If you live in Naples and you''ve picked up a paddle in the last two years, you already know the sport has exploded here. The pickleball complex at East Naples Community Park is now one of the largest in the country, every neighborhood club has converted tennis courts into four-paddle layouts, and on most mornings I drive past lines of cars at the public courts before 8 a.m.
I love that. I''m a coach — anything that gets adults in their fifties, sixties, and seventies moving four days a week is a win for longevity. But I''ve also seen the other side of this boom up close. Over the last couple of years, more than a dozen of the clients I''ve worked with at Galaxy Fit Lab in North Naples have come in with the same story: I love pickleball, but my shoulder hurts every morning, or My doctor says it''s the lateral knee — can I still play?
The honest answer is yes, almost always — but only if you train for the demands of the sport. Pickleball at 60 is not pickleball at 30. The body that''s still on the court at 70 is not there by accident. It''s there because it got stronger.
This is the guide I wish every Naples player had before they started.
Why pickleball injuries spike after 50
Pickleball looks gentle. The court is smaller than tennis, the ball is lighter, the paddle is forgiving. People walk in expecting it to feel like a friendly volley and not register as serious exercise.
It is serious exercise — and it stresses the body in ways most adults over fifty haven''t been preparing for.
Three things drive the injury rate:
Repetitive volume. A typical doubles game has long rallies with constant small movements: lateral shuffles, quick stops, dink-to-volley transitions, repeated overhead motions. The forces are smaller than tennis but the frequency is higher. By the end of an hour-long session, a 65-year-old shoulder has done thousands of small reps.
Rotational torque. Every powerful shot — backhand, forehand drive, third-shot drop — comes from the trunk rotating fast. Without strong deep core stabilizers and mobile hips, that torque transfers straight into the lower spine.
Sudden direction changes. The court is small, the rallies are quick, and changes of direction happen on planted legs. If single-leg stability is weak, the knees and ankles absorb forces they aren''t ready for.
Add normal age-related changes — tendons stiffer than they were at thirty, less muscle mass, slower neural recovery — and you get the four injury patterns I see almost every week.
The four most common pickleball injuries I see in Naples players
1. Rotator cuff impingement and shoulder pain
This is the most common complaint I see. The shoulder hurts when reaching overhead, when sleeping on that side, sometimes when just lifting a coffee mug. The cause is almost always the same: the small rotator cuff muscles that keep the ball of the shoulder centered in its socket are overworked and underprepared. Pickleball''s overhead smashes, putaways, and high-volley positions ask the shoulder to repeatedly resist rotation under load — and after fifty, the rotator cuff doesn''t have the reserve it used to.
What makes it worse: most adults over fifty have some degree of forward-head, rounded-shoulder posture from decades of desk work. That posture pre-loads the impingement before the paddle even comes out of the bag.
2. Lateral knee pain — IT band, LCL, and lateral meniscus
The second-most-common injury I see. Players describe a sharp pain on the outside of the knee, especially after lateral movement or pushing off to chase a wide ball. The mechanism is weak gluteus medius (the muscle on the side of the hip) failing to control the knee during planted-leg cuts. When the glute med can''t hold the femur in place, the knee collapses inward, and the lateral structures — IT band, LCL, lateral meniscus — take the strain.
Age-related cartilage thinning compounds it. By sixty, most knees have less cushion than they did at forty, and they punish loading patterns the body used to absorb without complaint.
3. Achilles tendinopathy
This one sneaks up on people. It usually starts as morning stiffness in the back of the heel — "I just need a few steps to walk it out" — and graduates over weeks to a constant ache that flares with every push-off on the court.
Pickleball lives on the balls of your feet. Constant ready stance, explosive direction changes, rapid push-offs from a half-squat. The calves and Achilles tendons handle all of that. After fifty, tendons get stiffer and less elastic, and a calf complex that hasn''t been strength-trained simply can''t tolerate the volume.
4. Lower back pain from rotational torque
Backhands, serves, third-shot drives — every powerful pickleball stroke is a rotation initiated from the hips, transmitted through the trunk, and accelerated through the shoulder. If the deep core (especially transverse abdominis and the obliques) isn''t strong enough to stabilize that rotation, the lumbar spine moves more than it should. Repetitive small over-rotation in the low back, week after week, is how players end up with chronic stiffness and the dreaded "I need to be careful with my back" phrase that cuts their playing days in half.
The principle that prevents all four
Here''s what most players miss: more pickleball doesn''t fix any of this. Playing more on a body that isn''t strong enough for the sport just exposes the weaknesses faster.
The fix is strength training designed around three principles:
- Joint stability before raw strength. The rotator cuff, glute med, and deep core are stabilizers. They need targeted work that isolates them before being loaded heavily.
- Single-leg and rotational patterns. Pickleball happens on one leg, twisting. Two-legged squats and presses build general strength but don''t transfer well. The exercises that transfer are the ones that mimic the demands of the sport.
- Tendon resilience. Tendons get stronger from heavy, slow loading — not from pounding them with running or court time. Specific eccentric work (slow lowering phase) is what rebuilds the Achilles, the patellar tendon, and the rotator cuff connections.
This is the same training approach the longevity research has converged on for adults over fifty in general — strength, single-leg, rotational, and tendon-focused. Pickleball just makes the case more urgent because the sport is asking those exact systems to perform.
The seven exercises I prescribe most often for Naples pickleball players
These are the movements I program for almost every pickleball client who walks into the studio. They cover the four injury patterns above. If you''re working with a coach, build a session around these. If you''re starting alone, please consult a trainer or physical therapist before loading them — strength training is one of the safest things you can do at any age, but only when the form is right.
1. Banded external rotations — for the rotator cuff
Why: directly strengthens the small muscles that keep your shoulder ball centered when you smash, dink, or volley.
How: Tuck your elbow into your side, bent at 90 degrees, holding a light resistance band anchored at elbow height. Keeping your elbow pinned to your ribs, slowly rotate your forearm outward against the band. Pause at the end range. Slowly return. The motion should be small and controlled — not a punch.
Dose: 2 sets of 12–15 reps per side, two to three times per week.
2. Half-kneeling single-arm overhead press — for shoulder stability and core
Why: trains the shoulder to press overhead while the core resists side-to-side collapse — which is exactly what pickleball asks of it.
How: Half-kneeling position with the knee on the same side as the arm doing the work down, opposite leg planted forward. Stack your ribs over your hips (no arched lower back). Press a light dumbbell straight overhead, keeping the bicep alongside your ear at the top. Lower with control.
Dose: 2–3 sets of 8–10 reps per side.
3. Single-leg Romanian deadlift — for glute med, hamstrings, and balance
Why: the single best exercise for the lateral knee. It loads the glute med under stretch, builds hamstring strength for push-off, and trains balance under load — three things every pickleball player needs.
How: Stand on one leg with a light dumbbell or kettlebell in the opposite hand. Hinge from your hip, sending the back leg straight behind you and lowering the weight toward the floor. Stop when your back leg and torso form a straight line parallel to the ground. Drive through the standing heel to return.
Dose: 2–3 sets of 8 reps per side. Start unweighted; add load only when balance is solid.
4. Side plank with top-leg lift — for the glute med and lateral core
Why: isolates the gluteus medius, which most players over fifty have a weak version of from sitting too much. Strong glute med is what holds the knee in line during cuts.
How: Side plank on the elbow, hips stacked. Lift the top leg slowly, hold for two seconds, lower. Keep the hips from rocking back.
Dose: 2 sets of 8–10 lifts per side, or hold a side plank for 20–30 seconds and add 5–8 leg lifts at the end.
5. Heavy slow eccentric calf raises — for the Achilles
Why: the most well-researched protocol for rebuilding Achilles tendon health. The slow lowering phase forces the tendon to remodel under controlled load.
How: Stand on the edge of a step, balls of the feet on the edge, heels free. Rise up onto both feet, then transfer all your weight to one foot and lower slowly — three full seconds — until the heel drops below the level of the step. Use the other foot to come back up.
Dose: 3 sets of 15 single-leg lowering reps, three times per week. This is the heaviest-volume exercise on this list because Achilles work needs frequency.
6. Pallof press — for anti-rotation core strength
Why: the core''s most important job for pickleball isn''t producing rotation — it''s resisting unwanted rotation in the lower back during a powerful swing. Pallof press trains exactly that.
How: Stand sideways to a cable column (or banded anchor) at chest height. Hold the handle with both hands at your sternum. Press your hands straight out away from your chest. The cable will try to rotate your trunk; resist it. Hold the press for three seconds at full extension. Return slowly.
Dose: 2–3 sets of 8–10 reps per side, with a three-second hold each rep.
7. Farmer carry — for grip, core, and total-body resilience
Why: the closest thing strength training has to a "do everything" exercise. It builds grip (paddle control), trains the core to stay rigid under load, strengthens the scapular stabilizers, and improves single-leg stability with every step.
How: Heavy dumbbell or kettlebell in each hand. Walk slowly with your shoulders pulled down and back, ribs stacked over hips, eyes forward. No leaning, no shrugging. Walk for distance or for time.
Dose: 2–3 sets of 30–60 seconds of walking, with weights heavy enough that the last 10 seconds feel hard.
A sample weekly schedule for a Naples pickleball player
If you play three days a week — which is what I see most often among my Naples clients — your week should look something like this:
- Monday: Strength session (45–60 minutes covering 4–5 of the exercises above)
- Tuesday: Pickleball
- Wednesday: Light recovery — walking, mobility work, calf eccentrics
- Thursday: Pickleball
- Friday: Strength session (the other 3–4 exercises plus a finisher)
- Saturday: Pickleball
- Sunday: Full rest or easy walk
Two strength sessions a week is the floor for adults over fifty who are playing competitively. Three is better when life allows. Skipping strength work entirely and just playing more pickleball is the fastest way to end up sidelined.
What if you''re already injured?
The exercises above are prevention work. If you''re already dealing with shoulder pain that wakes you up, lateral knee pain that lingers after games, or Achilles stiffness that won''t quit, please don''t try to push through with general programming. Get a proper assessment first.
This is one of the most common reasons new clients book a free consultation with us — they have an existing issue, want to keep playing, and need a coach who will program around the injury rather than ignore it. Every program at Galaxy Fit Lab starts with a movement assessment specifically because most adults over fifty have something we need to work around.
Why local coaching matters
I''ve been a personal trainer in North Naples for over a decade. I have an Exercise Science degree, a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) credential, and most importantly, I''ve spent thousands of training hours specifically with adults over fifty. I know what a 65-year-old rotator cuff feels like when it''s been through twenty years of desk work and ten years of pickleball. I know the difference between a knee that needs more single-leg work and a knee that needs to be referred out for imaging. That experience is what most online programs and large gym chains can''t offer.
Our studio at 13500 Tamiami Trail N is a private, 2,500 square-foot training facility — no membership desk, no waiting for equipment, just one-on-one and small-group coaching for adults who want to stay active for the long run. We''re a five-minute drive from the East Naples Community Park complex, which is one reason so many of our clients are pickleball players.
If you want to keep playing well into your seventies and beyond, the work starts off the court.
Common questions Naples pickleball players ask me
Is it too late to start strength training if I''m in my sixties?
No. Some of the strongest research in exercise science is on adults who started strength training in their seventies and still saw meaningful gains in muscle mass, bone density, and balance within twelve weeks. The body responds at any age — it just needs the right stimulus.
Can I just do pickleball as my exercise?
You can — but you''ll be getting weaker over time, not stronger. Pickleball is a sport, not a strength training program. The two are complements, not substitutes. Players who only play and don''t strength train are the ones who end up dealing with the four injuries above.
How long until I feel a difference?
Most of my clients notice less morning stiffness and more confidence on the court within four to six weeks of consistent strength training. Tendon adaptations (Achilles, rotator cuff) take longer — typically eight to twelve weeks — but the protective effect builds steadily.
Do I need a personal trainer or can I do this with a YouTube program?
Some people can. Most can''t, especially over fifty. Form on single-leg work, half-kneeling presses, and Pallof presses is harder to self-coach than people expect, and the cost of getting it wrong is higher when joints have less reserve. If you''re going to spend the time, get the form right the first time.
Ready to keep your court days ahead of you?
If you''re a pickleball player in Naples and any of this hit close to home — the shoulder that aches, the knee that''s started to talk back, the wonder of how long can I keep this up? — let''s talk.
Book a free consultation at Galaxy Fit Lab. No pressure, no sales pitch — just an honest conversation about your goals, your sport, and a strength program built around the body you have, not the body you wish you had.
The court will still be there. The question is whether you will be on it.
Coach John holds a degree in Exercise Science and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and USA Weightlifting Coach. He has trained adults over fifty in North Naples for more than ten years.