If you’re wondering how to improve your pickleball game, you’re not alone. The pickleball boom is real. Everyone, from teens to seniors, is picking up a paddle this year. So if you’re ready to jump on the pickleball bandwagon (or level-up your newfound pickleball skills), we have some great pickleball tips for beginners on how to improve your game from Teddy Savage, National Fitness Director at Planet Fitness (the largest and fastest-growing franchisors and operators of fitness centers), that will have you well on your way to picking up a paddle with a few friends by next weekend.

Check below for How To Improve Your Pickleball Game, Quick Pickleball Tips For Beginners, and Five Recommended Exercises To Improve Your Pickleball Skills. This comes just in time as National Pickleball Day is August 8.

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR PICKLEBALL GAME
To improve your pickleball game, you will want to strengthen muscles in the lower body, upper body, and core. Agility and rotation are also essential in pickleball. Working out at the gym can help cover all of these bases.

QUICK PICKLEBALL TIPS FOR BEGINNERS
Strength training is crucial to any exercise regimen, especially for those looking to boost their athletic performance. It improves posture, helps correct muscle imbalances, increases joint stability, enhances coordination, and, perhaps most importantly, prevents injury.

FIVE RECOMMENDED EXERCISES TO IMPROVE YOUR PICKLEBALL SKILLS

Try these exercises to enhance your pickleball skills:

1. Front to Lateral Raises. Raise light dumbbells or hand weights forward until shoulder height, then rotate palms to face pockets and raise weights laterally until shoulder height.
2. Front Lunge to Torso Rotation. Start with feet hip width apart and knees slightly flexed, take a dumbbell in both hands, draw left knee up, stride forward, sink down into lunge, rotate upper torso, return to starting position, repeat with opposite leg.
3. Bodyweight Squat to Overhead Extension. Sink your hips down and back, swing your arms back, explode up, engage your calves, and return to starting position.
4. Low to High Woodchoppers. Start in a lunge position facing to the left with the dumbbell in front of the shin. Drive through the left foot while rotating the dumbbell upward to the right side. Repeat on the right side.
5. Plyometric Skaters. Bound out to the left side using your core and lower body muscles to stabilize and change direction, absorbing the impact with your muscles.

Pickleball is a great sport for beginners since it’s easy to start. Now that you know how to improve your pickleball game, it’s time to hit the court.

Teddy Savage is the National Fitness Director at Planet Fitness – as well as a certified fitness trainer – who oversees fitness programming for all of its clubs nationwide. He served as an instructor for Planet Fitness’ “United We Move,” a home work-in digital workout series which was designed in 2020 to combat stress while keeping us all physically and mentally fit throughout the pandemic. Teddy has been with the Planet Fitness team since 2011.