Pickleball vs. The Gym: Which Is Better for Aging? | Dr. Don Colbert, MD Ep. 4
Dr. Colbert’s Broadcast • Pickleball, Longevity & Healthy Aging • Episode 4
Pickleball vs. The Gym: Which Is Better for Aging? | Dr. Don Colbert, MD Ep. 4
A 25-year Danish study ranked ordinary leisure activities by the life expectancy associated with each one, and the order surprised almost everybody, including the people putting in serious hours at the gym. In this episode of Dr. Colbert’s Broadcast, Dr. Don Colbert, MD, Kyle Colbert, and Mary Colbert work through what that research actually found, why the social side of a racket sport may be doing much of the work, what pickleball does for the aging brain and for balance, and how to start playing without ending up in a wrist cast.
Pickleball looks gentle, and that is exactly how people get hurt. Warm up for 15 to 20 minutes, wear court shoes rather than running shoes, and never backpedal for a lob: turn and run. The single most common serious injury in the sport is a wrist fracture from falling backward onto an outstretched hand.
If you have heart disease, uncontrolled blood pressure, a recent injury or surgery, or you have been sedentary for a long stretch, talk with your clinician before you start. Stop and seek prompt medical attention for chest pain or pressure, unusual shortness of breath, dizziness or fainting, or an irregular heartbeat.
The study behind the claim
Kyle opens the episode with a setup: there is an activity associated with roughly ten extra years of life, and it is not running, not swimming, not weightlifting. It is a racket sport.
The source is the Copenhagen City Heart Study, which followed about 8,500 Danish adults for roughly 25 years and compared life expectancy across eight leisure-time activities. Tennis sat at the top by a wide margin. Badminton, the other racket sport in the data, came second.
| Activity | Years of life expectancy associated with it |
|---|---|
| Tennis | 9.7 |
| Badminton | 6.2 |
| Soccer | 4.7 |
| Cycling | 3.7 |
| Swimming | 3.4 |
| Jogging | 3.2 |
| Calisthenics | 3.1 |
| Health club activity | 1.5 |
Pickleball is not in that table, and Dr. Colbert says so plainly. The sport was invented in 1965 and only became a mass phenomenon around 2020, when social distancing made an outdoor, spread-out, four-person game unusually appealing. It is now among the fastest growing sports in the country, but it has nothing like tennis’s 25-year dataset behind it. The reasonable position is the one taken in the episode: pickleball is the same category of activity, similar demands, similar social structure, considerably less strain on the joints.
Read the number honestly. This is observational research, not a trial. Nobody was assigned to play tennis for 25 years. People who take up a racket sport and stick with it for decades tend to differ from people who do not, in income, in mobility, in social support, and in baseline health, and the study cannot fully separate those threads. The finding is a strong signal that this kind of activity travels with a long life. It is not a promise that picking up a paddle adds 9.7 years to yours.
“It’s one exercise you do where you don’t feel like you’re exercising. You’re playing.”
Dr. Don Colbert, MD, in this episode
Pickleball vs. the gym, fairly stated
The line in the episode that gets the biggest reaction is the comparison between the top of the table and the bottom: nearly ten years for tennis, a year and a half for health club activity. Said quickly, it sounds like an argument against lifting weights.
It is worth being careful here, because it is not that argument, and treating it as one would be a mistake for anyone over 50.
An activity you enjoy, do with other people, and keep doing for decades outperforms one you grind through alone and quietly abandon. Adherence and connection are not soft factors. In this data they look like the main event.
That resistance training is not worth doing. Muscle mass and strength are among the strongest predictors of independence in later life, and the trial evidence for resistance training in older adults is robust. The Danish category was self-reported health club activity, which is a broad and inconsistent bucket.
The sensible conclusion is not either-or. Play the racket sport for the cardiovascular work, the coordination, the balance and the community. Keep lifting, two or three sessions a week, to hold onto the muscle that keeps you playing. Dr. Colbert’s own framing is that the trauma-to-benefit ratio favours pickleball over high-impact options, which is a different claim from saying the gym is wasted time.
On calorie burn: Dr. Colbert cites research showing pickleball burns meaningfully more calories than a walk of the same length, and the published work on the sport does place a typical recreational game in the moderate-intensity range, above walking pace, with average heart rates in a training zone for middle-aged and older players. If your current activity is a daily walk, a game is a genuine step up in intensity, which is a reason to build in gradually rather than to start with three hours.
How to start, for almost nothing
This is the most practical stretch of the episode, and it dismantles the two objections people actually have: cost, and not knowing anyone.
Nearly every major city has public courts, and nearly all of them run open play sessions split into beginner, intermediate and advanced. The schedule is usually posted online. You show up. That is the whole process.
A $20 to $30 paddle is enough to start. Balls are supplied at open play. Do not buy a heavy paddle: it is one of the routes to elbow tendinitis.
You do not need a partner. Paddles go in a rack and players are taken in order, so you are matched into games by the system. Many sessions list a coach’s number, and beginner clinics are often free.
Mary’s advice is to take lessons early rather than muddling through. She had a bad shoulder and was hitting most serves out, which was discouraging enough to nearly end the experiment. A few lessons with a good coach fixed the mechanics, and the shoulder stopped being the deciding factor. Her point generalises: technique learned at the start is also injury prevention, and it is far easier than unlearning a habit later.
If pickleball is not for you, the category still is. Badminton is in the Danish data directly. Table tennis carries much of the same eye-hand coordination and brain demand at a fraction of the impact, and Dr. Colbert’s example is an opponent in his mid-80s who regularly beat him. Padel is another option. The common ingredients are a racket, a partner, and someone across the net.
What it does for the brain and for balance
Dr. Colbert’s argument is that a racket sport is a brain game that happens to be played with the body, and that this is where it separates from a treadmill.
Exercise raises brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which Dr. Colbert calls Miracle-Gro for the brain. It supports the survival of existing neurons and the growth of new connections.
Aerobic activity is associated with the formation of new brain cells and with nerve growth factor, which supports repair and maintenance of nerve tissue.
Your sense of where your body is in space without looking. It declines with age, and it is why some people have to watch their feet on stairs. Lunging, shuffling, turning and tracking a ball trains it directly.
Mary’s example is unexpected and concrete: six months in, the change she noticed most was in her driving. Merging traffic stopped feeling like an ambush, because she was anticipating instead of reacting.
Balance is the one worth dwelling on. It tends to slip after 70, quietly, and the consequence is a fall. Training balance while chasing a ball is far more likely to actually happen than training it as a set of exercises on a mat, which is the practical case for the whole sport in one sentence.
Frailty, and why eight weeks matters
Frailty is a clinical category, not a figure of speech. It is scored on things like how easily you rise from a chair, arm curl performance, how far you walk in six minutes, sedentary time, and physical and mental quality of life. Adults in the pre-frail range are the ones for whom a single fall can change everything.
Dr. Colbert points to a randomized trial of an eight-week pickleball program in pre-frail older adults with a median age in the late 60s, and reports that a large share of the pickleball group moved out of the pre-frail category while very few controls did. Published work on an eight-week pickleball intervention in pre-frail older adults has examined exactly this population, with improvements reported in dual-task gait performance and inter-joint coordination, both of which sit close to fall risk.
Why the timeframe is the striking part: Eight weeks is short. It is short enough to be a reasonable thing to try, and short enough that if it is going to help you, you will know before the season changes.
The research base on pickleball specifically is still young and the trials are small, so treat the size of any individual result with appropriate caution. The direction of the evidence, though, is consistent with everything else known about how quickly older adults respond to the right kind of activity.
The episode’s illustration is a 90-year-old regular named Margaret, who barely moves on the court, never misses a serve, places the ball wherever she wants it, and routinely beats players a quarter of her age. She is also the argument against the idea that you are past your prime at 70.
How not to get hurt
This is the section Dr. Colbert insists on, because the injuries are predictable and most of them are preventable. His summary rule: play to have fun, not to win, and never sacrifice your health for a single shot.
Almost always from backpedaling for a lob, falling, and landing on an outstretched hand. The fix is a technique: turn your body and run back, never shuffle backwards. Or let the lob go.
The classic consequence of no warm-up. Fifteen to twenty minutes before you play, every time. This is not optional after 50.
Court shoes matter here more than any other piece of equipment. Running shoes are built for forward motion and offer little lateral support, which is most of what pickleball asks for.
Lateral tendinitis, the same thing as tennis elbow. Usually traced to a grip that is too tight, a paddle that is too heavy, or too much swing. An elbow sleeve helps.
Overhead serving with poor mechanics is the usual culprit, which is another argument for early coaching rather than self-teaching.
Dr. Colbert has had a heatstroke and now plays indoors or in the early morning and late afternoon. Do not play in 100 degree weather. Texas summers are not a test of character.
Two behavioural risks worth naming. The first is starting fast and furious, which is how beginners get hurt in week one. The second is your choice of company: the players most likely to injure themselves and others are the ones playing recreational games like a trophy is waiting. Mary’s rule, learned the hard way in a mixed doubles game, is to avoid partners and opponents who want to win at all costs.
Hydration, joints, and what comes after the game
The origin story for Pickle Powder is told here, and it starts as a problem rather than a product. Kyle would go out intending to play for an hour, get absorbed, and come off the court four or five hours later. The next day his joints hurt badly enough that he started buying turmeric and ginger shots to get through it.
He took the idea to his father: formulate a natural anti-inflammatory powder for people who move, with electrolytes built in, because Texas heat dehydrates players faster than they replace it. The result combines turmeric, ginger and Boswellia with an electrolyte blend to support hydration and joint comfort during an active lifestyle.
One genuinely useful warning: this is concentrated turmeric, and it stains. Open the container over a sink, use the scoop rather than your fingers, and keep it away from light-coloured shoes, socks and shirts. There is a sticker on the tub saying exactly this, and it is there because people have learned the hard way.
Dr. Colbert’s own routine is to combine it with NAD+ Powder in a thermos and sip through a session, alongside plain water rather than instead of it. Afterwards the family uses a hot tub for around five minutes followed by a short cold plunge to the waist, which he finds takes the ache out of the knees and lower back.
Cold plunging is not risk-free. Dr. Colbert flags this himself in the episode. Cold water immersion causes an immediate spike in heart rate and blood pressure, and it is not appropriate for everyone, particularly anyone with known or suspected heart disease, uncontrolled hypertension, or an arrhythmia. Talk with your clinician first, start with shorter and warmer exposures than you think you need, and never plunge alone.
Your first 30 days on the court
- 1Look up open play in your city today. Search your city name plus pickleball open play. Note the beginner session times and the coach’s number if one is listed.
- 2Buy court shoes before you buy a better paddle. A cheap paddle and proper shoes beats an expensive paddle and running shoes, by a wide margin, on the only metric that matters: whether you are still playing in six months.
- 3Book two lessons in your first two weeks. Serve mechanics and footwork. Both are far easier to learn correctly than to correct later, and both are where the injuries come from.
- 4Cap your first sessions at one hour. The pull to keep going when a group needs a fourth is the single most reliable route to a week off with sore joints. Set the limit before you arrive.
- 5Warm up for 15 minutes, every single time. Ankles, calves, hips, shoulders, then a few minutes of easy dinking. This is the cheapest injury insurance available.
- 6Aim for three sessions a week, and keep lifting. Three days a week is the frequency associated with the longevity findings. Two short resistance sessions alongside it protect the muscle that keeps you on the court.
Divine Health products and resources related to this episode
These are supportive wellness tools that fit the nutritional themes of the broadcast. They are not treatments for injuries, arthritis, or any medical condition, and they are not a substitute for warming up, proper technique, or medical care.
Pickle Powder
The product built for exactly this problem, and the one discussed at length in the episode. Turmeric, ginger and Boswellia with an electrolyte blend, formulated to support hydration and joint comfort during an active lifestyle.
NAD+ Powder
The powder Kyle combines with Pickle Powder in his thermos for long sessions. Nicotinamide riboside chloride at 600 mg per serving, for cellular energy and cognitive support.
Joint Formula
For players carrying the everyday aches that come with lateral movement after 50. Nutritional support for joint comfort and mobility, alongside, not instead of, technique and rest.
Hydrolyzed Collagen Powder
Collagen is the structural protein of tendons, ligaments and cartilage, the tissues a racket sport asks the most of. An easy addition to a post-game shake.
Carb Assist
Named in the segment on blood sugar, where Dr. Colbert describes pairing regular activity with the Beyond Keto approach in his practice. Berberine-based support for healthy blood sugar already in the normal range.
Live Long and Strong
Dr. Colbert’s book on the health markers that add years to your life and strength to your days, which is the framework the whole broadcast series is built around.
Supplement safety: turmeric, ginger and Boswellia can affect platelet function and may interact with blood thinners, and berberine can interact with blood sugar and blood pressure medications. Talk with your healthcare professional before starting anything new, particularly if you take prescription medication or have surgery scheduled, and bring your full supplement list to every appointment.
Questions to take to your next appointment
- ✓Given my heart history and blood pressure, is a moderate-intensity racket sport a safe place for me to start?
- ✓Do my knees, hips or shoulders need assessing before I start playing regularly?
- ✓Is my balance where it should be for my age, and would physical therapy help before I add lateral movement?
- ✓Do any of my medications affect hydration, heat tolerance, or heart rate during exercise?
- ✓Is cold water immersion safe for me specifically, or does something in my history rule it out?
- ✓Do turmeric, ginger, Boswellia or berberine interact with anything you have prescribed me?
Watch, share, and find a court
The message of Episode 4 is not that a paddle is a miracle. It is that the exercise which extends life is the exercise you will still be doing in ten years, and that the activities people stay with tend to be the ones played with other people. Find open play, buy the shoes, take two lessons, and start slowly enough that you are still playing next spring.
Sources and further reading
- Schnohr et al., Mayo Clinic Proceedings (2018): Various leisure-time physical activities associated with widely divergent life expectancies, the Copenhagen City Heart Study
- Effects of an 8-week pickleball intervention on dual-task gait performance and inter-joint coordination in pre-frail older adults
- Journal of Physical Activity and Health (2024): Pickleball participation and the health and well-being of adults, a scoping review
- The acute and chronic physiological responses to pickleball in middle-aged and older adults
- The Harvard Study of Adult Development
- American Heart Association: recommendations for physical activity in adults and kids
The part most people skip: other human beings
The most interesting pattern in the Danish data is not that racket sports won. It is which activities clustered at the top. Tennis, badminton and soccer are all played with other people. Cycling, swimming and jogging, done alone with headphones in, sit well below them despite being excellent cardiovascular exercise.
Dr. Colbert’s read is that the social component is not a pleasant side effect of the exercise. It may be a substantial part of the mechanism. Doubles pickleball forces interaction with three other people for the length of a game, and the format shuffles partners constantly, so a regular player accumulates a genuine community rather than a workout routine.
Kyle describes the arithmetic of that in his own life. He had lived in Dallas for ten years and could count the people he considered friends there on one hand. Three years after taking up pickleball, the number is past a hundred. His explanation is that the game compresses friendship: you lose games together and walk off the court disappointed together, you win games together, and you spend a lot of time picking your partner back up. That is a lot of shared experience in a short span.
The Harvard finding Dr. Colbert points to: The Harvard Study of Adult Development has followed participants for more than 80 years, making it one of the longest running studies of adult happiness and health ever conducted. Its most quoted conclusion is that the quality of a person’s close relationships predicts late-life health and happiness better than cholesterol, income, or social class.
Set that alongside the Danish ranking and a picture forms. The activities that keep you connected to other people appear to do something that solo cardio, for all its merits, does not fully replicate.
Mary makes the point that this matters most for the people least likely to act on it. If you live alone, the barrier to walking into a room of strangers is real, and it is also exactly the barrier worth crossing. Her own route through it was lessons, which is covered further down.