Simple exercises that will elevate your padel game

The last few years have seen padel and pickleball taking everyone by storm. Older age groups, especially, find padel challenging enough but not as punishing as football, kickboxing, boxing or tennis. The smaller courts, with their glass walls, mean you cover less ground, lunge forward less often, serve underhand, and play at a slightly slower pace thanks to lower-pressure balls. But that doesn’t make it any less competitive. Alongside the strong sense of community that padel has fostered, there is also a growing circuit of players across age groups who are constantly improving. This makes it necessary for those playing the sport to get fitter and better at it.

“[The padel] wave is reaching Indian shores. Industry analysis from Padel Now indicates that the number of courts in key cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Gurugram is projected to double within the next 18-24 months, highlighting a clear and accelerating demand,” says a Lounge piece from October 2025 titled Beyond the Court: How Padel is Quietly Becoming One of India's Hottest New Investment Opportunities.

The sport is particularly popular among slightly older players who are reconnecting with physical activity after a break. For this cohort, it has become a replacement for other forms of cardio. For those who don’t go to the gym, it offers an accessible way to stay fit. But irrespective of why you play, it pays to put in some extra work off the court if you want to keep at it for longer. Whether or not you go to the gym, here’s a list of moves you can do at home or just about anywhere.

All the lunges: Striking the ball and lunging into position are two of the most frequent movements in padel. This places significant demand on the knees and shoulders. The short answer? Add different kinds of lunges to your routine. On training days, include reverse lunges and lateral lunges, and as you get stronger, progress to plyometric jumping lunges to ensure your body is ready to get into position for the perfect return. If you don’t like lunging, but want some explosive quad movement, then the jumping Bulgarian split is a tough but excellent exercise. Apart from strength and speed, it will add a lot of balance to your game. If you’re looking for something a bit more easier and still useful, add a little twist at the end of any lunge, while holding a light plate – it mimics the exact form of hitting a ball in padel.

Rotational power: Generating power through rotational movement is what will make your returns crisper. Greater power and control over the ball translate into more topspin, which is key to keeping your opponent guessing. Whether it’s the backhand or the forehand, include simple moves such as weighted Russian twists and “drunken” mountain climbers. But the exercises that really stand out are cable woodchoppers and medicine ball side slams.

Cable woodchoppers can be done in both high-to-low and low-to-high variations, while medicine ball slams require a wall: slam the ball in a knee-supported lunge and catch it again. This explosive move can also be performed standing to target the obliques. Focus on generating power from the lower body, almost from the ankles, before transferring it through the torso and using that (momentum) to twist to the side.

Agility and shuffles: Padel involves a lot of shuffling, which makes quickness and coordination essential. This is where cones or a step platform come in handy. The best part about this is you make the workout. You set the challenger, the movement and the timer. Anything that gets your feet moving as fast as your brain thinks they can is an advantage on court. My favourite, which I do to maintain speed while playing football, is simple alternating toe touches on a stepper. You can also set up cones or markers and practice side shuffles through them. Side-to-side movement is often ignored in the gym, and surprisingly, even during warm-ups. Focusing on lateral movement can significantly improve your game.

Rotator cuff strengthening: Don’t wait until you feel a little impingement in the shoulders to start doing rehabilitative exercises. This includes banded tears, scapular pushups, and other moves which will align your most important joint for this sport with your level of activity. There are too many to mention in one article, but this video from E3 Rehab is crucial to understand how rotator cuff strengthening works.

Pulasta Dhar is a football commentator and writer.