Pickleball Nutrition: What Older and Newer Athletes Need
- Shrey Aggarwal
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
A 58-year-old client of mine plays four hours of pickleball on a Saturday morning, eats a slice of toast before leaving the house, drinks two cups of coffee on court, and wonders why his last two games are the ones he always loses. He doesn't think of himself as an endurance athlete. His Saturday says otherwise.
Pickleball's short points and long social sessions hide a real athletic demand, especially for players over 50, where protein needs are higher, hydration signals are blunter, and recovery is slower. The essentials: protein at every meal, deliberate fluids on court, and carbohydrate before longer competitive days.
Quick Overview
Is pickleball hard enough to need pickleball nutrition at all?
Yes, and the measured intensity is higher than the sport's reputation suggests. Players averaging 62 years of age recorded mean heart rates of 111 beats per minute in both singles and doubles, around 70% of predicted maximum, with over 70% of playing time spent in moderate-to-vigorous zones (Physical Activity Intensity of Singles and Doubles Pickleball, J Aging Phys Act, 2022). A smaller study put match play at roughly 4.1 METs and around 350kcal per match (Smith et al., Int J Res Exerc Physiol, 2018), though that energy figure comes from fifteen players and hasn't been repeated, so treat it as a rough guide rather than a number to plan around. Either way, it's per match, not per session. Play four or five and you're into the territory of a long training day.
The structure of the demand matters more than the total. Points are short and repeated, with hard lateral pushes, sudden stops, and lunges to the kitchen line, separated by seconds of rest. That pattern draws on carbohydrate and on the nervous system, and it accumulates. Most players don't fade in game one. They fade in game four, when the legs are slower to the ball and the unforced errors climb.
Two things separate pickleball from most sports with a similar profile. The average player is older, and the average player arrived recently, often from a decade or more of not much. A scoping review of pickleball participation found consistent benefits to fitness and wellbeing in adults, with an evidence base dominated by older cohorts (Pickleball Participation and Health, J Phys Act Health, 2024). That's a population who benefits enormously and who also has the least margin for getting the basics wrong.
How much protein do older pickleball players need?
More than the general recommendation, and more than most are eating. Healthy older adults need roughly 1.0–1.3g of protein per kg of bodyweight per day just to protect muscle, above the standard adult figure (Bauer et al., JAMDA, 2013), and active older adults sit toward the upper end or beyond, in the 1.2–2.0g/kg range used for athletes generally (Thomas, Erdman & Burke, J Acad Nutr Diet, 2016). For a 75kg (165lb) player, that's about 90–150g a day.
The reason is anabolic resistance. Muscle in an older body responds less strongly to a given dose of protein, so the same amount of food builds less than it would have at 30. The practical fix isn't a bigger daily total shovelled in at dinner. It's spreading it, with a real serving of protein at each meal rather than a token amount at breakfast and the bulk at night.
That means breakfast needs to change for most players. Toast and jam, plain oats with fruit, or a bowl of rice porridge on their own are carbohydrate meals wearing a breakfast label. Eggs, Greek yoghurt, milk, tofu, cottage cheese, beans, or a protein shake alongside them turns each into something that actually maintains muscle. Across a week, that single change usually moves a player's intake more than any supplement they could buy.
Players over 60 who have added twice-weekly resistance work get more from the protein than those who haven't. Food and training aren't separate projects here.
Why is hydration the thing most pickleball players get wrong?
Because the signal you'd normally rely on gets less reliable with age. Older adults show a reduced thirst response to the same fluid deficit, drinking less voluntarily than younger adults after the same challenge (Kenney & Chiu, MSSE, 2001). A 65-year-old who drinks when thirsty is starting from further behind than a 25-year-old doing the same.
Layer on the setting. Outdoor courts in Arizona in July, Queensland in February, or Spain in August put players in real heat, and indoor community centre courts are often warm and still, with poor airflow. Sessions run long because the social format encourages it. Nobody calls time at 60 minutes.
The workable habit is drinking on a schedule rather than on sensation: something like 400–600ml (roughly 14–20oz) per hour of play in mild conditions, and more in heat, taken in sips at the ends of games rather than in one gulp at the end. Sodium becomes relevant once you're past about 90 minutes, sweating heavily, or playing in heat, and for most one-hour indoor sessions plain water and normal meals cover it. The detail on that sits in the sodium needs piece.
Blood pressure medication, diuretics and some diabetes drugs change fluid handling. If you're on any of them, the plan needs to come from your own clinician rather than from a general recommendation.
What to eat before pickleball and between games
For a single session under 90 minutes, a normal meal two to three hours before is enough, and nothing exotic is required. A sandwich, pasta with a light sauce, rice with chicken and vegetables, or yoghurt with fruit and toast all work. If you're playing early and can't manage a full meal, a banana and a glass of milk 45 minutes out does more than an empty stomach and a coffee.
The tournament or open-play day is different. Once you're on court for three or more hours with breaks, you're fuelling across the day rather than before it. Aim for something carbohydrate-based every hour once past the first hour, in the range of 30–60g of carbohydrate per hour for sustained play (Thomas, Erdman & Burke, J Acad Nutr Diet, 2016). A banana, a small sandwich, dried fruit, an oat bar, or a sports drink all count, and real food is usually better tolerated than gels for players who haven't practised with them.
Coffee before play is fine and mildly useful. Coffee instead of breakfast, then four hours of play, is the pattern behind most of the shaky-legs-and-poor-decisions complaints I hear from recreational players.
Recovery, soreness and the Achilles problem
Older muscle takes longer to repair, so the day after matters more than it used to. Eating a proper meal within a couple of hours of finishing, with protein and carbohydrate together, and continuing to eat well the following day, does more for next weekend's play than anything taken in the twenty minutes after the last point.
Injury risk deserves a mention because it isn't evenly spread. Achilles tendon ruptures in older recreational players have risen alongside the sport's growth, driven by the fast forward-and-back movement pattern in people with limited recent loading history (McCahon et al., Foot Ankle Spec, 2026). Nutrition doesn't prevent that, and I'd be misleading you to suggest otherwise. Adequate total energy and protein support tendon and muscle tissue, but progressive calf and ankle loading in the gym is the actual protection. Any current or suspected injury needs assessment by a qualified clinician before you train through it.
Under-eating is the quieter problem. Plenty of newer players take up pickleball explicitly to lose weight, then cut intake while adding eight hours a week of activity. That combination costs muscle in exactly the population that can least afford to lose it, and it shows up as slower recovery, more soreness, and worse play by month three.
Fueletics Perspective
The players who improve fastest in their second year aren't the ones who bought better paddles. They're the ones who started eating like the sport was training, because it is.
If I had to pick one change for most pickleball players over 50, it would be protein at breakfast. Not a supplement, not an electrolyte tablet, just 25–30g of protein in the first meal of the day. It's the meal where intake is lowest, and it's the intervention that holds muscle while the sport does everything else it's good for.
Your protein target, your sweat rate and your fuelling needs for a long tournament day are individual numbers, and playing off someone else's is how a good season turns into a stalled one. If you want yours worked out against your age, medication and playing volume, start with a Fueletics assessment.
FAQ
What should I eat before playing pickleball?
A normal meal with carbohydrate and protein two to three hours before, such as pasta, a sandwich, or rice with chicken and vegetables. If you're playing within an hour, keep it small and mostly carbohydrate, like a banana and a glass of milk.
Do I need electrolytes for pickleball?
Not for most indoor sessions under 90 minutes, where water and normal meals cover your losses. Electrolytes earn their place on hot outdoor courts, long open-play days, and for heavy or salty sweaters.
How much protein does a pickleball player over 50 need?
Roughly 1.2–2.0g per kg of bodyweight per day, spread across meals rather than concentrated at dinner. For a 75kg (165lb) player that's about 90–150g daily, with 25–30g at each main meal.
Does pickleball burn enough calories to lose weight?
Match play sits at moderate-to-vigorous intensity for most older players, so a multi-match session is substantial, though published calorie estimates come from small samples. Cutting food sharply while playing this much usually costs muscle, so any deficit should be modest.
Research References
Physical activity intensity of singles and doubles pickleball in older adults. J Aging Phys Act. 2022.
Smith LE, Buchanan CA, Dalleck LC. The acute and chronic physiological responses to pickleball in middle-aged and older adults. Int J Res Exerc Physiol. 2018;13(2):21–32.
Bauer J, Biolo G, Cederholm T, et al. Evidence-based recommendations for optimal dietary protein intake in older people: a position paper from the PROT-AGE Study Group. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2013;14(8):542–559. doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2013.05.021
Thomas DT, Erdman KA, Burke LM. Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine: Nutrition and Athletic Performance. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2016;116(3):501–528. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2015.12.006
Kenney WL, Chiu P. Influence of age on thirst and fluid intake. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2001;33(9):1524–1532. doi:10.1097/00005768-200109000-00016
McCahon JAS, Miller M, Riebesell S, et al. Pickleball and the rising incidence of Achilles tendon injuries in the elderly. Foot Ankle Spec. 2026. doi:10.1177/19386400241286591
Pickleball participation and the health and well-being of adults: a scoping review. J Phys Act Health. 2024;21(9):847–860.
