Written by Brent Johner on December 1, 2009 – 1:59 pm
Eight weeks ago, I started playing pickleball regularly with the Oakridge Pickleball Club. At first, all I knew about the game was what I had been told: that it was similar to tennis (but easier to learn) and that it was primarily for senior citizens.
As it turns out, what I thought I knew was only half true. Yes, the game is similar to tennis and it is much easier to learn. But nobody should imagine that seniors are the only people who will enjoy playing pickleball — especially singles pickleball.
When two athletic players face each other on a pickleball court, they both get a good cardio workout. Like squash, pickleball played at a high level requires a lot of lunging, a lot of volleying and a lot of fancy footwork. Therefore it is not uncommon to see player heart rates rise into the 150 to 175 range.
Typically, advanced singles pickleball requires about as much energy as intermediate singles racquetball or intermediate doubles badminton. The quality of the workout depends a great deal on the ability of the players to keep the rallies going, of course. But two skilled players can easily sustain rallies of 15 to 20 strokes each or more.
On average, players will lunge on about one-third of their shots. At various points in pickleball rallies, players will also have to sprint, stride, back pedal, shuffle and/or cross step to get into postion to receive the ball.
Based on my experiences with singles pickleball, I would estimate the burn rate for advanced players to be in the range of 350-400 calories per hour. This is not as high as competitive squash (about 850 calories per hour) nor does it compare favourably with singles tennis (550 per hour). However, singles pickleball does burn more calories per hour than volleyball (200), table tennis (270) or golf with a power cart (240).
Personally, I find it to be the perfect amount of exercise for my Tuesday mornings, when I am recovering from two hours of competitive badminton played the night before.
Brent Johner is a certified tennis, squash and badminton coach in Calgary, AB, Canada. Racquet Network is a worldwide community of racquet sports players and coaches.
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