Thanksgiving is here, meaning we’ll see lots of posts about people running or walking in turkey trot charity races. Whether you’re walking a 5k or running a full 8k, turkey trots have quickly become a popular Thanksgiving tradition. I mean, if we’re all eating 10,000 calories in a day, we might as well try to work them off too!
It turns out that burning off those extra Thanksgiving calories with a walk or run might also be valuable for your pickleball game. Even if you aren’t the biggest fan of running, getting in a light jog here and there is an excellent way of improving your endurance while on the court.
Zone 2 Low-Intensity Training
There are plenty of approaches and theories about running, and cardio workouts in general can be achieved in a wide variety of ways. However, we can approach it from the basic angle of jogging and sprinting – the tortoise and the hare.
Jogging is an excellent method of Zone 2 training, which prioritizes slower, low-impact movements that only increase your heart rate slightly. The point is to get the blood pumping just a little bit and push your body in terms of endurance. While it may take you a little bit longer to get from point A to point B, the idea is that you’re still achieving that distance and maintaining consistency with your efforts.
Zone 2 training stands on the fact that you’re getting out there and moving your body at a base level. Even though your heart rate might feel on the low end or that you’re not putting in enough effort, lightly jogging for any amount of time is proven to boost your on-court performance and your health in general.
According to orthopedic sports medicine surgeon Howard J. Luks, Zone 2 training is one of the best tools for improving your metabolic health and increasing longevity. He uses the phrase, “Train slow to run fast,” which perfectly exemplifies what you’re trying to accomplish with Zone 2 training!
The tortoise is slow-going, but he keeps it moving and can live to be 150 – sounds pretty good to us! So, even if you can’t bring your body to a sprint, getting a little 30-40 minute jog in each day is a great way to stay healthy, which of course means staying on the pickleball court.
High-Intensity Interval Training
Now, let’s talk about the hare for a minute. He’s fast and agile, hopping his way across the pickleball courts at near-light speed. The hare accomplishes this almost certainly with tons of high-intensity interval training (HIIT), AKA sprinting.
According to the Harvard School of Public Health, HIIT exercises are able to accomplish everything you’re looking for in an entire workout in under 30 minutes. Because of our increasingly busy daily lives, a half hour might be all you have to set aside for working out on a given day, making HIIT the perfect option for keeping your body in peak shape.
Wind sprints are a popular option for athletes, as they have built-in cooldowns between each rep. The idea is that you run as fast as you can for about 15 seconds, which is then followed by 45-60 seconds of walking. These bursts of high-intensity motion maximize your heart rate during a workout without necessarily burning yourself out.
High interval, in general, can apply to pretty much any cardio workout. Let’s say you’re on a stationary bike, stair-climber, or elliptical at the gym. You just need to move your lower body as fast and hard as you can for 2-3 minutes, and then allow yourself a few minutes of cooldown at a much slower pace.
One popular form of HIIT is known as Tabata Protocol, created by Izumi Tabata, a Japanese professor who developed the method with Olympic speedskaters in 1996. Tabata workouts only last 20-30 minutes and can incorporate a wide range of workouts, from cycling and running to body-weight-bearing exercises. Like other HIIT methods, Tabata increases strength and metabolism, and sees other similar health benefits to that of most other types of exercise.
Tortoise or Hare, Get Out There!
Again, it doesn’t matter how quickly you move, but rather the fact that you are moving. Yes, you’ll likely see more significant improvements to your on-court agility if you take up HIIT training. However, you will also likely see improvements to your mobility by just walking a little bit more every day!
Pickleball training can sometimes be frustrating, but you might find that simply hopping off the court for a quick jog is just what your body needs.
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