If you are looking for a fun, new workout, then you have to try pickleball. As a racquet sport, pickleball engages your entire body, gets your heart pumping, and increases your cardiovascular fitness, with lots of short bursts of energy and movement. And, most importantly, it is a ton of fun!
According to the Harvard Health Letter (and the Compendium of Physical Activities, 2011), here is how the sport of pickleball stacks up to walking, running, and other racquet sports in terms of metabolic equivalents (also known as METs, which measure how much oxygen the average person uses during an activity):
| METs Per Activity |
|
| Activity | METs |
| Brisk Walking (3 mph) | 4.0 |
| Running (6 mph) | 9.8 |
| Table Tennis | 4.0 |
| Pickleball | 4.1 |
| Doubles Tennis | 4.5 – 6.0 |
| Badminton | 5.5 |
| Raquetball | 7.0 |
| Squash | 7.3 |
| Singles Tennis | 7.0 – 8.0 |
To note, higher-level pickleball players (e.g. professionals) will likely reach levels much higher than 4.0 METs.
Who knew hitting a ball back-and-forth over a net could be so much fun and a great workout?!
