How do I get fitter for my sport?

Keep playing your sport, and add two short strength sessions a week for the legs, hips, trunk and shoulders, on days away from your games. Add a little each week. Eat a normal meal 2 to 4 hours before you play and a meal with protein and carbohydrate after; a game of over an hour goes better with some carbohydrate during play.

That is how Nume plans a week around a sport: the games stay put, and strength work and food fit around them.

What does your sport ask of you?

Sport	What the game asks	Where strength helps most
Pickleball	Short steps, quick stops, lunges at the kitchen line	Legs and hips for low positions; calves and ankles; shoulders
Tennis	Short sprints, changes of direction, serves	Legs for the split step and lunge; trunk rotation; shoulders and upper back
Badminton	Jumps, deep lunges, fast recoveries to the centre	Legs and calves; hips; shoulders for the smash
Padel and squash	Low, quick movement in a small court, many turns	Legs and hips; trunk rotation; shoulders
Football	Repeated sprints, kicks and turns over a long game	Legs, especially hamstrings; hips and groin; trunk
Cricket and basketball	Short bursts, throws, jumps and landings	Legs for landing; trunk; shoulders

In Nume: all of these are among about a hundred activities on Nume’s list, and anything else you name is read too. Nume knows roughly what each asks: how hard it is, its impact, which part of the body it loads and how long recovery takes. Your games sit on your week at your days, times and lengths, and Nume plans around them.

Two strength sessions a week

The WHO recommends muscle-strengthening work for all the major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) suggests two to three strength days a week for beginners. Two sessions of 30 to 45 minutes fit around most playing weeks.

A session that suits most racket and field sports:

Legs: split squat or step-up, and a lateral lunge for side-to-side movement.
Hips and back: Romanian deadlift or hip thrust.
Hamstrings (football especially): the Nordic hamstring curl.
Pull and push: a row and an overhead or incline press.
Trunk: a rotation with a cable or band, and a plank or Pallof press.
Calves: calf raises, slowly.

If you’ve never lifted before, start with the first four weeks. Creatine is the best-studied supplement for strength work; see whey and creatine.

In Nume: Nume writes strength and mobility sessions with sets, reps and rest, at home or at a gym, for the days and length you choose. After a full session, the next one steps up. Tell Talk what your training should do for your game, such as “more legs and core for padel”, and Nume keeps it (“Noted · Training”) and builds it into the workouts it writes next.

Does strength keep you on court?

Yes. A review of randomised trials found that strength training cut sports injuries to under a third, while stretching made no difference.

In football, the FIFA 11+ warm-up, tested on young female players over a season, cut injuries overall by about a third and overuse injuries by about half. Across 15 studies, programmes that include the Nordic hamstring exercise halved the rate of hamstring injuries.

In Nume: before a Nume workout you can say you’re good to go, a bit tired or sore. Say you’re sore in your upper body, your lower body or all over, and today’s workout drops to bodyweight there, or runs shorter and lighter, so a hard game doesn’t cost you the next session.

Where do the gym days go?

Keep hard work for the muscles a game uses off the day of the game and the day before. The day after a hard game suits easy movement or upper-body work. With games on, say, Tuesday and Thursday, strength on Wednesday and Saturday gives each game fresh legs.

In Nume: this is built in. Nume’s workouts keep hard work for the body area a game loads off that day, and off the day before when the week allows. For a game that is hard on the legs (tennis, padel, badminton, squash, football, basketball), it goes further: on the day of the game and the day before, leg work in Nume’s workout uses only bodyweight or bands, and a code check holds every workout to it. Put an all-day tournament on Week and, if a Nume workout is planned that day, Nume asks “Training on Sat?” with Keep, Make it light or Rest. Log a game and Today says “Today’s workout keeps leg work light.”

Fitness for the whole game

Playing is itself conditioning. The NHS lists doubles tennis as moderate activity (you can talk but not sing) and football as vigorous (only a few words between breaths). If you tire late in games, play more often or add one interval session a week, such as short runs or bike sprints with rests between. For running fitness, see your first 5k or 10k.

What to eat before you play

For a game of over an hour, the joint sports-nutrition guidance from ACSM and the US and Canadian dietetics bodies gives 1 to 4 g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight in the 1 to 4 hours before. For a 70 kg player that is 70 to 280 g: the low end an hour before, the high end a full meal three or four hours out. Foods high in fat, protein or fibre are best kept small just before play.

Meals that work: rice with dal or chicken, pasta in tomato sauce, noodles, a sandwich and a banana, oats with fruit and honey. Drink 5 to 10 mL of fluid per kg in the 2 to 4 hours before, which is 350 to 700 mL at 70 kg.

In Nume: the meal before a game of real effort is planned a little lighter, and the one after a hard or long game is planned larger with more protein, and each meal says why. If your last meal was four hours or more before the game, Today offers a light snack about 45 minutes before and says what helps, such as “Before Tennis at 7:00 PM: some water, and a light snack about 45 minutes before”. With “Before you train” on, a note in Talk about two hours ahead adds the weather at that hour for an outdoor game when it changes what you do.

During long games and tournaments

A game under 45 minutes needs nothing but water; for long or hot games a sports drink brings carbohydrate and fluid together. For 1 to 2.5 hours of play, the guidance is 30 to 60 g of carbohydrate an hour: a sports drink, a banana, a few dates or a handful of jelly sweets between games. Keep fluid losses under about 2% of body weight, past which performance drops, most in the heat. For fuel on longer efforts, see half or full marathon.

In Nume: on a hard session of 90 minutes or more, the note before adds “On a long, hot session an electrolyte drink can help.” Ask Talk the temperature, humidity, UV or chance of rain at the courts for any day up to 10 days ahead.

After you play

Have about 0.3 g of protein per kg in the meal after (about 20 g at 70 kg), with carbohydrate. Drink 1.25 to 1.5 L for every kg of weight lost during play. If you play again within 8 hours, as in a tournament, take 1 to 1.2 g of carbohydrate per kg an hour for the first four hours. More on daily amounts in protein and the protein calculator.

In Nume: your games count. Regular games are part of how your daily energy is worked out, and two or more sessions a week above light effort put your protein at the training range, about 1.6 g per kg. Each game you log shows on Today with the energy it used above resting, as a range.

Bring your sport to Nume

Add your games at setup, on Week (“Your own exercise or sport”), or in Talk: “pickleball Tuesday and Thursday at 7”. Log each game with a tap, with minutes and how hard it felt, and Progress shows your movement minutes against the WHO’s 150 a week and the energy your movement used above resting.

Choose “Perform better” as your goal and Nume plans your energy at maintenance so your training is fuelled, or keep the goal you have; see choosing a goal. Ask Talk for places to play near home, work or a trip, or for matches, tournaments and classes in a city on the dates you want, up to 120 days ahead. On a trip, choose Keep training, Keep it light or Take a break, and meals follow where you are (eating out). Coming back after an off-season? See back on track.

Common questions

Is pickleball enough exercise on its own?

For the WHO’s 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity a week, three games of an hour gets you there. Add two strength sessions to cover the rest of the guideline.

What should I eat before an evening game after work?

Eat as usual through the day. If your last meal was four or more hours before the game, add a small carbohydrate snack such as fruit, yoghurt or toast about an hour before.

Checked on 12 November 2026 · The Nume team