Padel strength training: plan and exercises

Updated: October 10, 2026

You play padel at a club and want strength work that serves your game? Here's what Kaizmax actually builds for a padel player: a week generated by the app, the conditioning session in detail, and what changes once you declare a match. Everything comes from a rules engine, not from AI. Padel and tennis share the app's “Tennis / Padel” category, so what follows applies to tennis too.

What padel loads

Short, lateral footwork, lunges to dig out low balls, shots driven by trunk rotation, overhead movements on every smash. For the “Targeted strengthening” block of its tennis / padel conditioning, the app picks three areas, in this order of priority: the shoulders, the ankles and the core. The goal: strengthen them, with clean technique.

A week generated by the app: an example output by the engine for a sample profile

The sample profile: man, 32, 78 kg, 1.80 m, maintenance goal, intermediate level, 3 sessions of 60 min at the gym including one requested conditioning session, club padel on Tuesday and Thursday at 7 pm (1 h). The generated week, with no match, then with a match declared on Sunday, time not given:

Highlighted: what changes with the match. With other draws, the days stay the same; only the exercises change.

With no match, your sessions avoid your padel days. Conditioning replaces the last session (the third “Full body”) instead of piling on top. Worth knowing: five active days in a row, Monday to Friday, then a free weekend.

With a match, no legs and no conditioning in the 48 hours before it. With no match time, the app takes the cautious case: the day before and the day before that, here Friday and Saturday. Conditioning moves to Wednesday. Session B, now on Friday, becomes a no-legs variant instead of disappearing. In the main block, three exercises change: the barbell squat becomes a dead hang (a passive hang from the bar), the stiff-leg deadlift an ab wheel rollout, and the low cable side bend a barbell torso rotation; in the warm-up, the two leg exercises are replaced too. That's the variant generated with the match already declared: through “Protect my week”, the details may differ. Its original exercises are kept: if your match moves to another day, “Protect my week” can give them back. No session removed, none on match day.

One caveat: the day after the match, Monday's session A keeps its squat and deadlift (the day after is only a placement preference), and the week has six active days out of seven. For the day before, read our guide on lifting the day before a game.

The padel conditioning session, exercise by exercise

A single conditioning session requested: strength-oriented (with two: strength then power; with three, endurance is added). Here's the one from the example, identical with or without a match:

• Warm-up, 30 s each: mountain climbers, downward-facing dog, low lunge.
• Workout:
  • curtsy lunge, 4 × 8-12, 90 s rest;
  • band torso rotation, 3 × 12-15, 45 s rest;
  • cable external rotation, 3 × 10-15, 60 s rest;
  • seated band row, 4 × 8-12, 90 s rest;
  • side plank, 3 × 30-45 s hold, 45 s rest;
  • jump rope, 6 × (30 s work, 30 s recovery), on the guided session's timer.
• Targeted strengthening: face pull (cable or band), standing calf raises, 2 × 10-12, 30 s rest.
• Cool-down, 30 s each: bar hang back stretch, kneeling chest stretch.

For a 60-minute session, the structure is fixed: lunge, core, shoulders, horizontal pull, core, cardio (a 90-minute session adds a vertical press). The exercises themselves are drawn at every generation from what your gear allows, favoring those linked to your sport: a Cossack squat, a barbell row or jumping jacks can take those places.

What counts in your calories

Your padel counts in your expenditure. For this profile: a basal metabolic rate of 1,750 kcal (Mifflin-St Jeor) × 1.35 for a lightly active daily life, plus your sessions (3 × 60 min at 0.07 kcal per minute per kilo), plus your padel (the app's tennis / padel coefficient): 120 min × 0.10 × 78 kg ÷ 7 = +134 kcal a day.

Result: 2,637 kcal a day, versus 2,503 without the club. Protein stays at 140 g: the difference goes to carbs (+25 g) and fat (+4 g). Declaring the Sunday match in “My club” adds one hour to the calculation: accept “Update my targets” and the target moves to 2,703 kcal. With no match, meals follow the week: about 2,745 kcal on session or padel days, 2,370 at the weekend. Starting estimates, to adjust based on your weight: run your own numbers with the calorie and macro calculator.

How to get it in the app

• Steps 1 to 3: you (18 and over only), your goal, your daily life outside sport.
• Step 4, “Your training”: level, sessions, length, gym or home. Under “Outside this plan”, pick “Tennis / Padel”, check your padel days. The app then asks whether you want conditioning and how many sessions, from 1 to 3 (it suggests one); answer “No” and your plan stays classic.
• Steps 5 and 6: your diet, the recap, then “Generate my plan”.
• Then “My club”: for each day, training or match, time and length. With a match, “Protect my week” shows you what moves before applying it.

Free or Premium?

Free: the questionnaire, the first plan generation (meals and sessions, conditioning included if you want it), the guided session, tracking, “My club” (days, times, matches) and “Protect my week”.

Premium: regeneration, the adaptive coach (first adjustment free), the shopping list, advanced stats and the gym tools, including the suggested load during your session.

Frequently asked questions

Go further

The general principle: our sport-specific training app page and the guide tailoring strength to your sport. Other sports: basketball strength training and dance strength training.

Want your own week, built around your padel days? Download Kaizmax for free.

This article is informational and not a substitute for medical advice. In case of a health condition, pregnancy or doubt, consult a healthcare professional.