3 Tactics to Get You To 4.0 Faster

Recovery, Skinny Singles Drill, Pros Get Smaller Courts, The Split Step, Recycled Balls, Pro Results, & More

Author

FIT PICKLER
January 29, 2026

Health, Fitness, News & Fun for Picklers of All Ages

What's Cooking in the Kitchen This Week:

  • 3 Tactics to Get You To 4.0 Faster

  • How Players Who Play 4x:Week Recover Faster Than Those Who Play Twice

  • DRILL OF THE WEEK: Skinny Singles Cross Court Siege

  • Fitness Expert Glenn Dawson: How To Do A Single Leg RDL

  • PPA Challenger Series To Test Narrowed Singles Courts At Upcoming Events

  • The PPA Masters and CBS: Most-Watched Pickleball Broadcast Ever

  • Christian Alshon And Hurricane Tyra Black Win First Mixed Pro Pickleball Gold At PPA National Indoors

  • HUMOR: When Your Doubles Partner Covers 99% Of The Court

  • Coach Mary: Split Step Earlier!

🥷SKILLS

3 Tactics To Get You
To 4.0 Faster

4.0 Or Bust!

If you feel stuck in that 3.0 to 3.5 range, chances are you already know the shots. What is missing is how you use them: fewer gifts, better starts to each rally, and smarter doubles decisions with your partner.

These three tactics give you a simple roadmap. You do not need new trick shots. You need cleaner habits.

Tactic 1: Play A "No Gifts" Game

At most parks, 3.0 and 3.5 points end on mistakes: missed serves, long returns, dinks into the tape, panicked swings from mid court. At 4.0, players still miss, but they do not hand out nearly as many freebies.

Think of every game as a "no gifts" challenge.

Use these simple rules:

• Big targets, not edges

Stop aiming at lines unless the ball is a sitter. On serves, returns, and drives, imagine an invisible border two or three feet inside the baseline and sidelines. Aim for that box. You keep the ball dangerous without flirting with the chalk every time.

💪 Health & Fitness Section

How Players Who Play
4x:Week Recover Faster
Than Those Who Play Twice

Twice As Much Fun!

If you want to recover faster and better, we recommend Advanced Hydration Formula before sessions and Advanced Amino Powder after play. More on those in a moment. First, let's understand this recovery paradox:

The less often you play pickleball, the longer you'll stay sore. It's called the repeated bout effect, and it explains why your most dedicated friends recover fastest.

Sounds backwards, right? Common wisdom says the players logging four sessions a week should be the ones hobbling around between games. But watch them closely. They show up Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday – and they're fine by the next morning.

Meanwhile, some players space their sessions out strategically, play Monday and Thursday, and they're STILL sore until Wednesday.

Frequent players aren't recovering faster because they're more fit. They recover faster because their bodies learned the pattern.

Why Some Players Get Stuck in Permanent Recovery Mode

When someone only plays twice a week, their muscles treat each session like the first time. The soreness peaks around 24 to 48 hours later – right when the next game rolls around.

Here's what's happening: the body never gets enough practice runs to adapt. Spacing sessions out sounds smart. But muscles need repetition to build protection.

🥷 DRILL OF THE WEEK

Skinny Singles:
Cross Court Siege

Take away half the court and the game gets honest fast. By locking every shot into one diagonal, this drill trains the safest patterns in pickleball — higher margin, smarter drops, and fewer panic direction changes under pressure.

It’s uncomfortable in the right way: fewer bail-out shots, more patience, and instant feedback when you try to do too much.

 🏋️ STAYING FIT with
GLENN & BRIANNA

How To Do A Single Leg RDL

🏓 PRO NEWS

PPA Challenger Series To Test
Narrowed Singles Courts
At Upcoming Events

Keeping Singles On The Straight & Narrow

Pro singles might be about to feel very different. The PPA is experimenting with a narrower court to force longer rallies, tighter margins, and more pressure at the net — all in an effort to make singles more physical and more watchable.

Here’s what’s changing, where it’s being tested, and what it could mean if it sticks.
Click here to see more…

🗞️ NEWS

The PPA Masters & CBS:
Most-Watched
Pickleball Broadcast Ever

Performance Data & Analysis(Photo Credit: TopoloGroup)

🏓  NEWS

Christian Alshon & Hurricane
Tyra Black Win First Mixed Pro
Gold At PPA National Indoors

Christian Alshon and Hurricane Tyra Black broke through in Minnesota, winning their first-ever mixed pro gold at the PPA National Indoors — a moment that’s been building for two players who’ve lived on podiums but never stood on top together.

See how their run unfolded — and which other players capitalized on a wide-open week at the National Indoors.a, click here…

👏 COMMUNITY NEWS

Don’t Toss It Yet! BounceBack
Pickle Revives Dead Balls

Let’s Run That Back!

Broken pickleballs usually last a few games before they crack — and then they’re trash. A 22-year-old Florida entrepreneur is trying to change that by turning dead balls into the first fully recycled pickleballs, keeping hundreds of thousands of pounds of plastic out of landfills.

See how BounceBack Pickle is collecting used balls, rebuilding them into playable gear, and quietly tackling one of pickleball’s messiest problems, click here…

🏓 HUMOR

When My Doubles Partner
Covers 99% Of The Court!

🧭 COMMUNITY NEWS

RALLY RUNDOWN:
LOCAL HIGHLIGHTS

HOLDING COURT with
COACH MARY

  💪  Split Step Earlier

Instructor Tanner Tomasi: Split Step Earlier


Tanner Tomasi explains why you should split step earlier! Do not wait until your opponent contacts the ball. As your ball is traveling through the air, you will split step right when that ball crosses the plane of the net.

Be sure to split earlier, as demonstrated in the video.

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