How to Train to Reduce Injury While Playing Pickleball

How to Train to Reduce Injury While Playing Pickleball

By Mitch Shooks

Pickleball is one of the best things to happen to adults over 40.

It’s social. It’s competitive. It’s addictive. It gives you that “I still got it” feeling… right up until your elbow starts barking, your knee starts swelling, or your shoulder decides it’s done serving for the day.

I picked up pickleball last year and I didn’t realize how much I was going to love the game. And like most people, I did what pickleball makes you want to do…

I played more.

Then more.

Then “just one more game” turned into a few hours.

And what slowly started to happen was this: I started neglecting the things that actually keep your body healthy and durable long-term—my weight training, my mobility work, and my Zone 2 cardio.

Instead, I was treating pickleball like my training.

And that’s where most people get into trouble.

Pickleball Is an Activity. Training Is Preparation.

Here’s the difference:

Pickleball is an activity.
It’s fun. It’s reactive. It’s unpredictable. It’s not planned. It’s not progressive. It’s not balanced.

Training is preparation.
Training is when you do exercises with a specific outcome:

• lifting weights to get stronger
• mobility work to gain stability at end ranges
• progressive tendon loading so your joints don’t get angry
• building enough fitness so you’re not gassed in rec play

Most people don’t get injured because pickleball is “dangerous.”

They get injured because they’re doing an activity their body isn’t prepared for… over and over and over.

The Big Mistake: “Pickleball Is My Exercise”

A lot of people assume that because pickleball makes them sweat and breathe hard, it counts as exercise.

And yes—technically, it’s movement. It’s better than sitting on the couch.

But here’s the truth bomb:

If recreational pickleball is your main source of exercise and it’s getting you out of breath… your fitness is probably lower than you think.

Even worse, if you were to videotape yourself during a normal rec game, you’d probably be shocked by how little you actually move. There are bursts, sure—but there’s also a lot of standing around, reaching, stopping, twisting, and reacting.

And when your fitness level is low enough that a recreational game becomes taxing, it puts you at a much higher risk of injury.

Fatigue changes everything:

• your footwork gets sloppy
• your reaction time slows down
• you reach instead of move
• your joints take the hit instead of your muscles

That’s when elbows, shoulders, and knees start filing complaints.

Why Elbows, Shoulders, and Knees Get Beat Up

Pickleball is basically a perfect storm for overuse injuries:

• repeated swinging and gripping → elbow pain
• serving, reaching, overhead movement → shoulder irritation
• quick stops, pivots, and awkward lunges → knee pain

And the scary part is it doesn’t always feel “bad” in the moment.

A lot of people feel fine while playing… and then later that night, or the next morning, they feel like they got hit by a truck.

That’s the overuse pattern:
You don’t feel it until you’ve earned it.

What I Started Noticing When I Played Too Much

When I was playing a lot, I started stacking up all the classic warning signs:

• joint pain creeping in
• feet hurting after play
• hips feeling tight and cranky
• feeling less strong in the gym
• losing muscle mass because I was doing less real training

And that’s the sneaky downside of pickleball addiction.

It doesn’t just increase injury risk today—it can slowly pull you away from the things that protect your health long-term.

Because here’s what nobody wants to talk about:

Muscle mass and strength protect you.
Especially over 40.

Not just for performance. For life.

If you fall. If you take a bad step. If you move wrong. If you twist awkwardly.

The stronger and more resilient you are, the less damage those moments do.

The Simple Solution: Train 2 Days a Week

This is the part people overcomplicate.

You don’t need to train 5 days a week.
You don’t need to become a powerlifter.
You don’t need to spend hours stretching.

For most pickleball players over 40, the answer is boring… and extremely effective:

Train at least two days per week.

That’s it.

Two days a week of smart strength training can:

• reduce joint stress
• improve stability and control
• build tendon resilience
• improve balance and reaction
• keep muscle mass on your frame
• make pickleball feel easier

Pickleball should be fun. It should be safe. You should be able to go out there and enjoy yourself without worrying about getting injured.

What Your Training Should Actually Do

At GRIP Center, we train for outcomes—not random workouts.

The goal isn’t to “get tired.”

The goal is to make your body better at handling the real world demands of pickleball:

• decelerating safely
• pushing laterally
• rotating without irritation
• stabilizing through awkward positions
• staying strong when you’re tired

And we build it progressively so your body adapts instead of breaking down.

Mobility on Off Days (So You Don’t Get Beat Up)

On your non-training days, mobility work matters—but not the way most people think.

Mobility isn’t just stretching.

Mobility is the ability to control your body at the end range of motion.

That’s where injuries happen:

• reaching wide for a ball
• twisting while off balance
• lunging and trying to stop fast
• catching yourself during a slip

A little daily mobility work goes a long way, especially for shoulders, hips, and ankles.

It doesn’t have to be a 45-minute yoga class.

Sometimes it’s just 5–10 minutes a day to keep your joints moving well and your tissues tolerant.

The Goal Isn’t to Play Less. It’s to Play Longer.

I’m not here to tell you to stop playing pickleball.

I get it. It’s a blast.

The goal is to keep pickleball in the right place:
a fun and rewarding activity… not your entire fitness plan.

Because when pickleball replaces training, your body slowly becomes less prepared for the exact thing you love doing most.

But when you balance it correctly?

You can have both:

• pickleball performance
• strength
• mobility
• long-term health
• fewer injuries
• more confidence on the court

And it takes less time than you think.

Sometimes two hours of weight training per week plus a little mobility work each day is all it takes to keep you safe, strong, and playing for years.