulder Rotation	2
Core Twist	3

Workout 3:

Exercise	Sets
Trap Bar Deadlift	4
Single-Arm Landmine Press	3
High to Low Wood Chopper	3
Suitcase Carry	3
Hanging Leg Raise	3

Weeks 8–10: Power & Sport-Specific Strength

Goal: Convert your strength gains into explosive, sport-specific movement. High-speed reps with intent and focus.

Workout 1:

Exercise	Sets
Jump Squat	3
Trap Bar Deadlift	4
Walking Lunge	3
Farmer’s Carry	3
Core circuit: Hanging Leg Raise + Pallof Press	2 + 2

Workout 2:

Exercise	Sets
Push Press	3
Dumbbell Chest Press	3
Dumbbell Row	2
Medicine Ball Chest Pass	2
Core circuit: Landmine Rotation + Ball Slam	2

Workout 3:

Exercise	Sets
Box Jump	4
Kettlebell Swing	3
Romanian Deadlift	2
Lateral Bound	3
Copenhagen Plank	2
Medicine Ball Rotational Throw	3

Follow the Strength Training for Pickleball Program in StrengthLog

This and many more training programs are in the StrengthLog workout log app. The app is free to use, forever, with no ads.

This program, however, is a premium program (it offers advanced percentage-based progression and periodization), which means it requires a premium subscription.

We offer all new users a free 14-day premium trial. You can activate it in the app without any strings attached.

Strength Training for Pickleball: Exercises

Here are detailed descriptions of all the exercises in the Strength Training for Pickleball program. How to perform them and why they are included.

Can you switch out exercises if you don’t like them or can’t do them?

Sure, as long as you know what you’re doing. I’ve selected these exercises for reasons (which I’ll go over in the descriptions below), but you can generally switch exercises that use similar movement patterns.

For example, doing front squats instead of regular back squats? Totally fine.

But leg extensions instead of squats? That won’t work. Both are lower-body exercises that train your quads, but squats offer superior functional, compound strength for the entire lower body that leg extensions can’t match.

Squat

Pickleball requires powerful legs, quick side-to-side movement, and the ability to stay in a low athletic position for long rallies. The squat gives you all three, and much more. It’s perhaps the single most valuable strength exercise for athletes in most sports.⁵

For pickleball athletes, I usually recommend the high bar squat (resting the bar on your traps and keeping your torso more upright). It hits the quads a bit more and is ideal for strengthening the upright lunging you do on the court.

Lower the bar with control, but when you drive up, do it with intent. Think about accelerating the bar. We’re building explosive court speed here.

How to Squat

1. Place the bar on your upper back with your shoulder blades squeezed together. Inhale and brace your core slightly, and unrack the bar.
2. Take two steps back, and adjust your foot position.
3. Squat as deep as possible with proper form.
4. With control, stop and reverse the movement, extending your hips and legs again.
5. Exhale on the way up or exchange air in the top position.
6. Repeat for reps.

Note: The front squat is a viable alternative to regular back squats.

Side Lunge

Pickleball action happens, to a significant degree, in the frontal plane (side-to-side) as you shuffle, stop on a dime, and reach for shots. Side lunges (also called lateral lunges) build the strength and mobility you need for that and train you to handle explosive side-to-side movement while keeping your balance.

They hit the muscle groups you use for court movement and to lunge for a wide dink or cross-court return, like the glutes, quads, adductors (inner thighs), and core stabilizers.

Lateral lunges are common in sports programs to prevent groin injuries, with studies from other sports showing that weak adductors are a risk factor for getting hurt in that sensitive area.^{6 7}

How to Do Side Lunges

1. Stand up straight with plenty of space to your side for you to step out.
2. Lightly brace your core, and take a big step to the side.
3. Go as deep as possible without your heel lifting from the ground and while maintaining control.
4. Push yourself back up by pressing the foot from the ground.
5. Repeat for reps.

Romanian Deadlift

The Romanian deadlift (RDL) trains your posterior chain, the muscles on the backside of your body, including your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back, which every pickler needs for acceleration, balance, and protecting your knees and lower back.

The Strength Training for Pickleball program includes both regular and single-leg RDLs.

The single-leg Romanian deadlift adds an extra layer of balance, unilateral (single-side) control, and hip stability, which carries over to how you move on the court.

When you step out wide to return a shot, you rely on the strength of one hip to push you back to the center, and being able to handle these kinds of single-leg efforts is extremely valuable.

Note: The dumbbell Romanian deadlift is a viable alternative to the barbell variant.

Plank

The plank is one of the most popular and effective core exercises, especially for the deep stabilizing muscles. In the Strength Training for Pickleball program, you’re doing two different variations of the standard plank: with leg raises and with shoulder taps.

• Planks with leg raises add glute activation and hip stability for explosive movement and balance.
• Planks with shoulder taps train anti-rotation and your core stability while your arms move, which is very much like what happens during paddle reactions and volleys.

Both variants give you the kind of core strength racket sports athletes need for both general fitness and technique performance.⁸

Pallof Press

The Pallof press is one of the best core exercises for rotational sports like pickleball.

Named after physical therapist Jeff Pallof, it is an anti-rotation exercise. Instead of moving weight through a range of motion (like a crunch), you fight to keep the weight from moving you.

It looks simple when you see someone doing it: just pressing a band or cable straight out from your chest. But it’s surprisingly hard for the core to fight the sideways pull. That fight gives you the core stability to transfer power from your legs to the paddle.

It can also help protect your lower back. In a pickleball game, if your core isn’t stabilizing well when you’re rotating and reaching, your lower back has to take a big part of the stress.

How to Do Pallof Presses

1. Attach a handle to a cable machine at chest height and stand with your side facing the machine.
2. Grab the handle with both hands and stand with feet hip-width apart and knees slightly bent.
3. Pull the handle to your chest, engage your core, and then press your arms straight out in front of you without rotating your torso.
4. Hold briefly, then bring the handle back to your chest in a controlled motion.
5. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions, then switch sides.

Bench Press / Dumbbell Chest Press

You don’t necessarily need big pecs to play pickleball, but you do want the power and stability that pressing movements build. In Strength Training for Pickleball, I’ve programmed both the barbell bench press and the dumbbell chest press in different phases.

• The regular bench press is the best option for building maximal pressing strength because both arms move together, and the bar allows you to use heavier weights. You’ll bench during the second phase of the program.
• The dumbbell chest press can be even more valuable for racket sport athletes because you lift with each arm independently, as you do when you strike the ball. It’s in both phases one and three.

Both train your chest, shoulders, and triceps, and give you a strong pressing base for the upper-body power you need for volleys, drives, and overheads.

Cable Seated Row / Dumbbell Row

Rows are very good for pickleball players, building many of the muscles you use for stability and paddle control, including your rhomboids, traps, lats, and rear delts.

In this program, you’re doing seated cable rows and dumbbell rows, two excellent exercises to make these muscles stronger.

The dumbbell row is a unilateral exercise, meaning you work one arm at a time, which is extra valuable for pickleball because it’s very asymmetrical (you swing mostly on one side). Do it with one knee and one hand supported on a bench while your other arm rows a dumbbell up toward your hip.

A strong mid-back is like the brakes for your arm after you swing and protects your shoulder joint when you smash. If those brakes are weak, your rotator cuff has to do all the work, which is a one-way ticket to physical therapy. And rotator cuff injuries are way too common in overhead athletes.⁹

Dumbbell Lateral Raise

The lateral raise builds shoulder strength in the direction your arm moves during serves, overheads, and defensive blocks. It trains the muscles that stabilize your shoulder when you react at the net or reach for a shot.

I see many people going too heavy and swinging the weights up in this exercise. That’s a mistake because it shifts the work away from the shoulder and reduces the stability benefits you want in racket sports like pickleball. So, lower the weight and make sure you’re using nothing but your side delts.

Feel free to do this exercise in a machine or with cables if you prefer. It’s one of the instances where a machine is objectively better than free weights because you get more tension on the muscle at the bottom of the movement.

How to Do Dumbbell Lateral Raises

1. Hold a pair of dumbbells in almost straight arms hanging by your sides.
2. With control, lift the dumbbells out to your sides until your upper arms are horizontal.
3. Lower the dumbbells with control.
4. Repeat for reps.

Face Pull

The face pull is not an exercise for maximal strength gains or immediate performance benefits. It’s an exercise you do to keep your shoulders healthy and pain-free, which is extra important in a front-dominant sport like pickleball.

Face pulls work the rear delts, rotator cuffs, and upper back, which are essential muscles for racket control and shoulder stability. They also act like a countermeasure for the many forward-reaching motions you do when you serve, dink, and hit overhead shots.

Go light on this one and really focus on feeling the muscles working rather than trying to use as much weight as possible.

How to Do Face Pulls

1. Fasten a rope handle in a high position on a cable pulley. Grip the ropes with an overhand grip, and take a step or two back.
2. With elbows held high, pull the rope towards you by letting your upper arms move straight out towards your sides while simultaneously rotating your forearms up.
3. Return with control to the starting position by letting your arms move forward again.
4. Repeat for reps.

Trap Bar Deadlift

If there were a draft for the best exercises for court sports, the trap bar deadlift would be one of my first picks. It builds the perfect combination of leg power, hip strength, balance, and explosiveness that make you a better player.

I’ve programmed trap bar deadlifts instead of standard deadlifts because you can use more weight, move it faster with a lower risk of injury, focus more on the muscles you use in pickleball, and load your body in a more upright stance as you do on the court.¹⁰ Also, it’s easier to learn how to do trap bar deadlifts correctly, and you can choose between low and high handles depending on your mobility. Lots of wins there.

The first two phases will have you deadlifting heavy, while the last phase (“pre-season”) will have you doing explosive reps, trying to move the bar as fast as possible with lighter weight. The first builds maximal strength, and the second speed-strength.

How to Trap Bar Deadlift

1. Step into the bar’s opening so that the handles are in line with the middle of your feet.
2. Inhale, bend down and grip the handles.
3. Hold your breath, brace your core slightly, and lift the bar.
4. Lift the bar with a straight back, until you are standing straight.
5. Lower the bar back to the ground with control.
6. Take another breath, and repeat for reps.

Step-Up

The step-up, beyond being a straight-up awesome lower-body exercise, builds three things every pickleball player needs: single-leg strength, balance, and explosive drive.

You need all three to move around quickly on the court, and step-ups train the muscles that allow you to do so, including your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and adductors. They are perhaps the number one exercise for activating the gluteus maximus, your primary power source behind almost everything that requires explosiveness and stability.¹¹

You can start with only your bodyweight, and once that feels too easy, use a barbell or hold a pair of dumbbells at your sides to add resistance.

How to Do Step-Ups

1. Stand in front of a chair, bench or something else that you can step up on. Use a barbell or a pair of dumbbells for resistance, if needed.
2. Place your foot on the chair.
3. Lightly brace your core, and step up until your leg is straight.
4. Lower yourself in a controlled motion.
5. Repeat for reps.

Cable Woodchopper

The woodchopper is a rotational core exercise where you pull a handle on a cable machine diagonally or horizontally across your body, as if you were chopping wood.

Woodchoppers train your obliques, transverse abdominis (the deep core corset), shoulders, and hips, and build rotational power and anti-rotational stability—like a diagonal swing, very much like the way your body rotates when you strike a pickleball, but with added resistance.

Depending on where you set the cable pulley, you can train high-to-low, horizontal, or low-to-high woodchoppers, but I’ve programmed the high-to-low variant as the default in Strength Training for Pickleball because it’s the most sport-specific.

How to Do High-to-Low Woodchoppers

1. Attach a handle to a cable machine, as high up as possible. Grip the handle with both hands, step away, and stand sideways to the cable’s anchor point.
2. With almost straight arms, make a sweeping, chopping-like movement diagonally downward.
3. Return to the starting position in a controlled manner.
4. Repeat for reps.

Note: You can also do this exercise with a resistance band instead of on a cable machine.

Farmer’s Carry / Suitcase Carry

This pickleball strength routine features two similar but different carries: the farmer’s carry (also called farmer’s walk) and the suitcase carry.

• When you do the farmer’s carry, you grab two heavy dumbbells or kettlebells (one in each hand) and walk for a set distance or time. That’s it.
• With the suitcase carry, you grab one heavy dumbbell or kettlebell and walk with it, fighting the urge to lean toward the heavy side.

The benefits of loaded carries are legion: better balance, power transfer, shoulder stability, improved posture, and stronger grip.

The suitcase carry adds anti-lateral flexion (or, in normal human language, it teaches your body how to resist bending sideways) for rotational control and hip stability.

So, picking up heavy things and going for a stroll might not look like it translates to a finesse-and-reaction sport like pickleball, but trust me, it definitely does.

Bulgarian Split Squat

The Bulgarian split squat is a lower-body exercise where your front leg works while your rear foot is elevated, and you move up and down in a single-leg squat.

What makes it tip-top for pickleball is that it builds single-leg strength, balance, mobility, and stability all in one.

And pickleball is, to a large degree, single-leg movement. When you lunge for a dink, push to the side to reach a shot, or recover to the kitchen line, most of that force comes from one leg at a time.

How to Do Bulgarian Split Squats

1. Place a bar on your upper back or hold a pair of dumbbells in your hands.
2. Stand with your back turned against a bench, which should be about knee height. Stand about one long step in front of the bench.
3. Place your right foot on the bench behind you.
4. Inhale, look forward, and squat down with control until right before your right knee touches the floor.
5. Reverse the movement and extend your front leg again, while exhaling. Your back foot should only act as support.
6. Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions, then switch sides and repeat with your right leg forward and your left foot on the bench.

Calf Raise

The calf raise is the best way to build stronger calf muscles. Your calves are your pickleball launchpads, making your first step quicker, absorbing impact, stabilizing your ankles, and allowing you to change direction faster.

You can do many different types of calf raises, from classic standing calf raises to seated calf raises and calf raises on a dedicated machine. I’ve picked the good old standing calf raise for Strength Training for Pickleball because it trains the entire calf effectively and is easy to do.

For best results, go all the way down to a full stretch, pause for a second, then press yourself up from a dead stop and squeeze at the top. No bouncing!

How to Do Standing Calf Raises

1. Place your toes and the ball of your feet on the foot support. Place the shoulder pads against your shoulders and stand upright in the starting position.
2. Lower yourself down by bending your ankles in a controlled movement.
3. Push yourself up by extending your ankles.
4. Repeat for reps.

Pull-Up / Lat Pulldown

For pickleball players, pull-ups and lat pulldowns are super useful because they make the muscles that control your shoulder stability, overhead power, and posture stronger.

And that’s just what the coach ordered for serves, smashes, resets, and preventing shoulder injuries from repetitive overhead action.

Pull-ups are the default exercise in this program. They are fantastic for athletic power that helps with explosive court movement. Do them if you can perform 6+ with good form.

If you can’t yet do pull-ups, the lat pulldown is an excellent substitute. Do them if you’re still building strength.

Triceps Pushdown

Your triceps (back of your arm) extend your arm, and strong triceps add power to your paddle acceleration, help finish a swing explosively, and stabilize your arm. The triceps pushdown is the easiest and most direct way to train them.

Remember to not use too heavy a weight so that you have to use momentum to get it down. The only things that should be moving are your forearms. Pinning your upper arms to your sides is a good way to force a strict execution.

For pickleball players, I feel rope pushdowns are the best option because you get a more natural arm motion. But if you prefer a bar handle, go for it. Your choice of triceps attachments doesn’t make or break anything.

How to Do Triceps Pushdowns

1. Stand one step away from the cable pulley, and grip a rope or a bar (about shoulder-width apart).
2. Pull the handle down until your upper arms are perpendicular to the floor. This is the starting position.
3. Push the handle down until your arms are fully extended.
4. With control, let the handle up again.
5. Repeat for reps.

Core Twist

The core twist is a core exercise where you sit on the floor and twist your torso from side to side. You can hold a dumbbell or weight plate to up the challenge. 

Pickleball may look like an arm sport, but most power and control come from your lower body and core, and it all transfers through your core: legs → hips → core → shoulder → arm → paddle.

Core twists make the middle link in that chain stronger. They train your obliques, abs, and deep core for more rotational power, and you’ll notice that in matches when it helps you generate pace with less arm effort.

How to Do Core Twists

1. Sit on the floor with your knees bent and feet either on the ground or lifted slightly off.
2. Hold a weight plate, medicine ball, or kettlebell with both hands in front of your chest.
3. Lean slightly back with a straight back and engaged core.
4. Twist your torso to one side and bring the weight toward your hip, keeping your hips stable.
5. Return to the center and rotate to the other side.
6. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Single-Arm Landmine Press

If I had to choose one upper-body exercise that transfers exceptionally well to pickleball, the single-arm landmine press would be near the top of the list. It’s actually one of my favorite presses for athletes, period.

For pickleball players:

1. It trains shoulder power and rotational stability, which you want for serves, drives, and net action.
2. It’s a great tool for learning to drive force from the floor, through your hips, and out through your hand.
3. You get an angled pressing path, which can be friendlier on your shoulder joints.
4. And because you press with one arm, your body has to stabilize the torso and resist rotation, and that’s a nice athletic core stimulus.

So, yeah, single-arm landmine presses. They’re almost perfect for pickleball.

How to Do Single-Arm Landmine Press

1. Stand with your core activated and your feet about shoulder-width apart.
2. Place the barbell in one hand, and rest it on your shoulder. 
3. Press to lockout by extending the elbow and flexing the shoulder.
4. Slowly lower the barbell back to the starting position on your shoulder.
5. Repeat for reps.

Hanging Leg Raise

The hanging leg raise is one of the best bang-for-your-buck core builders. It builds strong abs and hip flexors, core control, and bonus grip strength, all of which are welcome for any pickleball player.

Not only do you build more stability for the court, but you also get better power transfer through your core, which ultimately means more force in your paddle.

If you’re struggling to do enough full leg raises, you can do hanging knee raises until you’ve built up enough strength. Instead of straight legs, lift your knees. Much easier.

How to Do Hanging Leg Raises

1. Jump up and grab a bar, placed high enough that you can hang from it with straight legs.
2. Without swinging, lift your legs as high as you can in front of you.
3. Lower your legs again, with control.
4. Repeat for reps.

Jump Squat

The fact that you can play pickleball at any level, from social recreation to competitive tournament play, is one of the big charms of the sport. But if you want to play at more than a recreational level, explosive power is the currency of the court.

Jump squats train just that: lower-body explosiveness. It’s what you need for drives to the kitchen, overheads, direction changes, and other short bursts of speed.

You’re going for speed and power here, so you’re not going to jump until you slow down and get tired. We’re focusing on low-rep sets with maximal intent where you explode out of the hole with as much explosiveness as you can muster.

How to Do Jump Squats

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your hands in front of your chest or by your sides.
2. Bend at the hips and knees, lowering into a squat with a straight back and engaged core.
3. Drive upward explosively and jump as high as you can.
4. Land softly on the balls of your feet and immediately descend into the next squat.
5. Repeat for reps.

Walking Lunge

What do you do when you reach for a low dink or charge the net? You do a walking lunge. So, it makes good sense to train the actual movement, but with added resistance, to improve your power where it matters.

Walking lunges work your quads, glutes, and adductors, and they do it in a movement pattern that transfers very well to the court. You can start with just your bodyweight, and then progress to using a barbell or a pair of dumbbells to load the movement.

Take a longer stride so the shin stays more vertical and focus on keeping your forward movement controlled. You don’t want to be falling into the step.

How to Do Walking Lunges

1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding a pair of dumbbells at your sides with your palms facing inwards or with a barbell on your shoulders. Or, if you’re doing bodyweight lunges, simply hold your arms comfortably at your sides
2. Step forward with one of your legs, bending both knees at the same time. Stop the movement just before the back knee touches the floor, you should have about a 90-degree angle in both knees.
3. Drive through your front foot and extend the knee until you get back to a standing position.
4. Continue by repeating the movement on the other side. 
5. Repeat for reps.

Push Press

Even though pickleball isn’t an overhead-pressing sport like volleyball or weightlifting, the push press builds a combination of leg drive, core stability, and explosive shoulder power that benefits your court movements and shots.

The two topmost of those benefits are rapid force production from the hips and legs, and power transfer through your core and into your arms.

Unlike a strict press, the push press uses a dip-and-drive to get the bar overhead. That makes it a power exercise instead of a shoulder isolation exercise. So, if it feels like a full-body exercise, well, it’s supposed to.

How to Push Press

1. Clean a bar to your shoulders, or lift it out from a rack.
2. Let the bar rest against the front of your shoulders, with your grip slightly outside your shoulders.
3. Inhale and lightly brace your core.
4. Bend your knees, and then forcefully push yourself and the bar upwards using your legs.
5. When your legs are extended, immediately start pressing the bar with your arms, until your arms are fully extended.
6. With control, lower the bar back to your shoulders.
7. Repeat for reps.

Medicine Ball Chest Pass

The medicine ball chest pass is a plyometric exercise for explosive upper-body power. Like a standing bench press, but with a ball instead of a bar, and instead of controlled lifting, you’re trying to launch the weight as fast as possible.

Pickleball is fast, and the med ball chest pass trains your body to generate force quickly and forces the power chain that goes all the way from your legs to the paddle to work together.

Don’t go too heavy. This exercise is about velocity, not moving a heavy ball slowly. A typical good ball weight is around 6–12 lb (3–5 kg) for most people, although beginners and advanced players can use a lighter or heavier ball, respectively.

How to Do Medicine Ball Chest Passes

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 meters) away from a wall and facing it.
2. Hold a medicine ball at chest level with both hands, elbows bent.
3. Engage your core and keep your back straight.
4. Push the ball explosively forward from your chest, extending your arms fully.
5. Release the ball toward the wall.
6. Catch the ball and repeat for reps.

Landmine Rotation

Do you know what most pickleball strokes rely on? Hip-to-shoulder rotation. Do you know what makes that movement chain stronger? The landmine rotation.

Landmine rotations train your obliques, glutes, hips, core stabilizers, shoulders, and arms. It teaches you to rotate through your hips and torso together, which is a safer and more powerful way to do it than just twisting your spine.

In addition, half the battle in pickleball is stopping your momentum after a swing. Landmine rotation trains your core to act as a set of brakes. Not only can you get back into the action faster without leaking energy, but you also protect your back.

How to Do Landmine Rotations

1. Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, holding a landmine bar with both hands, arms straight in front of you.
2. Rotate your hips and torso to one side, lowering the bar toward the outside of your hip.
3. Engage your core and keep your arms straight as you move the bar over to the opposite side by rotating your torso and hips.
4. Continue alternating from side to side in a controlled motion for the desired number of reps.

Ball Slam

A ball slam is a full-body power exercise where you lift a weighted ball overhead and slam it into the ground as hard and fast as you can. It’s popular among athletes because it trains your body to generate power quickly.

Ball slams train the same explosive power generation from the core and upper body you need for drives, overheads, and volleys. You improve coordination, build core stability, and learn how to use speed and power in your play.

Make sure you’re dropping your hips into a mini-squat as you slam instead of just bending over at the waist. You want full-body power and violence. You’re going to be doing few reps per set, so every single one should be slammed with 100% effort.

And another “make sure”: you want a dead-weight dedicated slam ball. If you use a bouncy rubber medicine ball, it will rebound directly into your face, and nobody wants that.

How to Ball Slam

1. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, your knees and hips slightly bent, holding the ball in both hands at chest height. Engage your core, and keep a good posture.
2. Extend your knees and drive your hips forward while simultaneously lifting the ball. Aim for being as tall as possible, the ball overhead, arms up, hips slightly forward, and on your toes from the force of your drive.
3. Use your core and arms to slam the medicine ball straight down between your feet with as much force as possible. Press your hips back and bend your knees to further power the slam. Exhale as you slam the ball down.
4. Squat down to pick up the ball from the floor, then immediately move into the next slam by repeating the movement.
5. Repeat for reps.

Box Jump

The box jump is a semi-plyometric exercise (it’s not a true plyo because it doesn’t involve forceful eccentrics) where you jump from the floor up on a box or platform. It’s very common for athletic training to build lower-body power, speed, and coordination.

Box jumps involve most of your body, but the muscles that work hardest are your glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves, and core. Because it’s so explosive, it also trains your nervous system to generate force quickly.

You’re doing these at the beginning of your workout in Strength Training for Pickleball, right after a good dynamic warmup, while your nervous system is fresh. Low reps, full focus, maximum intent.

How to Do Box Jumps

1. Stand in front of a sturdy box with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Slightly bend your knees and lower into a half-squat while swinging your arms back.
3. Explode upward by pushing off the ground with your feet and swinging your arms forward to create momentum.
4. Jump onto the box, landing softly with your knees slightly bent, feet fully on the box, and your torso upright.
5. Stand up fully once you’ve landed on the box.
6. Step, or carefully jump, down and repeat for reps.

Kettlebell Swing

The kettlebell swing is an explosive hip-hinge exercise where you swing a kettlebell from between your legs up to about chest height using your hips and glutes.

It’s a superior exercise for pickleball because it gives you many of the benefits of Olympic exercises (like hip extension power for on-court bursts, balance, body control) but without the technical learning curve.

They also build endurance in your glutes and spinal erectors, meaning you can stay low and ready an entire game without your back clocking out.

How to Do Kettlebell Swings

1. Place a kettlebell on the ground, about one or two feet in front of you.
2. Take a wide stance, lean forward and grip the kettlebell.
3. Brace your core slightly, and swing the kettlebell back between your legs, while inhaling.
4. Swing the kettlebell forward by extending your hip, while exhaling.
5. Try to swing the kettlebell to about chest height.
6. Repeat for reps and put the kettlebell back on the ground.

Lateral Bound

The lateral bound is an explosive exercise where you jump side-to-side from one leg to the other. It’s also called a skater jump because you look like a speed skater when you do it, minus the ice and aerodynamic spandex.

Pickleball involves a lot of side-to-side movement, and doing lateral bounds improves your lateral explosiveness and side-to-side stability. Basically, you can get where you want and get back faster.

Plus, training how to absorb force on one leg under controlled conditions should make you less likely to hurt yourself doing it in the chaos on the court.

How to Do Lateral Bounds

1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent.
2. Shift your weight onto your right leg and lift your left foot off the ground.
3. Push off your right foot and jump laterally to the left.
4. Land on your left foot, bending your knee to absorb the impact.
5. Immediately push off your left foot and jump back to the right.
6. Continue bounding side to side in a controlled, rhythmic motion for the desired number of reps.

Copenhagen Plank

The Copenhagen plank sounds like a fancy Danish pastry you’d eat with your morning coffee, but it’s even better than that. It’s an advanced variation of the side plank that works your adductors (your inner thigh muscles) along with your obliques.

You get both more power when moving side-to-side on the court and core stability and balance when you reach for wide balls.

Also, groin strains are common in court sports, and building up your adductors with Copenhagens should help protect against them. I say “should” because a big study couldn’t find evidence for this.¹²

However, logic suggests that a stronger groin area should help prevent groin injuries. Perhaps there just aren’t enough studies to tell yet. It certainly doesn’t do any harm and sounds like a good potential bonus in addition to the performance benefits to me.

How to Do Copenhagen Planks

1. Lie on your side and put your top leg on a bench.
2. Place your bottom elbow under your shoulder, and keep your bottom leg under the bench or hanging below.
3. Tighten your core and lift your hips off the floor.
4. Keep your body in a straight line and hold the position for your desired time.
5. Lower down, then repeat on the other side.

Medicine Ball Rotational Throw

The medicine ball rotational throw is a power exercise where you chuck a ball sideways into a wall or to a partner as hard as possible by rotating your hips and core with as much explosiveness as you can muster.

It’s a great exercise for training the rotational power you need for strokes. Catching the ball on the rebound trains your core for stability and deceleration, and it’s also good for coordination between your upper and lower body.

The trick here is not just to use your arms. If you feel your throws in your shoulders, chances are you’re muscling it, but this is not a max-strength exercise. Your hips must lead the way, with your arms as a whip and your hips as the handle cracking the whip.

How to Do Medicine Ball Rotational Throws

1. Stand sideways to a wall, feet shoulder-width apart, holding the medicine ball at your chest.
2. Load your hips by rotating slightly away from the wall, keeping your core braced.
3. Drive through your legs and powerfully rotate your hips toward the wall.
4. Let your torso and arms follow through naturally, releasing the ball explosively.
5. Reset and repeat for the desired reps, then switch sides.

Follow the Strength Training for Pickleball Program in StrengthLog

What’s the best way to follow this program?

With StrengthLog, our workout log app. It’s one of our many sport-specific training programs.

StrengthLog makes it super easy to keep track of your weights and reps and make sure you’re on the right path.

It remembers what weights you used in your last session, and automatically loads them into your next one. And trying to improve on your last workout is the key to improving and getting stronger over time.

Download it and start tracking your progress today!

StrengthLog is free, but for our more advanced premium programs, like this one, you’ll need a subscription to follow it in-app. We offer a 14-day free trial (no strings attached and no funny business) that you can activate in the app, so you can check it out before making a decision.

Final Rep

That’s the game plan, folks! Hitting the gym isn’t just a side quest for pickleball players. It’s how you get the body that lets you play your best, that lets you keep playing match after match without falling apart.

Load up the Strength Training for Pickleball routine in StrengthLog, log your numbers, challenge yourself a little each week, and your efforts will translate onto the court when the game begins.

Thanks for reading, good luck on the court, and have fun!

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Last reviewed: 2026-03-16

References

1. 2026 Sports, Fitness & Leisure Activities Topline Participation Report.
2. The Parkersburg News & Sentinel, July 27, 2008. Pickle Ball featured on Morning Show. Retrieved from the Internet Archive.
3. Topics in Exerc Sci and Kinesiol Volume 6(1): Article 5, 2025. Physical Function in Young and Older Adult Active Pickleball Players – A Cross-Sectional Study.
4. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2024 Sep 1;19(9):1116-1125. Hip Strength, Change of Direction, and Falls in Recreational Pickleball Players.
5. Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(5), 1977. The Use of Free Weight Squats in Sports: A Narrative Review—Terminology and Biomechanics.
6. Sports Health. 2010 May;2(3):231–236. Groin Injuries in Sports Medicine.
7. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Jul 9;17(14):4946. Adductor Muscles Strength and Strength Asymmetry as Risk Factors for Groin Injuries among Professional Soccer Players: A Prospective Study.
8. Scientific Reports volume 16, Article number: 7862 (2026). Effectiveness of core strength training for racket sport athletes’ performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
9. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med. 2020 Aug 22;13(6):734–747. Rotator Cuff Injuries in Tennis Players.
10. International Journal of Strength and Conditioning, Vol. 5 No. 1 (2025). Differences in Muscle Activation and Joint Kinematics Between Deadlift Styles When Performed at High-Intensity Training Loads.
11. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2020) 19, 195 – 203. Gluteus Maximus Activation During Common Strength and Hypertrophy Exercises: A Systematic Review.
12. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2025 Aug 19;35(8):e70119. The Copenhagen Adduction Exercise Effect on Sport Performance and Injury Prevention: A Systematic Review With Meta‐Analysis.