By Chris Walker, World No. 12
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Chris Walker |
When you break down your game into component parts—fitness, endurance, strength, agility, ball skills, game strategy, technique and SPEED as some examples—you realize just how much time, effort and planning can go into your squash improvement program. Just like any sport you strive to play at the highest level, you need a fulltime commitment to micro-manage all the above facets, and even more is required to get the best out of time and performance.
As an example, speed is a valuable asset used to recover difficult balls in a game or perhaps put your opponent under pressure by getting to the ball early. (Remember though, it doesn’t matter how fast you are if all you do is chase after the ball at unbelievable speeds while your opponent stands on the T in control of the game. You will get a good workout, yes, but you are not likely to win in the end.) So how do we get faster?
The body has two types of muscle fiber, ‘fast-twitch’ and ‘slow-twitch.’ We can build ‘slow-twitch’ muscle bulk (for example, by weight training) but we are born and stuck with a limited amount of ‘fast-twitch’ muscle. So we have to stimulate and encourage what we have to its maximum to get the best from ourselves.
I want to introduce you to a simple and specific way to enhance your speed and change of direction on the court. The most frequent speed training I do is a series of 10-second sprints on the court, with a 50-second rest in between each burst. The one most-important thing that I cannot stress enough, is that this is done at 100% effort: no holding back, as explosive as you possibly can be, as quick as you can. You may become out of breath in the exercise but it is such a short sprint that it a pure speed and ‘fast-twitch’ workout.
Look at the attached diagram to see the court movement for clarification of the following exercises. Start just behind the T and when you begin, at 100% explosive power, start your stopwatch. Sprint from the T to the front left-hand corner of the court, lunging toward and reaching for the corner, then back out of the corner (still facing the front wall) to the T. Immediately and as quickly as possible, sprint forward to the front wall in the middle of the court and back out to the T again, facing the front wall. Finally, and as quickly and explosively as possible, sprint toward the front left-hand corner of the court. Lunge in, reaching for the corner and then back out (facing the front wall) to the T.
That’s it!
Using the annotated court diagram:
The first, third, fifth, seventh sprint will be from position 1, to 2, to T, to 3, to T, to 4, to T, to 5.
The second, fourth, sixth and eighth sprint will be from position 5, to 4, to T, to 3, to T, to 2, to 1.
It should take about 10 seconds to complete each cycle. Rest for 50 seconds between each and go again on the mark of a minute on your stopwatch.
You should do eight sprints, then rest for another four minutes before repeating the eight sprints. The emphasis is on pure speed, lots of rest, and being recovered for each one. Really push as hard as you can!
Two sessions of this drill per week would certainly help your speed. I would recommend you do this training first in your workout so your muscles are fresh and rested. After a couple of weeks of eight reps, you could step up the gas to two sets of 10 reps. That’s as far as I go!
As you get more proficient in your movement, you might like to work out a repetitive footwork pattern to speed you up and make you even more efficient! I try to lunge into the front left corner always with my right foot forward, and lunge into the front right corner with my left foot forward. Then the ‘middle of the front wall’ lunge I alternate depending which side I start from.
Check out the demonstration clips to see what I am talking about!
Clip 1
Clip 2
Clip 3-- How NOT to do this drill!
Good luck!
(As always, please contact your physician before starting any new exercise regimen.) |
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