Which Smash Coach is this?
Smash Coach is a training app for adults who play sport, badminton included. Add your club nights and anything else you do each week, and with Pro or during your trial its coach plans strength, conditioning and mobility around them instead of on top of them, all in one weekly plan. That coach is AI, not a person.
It is not a shots app. It does not teach strokes or footwork, run drills or analyse your game. Your club night stays exactly what it is, and with Pro or during your trial, Smash Coach plans the rest of your week around it. For a better backhand clear, a qualified badminton coach at your club is the right person.
Is badminton good exercise?
Yes, and how hard depends on the game. Researchers rate effort in METs: 1 MET is a standard resting rate, so 5.5 METs is five and a half times it. A list widely used in research, the Compendium of Physical Activities, first published in 1993 and updated for adults in 2024, has three badminton entries, one social and two competitive.
| How you play | Compendium rating | WHO weekly aim for that band |
|---|---|---|
| Social singles and doubles | 5.5 METs (code 15030): moderate | 150 to 300 minutes |
| Competitive | 7.0 METs (code 15020): vigorous | 75 to 150 minutes |
| Competitive match play | 9.0 METs (code 15025): vigorous | 75 to 150 minutes |
| WHO aim for every adult | Moderate (3.0 to 5.9) or vigorous (6.0 and up), any activity | 150 to 300 moderate or 75 to 150 vigorous minutes, plus muscle strengthening on 2 or more days |
A social game of singles or doubles sits near the top of moderate; competitive play and match play are vigorous. Treat these ratings as a guide: the Compendium's authors write that it can serve as a starting point but does not reflect precise individual values. Our view: how much of the evening you spend playing, rather than waiting for a court, matters as much as the rating.
The World Health Organization asks every adult for 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity a week, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity, or a mix of the two. It also asks for muscle-strengthening activities that work all the major muscle groups on two or more days a week. Badminton counts towards the minutes; the strength days are what a gym plan adds. How hard 30 minutes of singles measured in recreational players is, and what that means for a club night, is in badminton strength training.
Is badminton good cardio?
Yes. On the Compendium's ratings a social game is moderate-intensity activity and competitive play is vigorous, the two bands the WHO counts towards its weekly aerobic minutes.
What one number hides is that the effort comes in bursts. A 2015 review of badminton research put a typical rally at about 7 seconds and the rest between rallies at about 15, with the shuttle in play for 31% of the match; those averages come from studies of top national, international and Olympic players, one of them of junior players aged 14 to 17. The same review puts the demand at 60 to 70% aerobic and about 30% anaerobic. Club games were not what those studies measured, so club numbers may differ, but the review describes the sport itself as short, intense actions with short rests.
So badminton is real cardio, delivered as intervals. It does not give you long, steady aerobic work; if you want that too, our view is that it is worth adding as a session of its own. For how another racket sport compares, see whether padel counts as cardio.
What does the plan do for badminton?
Setting badminton up takes two steps:
- On You, under SPORTS STACK, tap + ADD and pick badminton (add a sport).
- Choose Fixed days and tap the weekdays your club nights fall on, since each day you pick is one session a week, then set your usual session length and tap Save. If your nights move around, Flexible lets the app pick the days instead (sport settings).
Fixed days suit club nights, because a hall booking decides them, not you. At the top of the sport's settings is a line about what badminton does to your body; with Pro or during your trial, that is what your coach is working around.
With Pro or during your trial, your coach then plans your strength, conditioning and mobility sessions around those nights and the rest of your week. Change the days or the length and save, and it rebuilds your plan around the new shape of your week. If one week's club night moves, reschedule that session and it stays where you put it; one move does not reshuffle the week. A one-off match or friendly goes in with Add upcoming session: one session on one day, and a card shows what it does to your week before you commit (adding something that is coming).
On the free plan, badminton's own sessions still go on its days, but your coach is paused, so the rest of your plan stays as it is.
Badminton articles
- Badminton strength training: how hard a club night can be, where the gym goes between nights, what to lift and how to share a day with the court.
- HYROX and badminton: for players who also race, where hundreds of badminton lunges meet the race's sandbag lunges.
- Tournament weekend: a club or county tournament, from the gym in the week before to the hall between matches and the days after.
Playing another sport as well? The sports page covers the rest, and how long a hard match can stay in your legs.
Club nights and gym days, in the app
With Pro or during your trial, two things come with a club night. It carries the gold card marked YOUR OWN SPORT, with one short hint for that day, such as a hard session from your coach the day before or after (read a workout). And with Coach warm-up and cool-down switched on in badminton's settings, your coach writes a short warm-up and cool-down around it.
On a gym day between club nights, workout mode takes you through the session one step at a time, counting your sets and rest and running a move done on each side as a left step and then a right step. It works on the free plan. Exercises are shown as clean illustrations: the movement on a plain background, with nothing extra. The team is exploring video and moving images (exercise illustrations).
With Pro or during your trial, the coach chat knows your week: ask it to move or shorten a session and the change arrives on a card you Confirm (apply a change). If something hurts, report an injury or a fatigue flag, from Cleared to Serious, and with Pro or during your trial your plan is rebuilt around what you report. It is not a medical service: it points you to a physio or a doctor.