The Best Resistance Band Exercises for Pickleball

Your secret weapon for power and control without lifting heavy

Pickleball is sneaky. One moment you’re gliding through a gentle dink rally, the next you’re lunging sideways like an olympic fencer, then next you are sprinting to get that lob . And those moves? They demand strength, especially the kind that keeps your knees, hips, and ankles from staging a rebellion.

Resistance bands are a great tool to develop strength for pickleball. Light, portable, inexpensive, and blessedly nonjudgmental, they might just be the most underrated piece of pickleball performance gear. Resistance band work improves balance, stability, and power while slashing your risk of the dreaded “pickleball limp” the next morning.

So let’s talk about the greatest hits, the moves that actually make a difference on court and won’t require you to join a gym or pretend to enjoy kettlebell swings.

1. Lateral Band Walks: Your Secret Weapon for Shuffle Power

You know that tiny sideways step you take to get into perfect dinking position? That’s where lateral band walks shine. Loop a band around your ankles or knees and take slow, controlled steps side to side.
What it helps: hip stability, knee support, faster reaction to those sharp angle shots.
Translation: fewer “oops” lunges that end with questionable noises from your joints.

2. Lateral Lunges: Because Pickleball Is Basically Sideways Cardio

Pickleball lives in the horizontal plane, whether we like it or not. Lateral lunges build strength in the glutes, hips, and inner thighs, your Tri-State Area of stability.
Add a resistance band? Even better.
What it helps: pushing off powerfully, stopping without rolling an ankle, changing direction like a ninja.

3. Banded Deadlifts: The Band Version of the King of Lifts

Deadlifts may sound unappealing. But trust us, banded deadlifts are worth the effort.

Start by standing on a resistance band, feet shoulder-width apart, with the band looped under both feet. Grip the band firmly with both hands and stand tall. Lower your hips back into a hinge and then powerfully return to standing, feeling the band’s resistance work its magic.

What it helps: Build hip, glute and back strength, improve posture, and boost lower body power for those intense pickleball rallies.

4. Pallof Press: Anti-Twisting for Better Twisting

The Pallof press is an amazing tool for core stability. Anchor a band, stand perpendicular with both hands on the band at your chest, and press straight out, sort of like a two handed punch. The point is to not allow the band to make you rotate to the side.
What it helps: resisting rotation, so when you do rotate (think drives, drops, overheads), it's controlled and powerful.
Basically a Pilates move, but without needing to own a $4,000 reformer.

5. Russian Twists (Band-Assisted): For Stronger, Safer Torso Turns

We’re not talking the wild, back-wrenching kind from high school gym class. With a band, the movement becomes smoother and more controlled. Sit on the floor with your feet flat and knees bent 90 degrees. Lean back about 30 degrees. With the band secured perpendicular to your body, pull the band across your torso to the floor by your hip. Then slowly rotate back. 
What it helps: rotational strength for drives, serves, and that one dramatic shot you definitely didn’t need to go for but felt amazing doing.

Bottom Line

Strength training isn’t just for the gym crowd or people who say things like “activate your posterior chain.” It’s for pickleball players who want to move better, feel better, and step off the court without Googling “Why do my calves hurt so much?”

Grab a band. Add these five exercises. Your body, and your game, will thank you.