Padel after 40: keep playing pain-free for the next 20 years
Your body at 45 is not broken, just less forgiving. The five joints that decide whether you are still on court at 65, and a weekly schedule built for it.
May 5, 2026 · 3 min read · Padel Mobility
The best decision you can make as a 40-something padel player is to stop training like a 25-year-old. Your body can still play brilliant padel. What it cannot absorb is the casual abuse you used to get away with: skipped warm-ups, four nights in a row, ignoring the small ache until it becomes a limp.
The work that keeps you on court is not huge. Twenty minutes a day, two strength sessions a week, and a schedule that respects how your tissue recovers.
What changes after 40
- Tendons remodel slower. The same tweak that cost a 25-year-old six weeks costs you twelve. Prehab beats rehab.
- You lose roughly 8% of muscle per decade unless you lift. Padel is cardio and skill, not strength.
- Recovery takes 48-72 hours, not 24. Back-to-back hard matches quietly accumulate as a stiff Thursday back.
- Deep sleep drops and connective tissue tolerates the desk-then-padel-then-desk cycle worse.
None of this is catastrophic. The catastrophe is pretending it is not happening.
The five joints that matter most
- Thoracic spine. The most under-trained joint in adult padel. When it will not rotate, your lower back and shoulder compensate, which is why back pain and shoulder impingement so often arrive together. Daily: two minutes of open books plus a minute of foam-roller extensions.
- Hips. Padel lives in a low stance. Daily: three minutes of 90/90 rotations and two minutes of couch stretch per side.
- Shoulders. The bandeja and every lob load the rotator cuff at end-range. Twice a week: banded external rotations 3 x 12 and prone Y-T-Ws 3 x 8.
- Wrists and forearms. This is where elbow pain starts. Twice a week: eccentric wrist extensions 3 x 12 and 30-second heavy carries x 4.
- Ankles. The joint that, when it goes, takes you off court entirely. Daily: wall dorsiflexion stretch 30 seconds per side and slow calf raises 3 x 10.
A week that actually works
| Day | Session |
|---|---|
| Monday | Strength A, 45 min (squat or hinge, push, pull, carry) |
| Tuesday | Padel |
| Wednesday | Mobility, 20 min, plus an easy walk |
| Thursday | Strength B, 45 min (single-leg and rotational work) |
| Friday | Padel |
| Saturday | Optional third padel or a recovery walk |
| Sunday | Properly off |
Two padel sessions plus two strength sessions gets most over-40 players further than four padel sessions alone. And if you are playing five nights a week, you are grinding, not training - your body can absorb about two truly hard matches per week.
The four mistakes that end padel careers
- Skipping the warm-up. Cold tissue under explosive load is how a 45-year-old loses six weeks to a calf strain. See the seven-minute warm-up.
- “I get my workout from padel.” The most expensive sentence in amateur padel. Lift twice a week.
- Playing through small aches. A new ache that does not fade within 48 hours gets one week of reduced volume. No exceptions.
- Eating like you are 25. You mostly need more protein: about 1.6 g per kilo of bodyweight per day, spread across the day.
What 90 days of this feels like
The first ten minutes of play stop feeling tight. The morning after a match no longer hurts. Your overhead reach and toe-touch measurably improve. You sleep deeper. If none of that is true at 90 days, the strength sessions are too easy, the mobility is sporadic, or you are under-sleeping - fix the execution before adding anything.
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