I think I am starting to really love this sport, to the point where I am starting to wonder if I can actually afford it. I live in a metro area so the courts, which I previously had stated were very affordable, can actually get quite expensive if you are going regularly and I am at the point where I want to go regularly.
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The other day a friend of mine whose girlfriend had never played before had a coupon for a free hour of pickle and asked if I wanted to join in and the answer was of course! I knew that the game would be slow paced because she had no idea what she was doing and her boyfriend isn't really all the well-versed on the rules anyway so any coaching that he receives from her was always going to be kind of "halfway" there.
But I still fired up the ol' Garmin at the start even though it doesn't have any paddle sports in it at all. I figure, maybe it can just be a heart rate thing and we will go with that. I have no idea if this is true or not but getting off my ass and running around ,even if it isn't that vigorous, is definitely better than sitting around watching Netflix.
According to the readout at the end of it all the total calories burned was near 650 but it is important to keep in mind that my average heart rate was a mere 119. This is skewed a bit because there was standing around, cooling off and chilling after the actual game, and also my relaxed bicycle ride to and from the courts factored in.
The readout at the end has something that indicates how many "resting calories" you have burned and in my situation this was nearly 140. This is the amount of calories that your body would burn even if I had stayed at home on the sofa and it is an amount that your body would burn even if you were asleep. So the extra calories i got out of getting out and doing something was 500 and this is good! I enjoy pickleball a lot more than I do simply running or cycling and many days I wouldn't say I even enjoy that at all. I do it because I want to stay fit and healthy, not because I'm some weirdo who just can't wait to go running.
Sorry if you are a weirdo that can't wait to go running btw.
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If there is any truth to this chart, it would seem as though my Garmin's estimate of calories burned is rather accurate and this is a good thing.
I love that I have found a sport that I genuinely enjoy that also is benefiting my health at the same time. There are likely some downsides considering my age such as the strain on my joints and ligaments but I am of the mindset that it is better to have a bit of aches after doing some sort of activity because to me this means that it is making my body stronger. If you just sit around and nurse a fake injury or think that every little ache is a sign of something terrible, you end up not doing physical activity at all and there are loads of scientific studies that show that it is better to get out there and hurt yourself a minor amount than it is to protect yourself at all times and never get any activity in.
I am still not at my idea weight, but I am moving more towards that with regulating my diet and also getting at least 1 hour of cardio in per day. I also strength train a couple times a week up to as many as 5 times a week and at the moment, I am maintaining a weight of around 91kg or roughly 200 lbs. I still have a bit of a gut but just like a personal trainer friend of mine has said "it's always the last thing to go."
If you have a chance to play pickleball don't intimidated and not go because you are concerned about your inability. People don't get better at something by not doing it and everyone had to start from zero at some point or another. Maria proved that to us yesterday as she was absolutely terrible. I hope she goes more often because she had a smile on her face at the end, and if you can find a physical activity that makes you smile, well, that is a really important and special thing indeed.