Here's Why Professional Paintball Is A Fun Full-Body Workout You Need To Try

Professional Paintball. Probably makes you think of a bunch of dudes drinking beers, messing around and trying to see how many times they can hit their friends in the nuts. But professional paintball is real and they are not messing around.

The National XBall League has 16 professional teams with members across the country. When Pro (Paint) Ballers started, it was a little more casual. Though the games were intense, the training regimen was lacking. Players felt it was more of a weekend warrior thing that any dude in decent shape could just show up and start shooting.

As the sport became more popular, Scott Kemp, a member of the Pro LA team the Ironmen, started developing a specific training regimen.

XBall is played on a relatively small field with inflatable props for makeshift hiding places. The players are intentionally close together to make the game fast and intense. The ability to sprint, change directions, dive, all while holding about 10 pounds of gear is a must.

Kemp started a fitness routine to increase his endurance. Each game is 50 minutes long and requires sustained runs and agility. Regular and uphill sprints were the majority of his original regimen. He found that with the huge number of sprints required in XBall, his game improved considerably and other players wanted his advice.

Kemp added stretching and flexibility work to help with the crazy agility it takes to dodge flying paintballs. Plus, leaping and diving to ground takes a toll on XBallers joints. Fellow team members found Kemp's new routine saved them from injury and even increased their mental agility on the field.

The great thing about paintball is it's not just an awesome workout with the added bonus of getting to shoot paint all over people, it requires great mental clarity as well. You're a moving target who's got to plot to ambush the other side while constantly running, jumping, and shooting. It's a lot more than putting a ball into a hoop.

Scott Kemp found that diet greatly increased his mental endurance for the game. Keeping to vegetables, fruits, nuts, and lean meats gave him the best results for physical and intellectual strength. 

After spreading his ideas to other XBallers, Kemp created a routine that anyone could do. Just take your pack (even a backpack could work) and add a little weight. Kemp suggests taking pods, the container that holds your paintballs, and fill them with sand. If you don't have any pods handy, filling a couple of water bottles with sand or dried beans would work just as well. Then, get an 8-pound dumb bell which represents the weight of the gun and all remaining gear. Take that stuff to the park and you're ready to work out like a professional athlete.

His DIY Paintball regimen still includes sprints, endurance exercises and now features field work and cone drills to prepare anybody to jump into the sport.

Kemp hopes that this established training routine will help people take paintball more seriously. With all the action and intensity of the game, there's no reason XBall can't rise to the prominence of any other pro sport. Remember, this is a sport where you see people get shot repeatedly without getting hurt. That alone should make pro paintball get some shine on ESPN.