Squash is an intense whole-body sport requiring high levels of aerobic conditioning to play successfully. Rallies last an extended amount of time and it is vital to be able to maintain high cardiovascular endurance throughout each match.
Many beginners to squash struggle not because of a lack of skills but due to having insufficient physical endurance. Working on your endurance is one of the simplest ways to enhance your game and develop it further.
Aerobic Conditioning
Many players turn to squash as a means of getting fit, and indeed it provides a fantastic cardio workout. But to become truly skilled at it requires more than fitness; great endurance is required for long, heart-pounding rallies.
Aerobic training involves short bursts of high speed work, such as playing squash or performing explosive ghosting drills (running back and forth from one end of the court to six designated “hot spots” on each side in sequence or randomly). To ensure overall aerobic conditioning, long steady state runs or cycling sessions will also prove effective.
As players progress and advance in their rankings, it becomes essential for them to train with an eye toward building endurance necessary for long and hard matches. This involves both base endurance exercises such as long slow runs or cycling as well as plyometric workouts such as jump rope or repeating jumps at different speeds in order to develop power, speed and agility simultaneously.
At these sessions, it’s also beneficial to focus on using multi-joint movements instead of single joint strength exercises such as bicep curls to achieve balance and stability for consistent strong playing. Functional training and core exercises have become increasingly popular across a range of sports from boxing and tennis to Formula 1 racing.
Try to schedule one or more sessions like those listed above every week or so, with more specific, targeted, and intense workouts yielding greater results. Avoid cookie cutter online fitness templates – they don’t take into account your sport-specific needs, current training plan, injury history and injury prophylactics. Instead, find a program that meets both your lifestyle and schedule, then get going on it so even when other plans or priorities pop up during the week you can still fit your most personal session in and make real progress towards being the best squash player possible!
Strength Training
An effective game of squash requires high aerobic fitness levels for players to navigate quickly around the court and move efficiently, as full body movement requires constant energy input from aerobic metabolism. To improve their endurance, players should increase intensity of training as well as sessions per week – interval training may provide the fastest route into good aerobic shape more quickly than other methods.
Junior players should incorporate these drills as part of their regular practice, while senior and aspiring professional players would do well to add these drills into their weekly schedule as an additional session. You don’t need too much court space devoted to these workouts – running in place followed by sprinting for 30 seconds followed by 40 seconds walking back is enough! Try repeating this routine for 10 minutes each week until your aerobic fitness has improved substantially!
As well as aerobic drills, it is vital for squash players to include strength training sessions into their weekly schedule in order to increase power and speed on the court. Any plyometric exercises will do; however, jumping exercises that vary the direction of travel or jump angle are most beneficial as this helps recruit different muscles while creating explosiveness and power in players.
The greatest myth about squash training is that more hours on court equal better performance – but this simply isn’t true! What matters more than hours spent training is quality of work and focus of sessions rather than quantity of hours spent. Your goal should be to improve a specific aspect of your game, which requires planning, programming and dedication from you as a trainer. Ultimately, successful squash players know this concept very well – those that train hard yet smart consistently will eventually achieve greater success!
Speed Training
As lockdowns relax and courts reopen, now is an excellent time to introduce squash training back into your weekly schedule. Reviving physical training routines will help you make faster strides and hit more powerful shots when match play resumes; but be careful not to overtrain; therefore select smart workouts while considering how much time is available each week to train.
As many players live hectic lifestyles, balancing work and family commitments with time spent practicing squash can be challenging. So when attempting to find an extra training session for whatever reason it can be easy to underestimate just what can be accomplished within limited time constraints – but don’t take our word for it; our SquashSkills Training app features many sessions which can be completed within half an hour!
Speed is an essential element of good squash play, from sprinting across the baseline for short drop shots or unleashing power reserves to leap for lobs and volleys. To develop these skills, training speed alongside elements of strength and endurance should be part of your routine.
One of the most effective methods of increasing speed is to engage in repeated, high intensity exercises that challenge and adapt your body every day – this type of training, known as overload training, has long been practiced by top athletes around the globe.
To optimize results from over-load training it is vital that you take breaks between sessions. This allows your body to recover and adapt while preventing overtraining. Many of the world’s best athletes take frequent rest days during intense training phases in order to find an optimum balance between work and recovery that enables them to improve and compete at an elite level.
Endurance Training
Squash is an intense game that requires quick feet to quickly navigate around the court and powerful legs for strong returns. Newcomers to the sport or those who fail to dedicate enough time for training between matches often struggle with stamina issues that limit performance during matches. Building up an endurance base will greatly assist these players; for those hoping to advance further they should aim to train on court 3-4 times per week and dedicate 20-30 minutes each week for non-court sessions.
Ghosting is an effective way of building movement skills on the court and can help players develop them to stay ahead of opponents in matches. Spend some time alone on the court practicing running back and forth from various hot spots (front, middle, back) towards and away from center court in a random pattern – this exercise helps develop your ability to stay moving for an entire match and can really give an advantage to you over your competitor!
Sprint and plyometric drills can also help develop explosive power for bigger swings, and should preferably be conducted under the supervision of a coach so the correct techniques can be taught and monitored.
Interval training can also be an excellent way to build endurance – this involves switching between short bursts of high intensity running and recovery periods of low intensity walking, keeping your heart rate elevated while helping you recover more quickly from hard work. Squash players in particular find this type of exercise invaluable as it keeps their hearts pumping while also aiding recovery more rapidly from hard efforts.
At its core, finding an effective balance between training and tournament play demands is of vital importance for any squash player. A well-organized approach will enable players to maximize their season and develop as players – periodised plans are an excellent way to begin this journey; committed players should aim to commit to 13 week programs when beginning each new season (or shortly after regular squash play has resumed) if serious about improving.