Category: Performance

Before any kind of strenuous physical activity, it’s important to ensure that the body is properly warmed-up. Whilst the vast majority of people will be familiar with this advice, there is often a lack of understanding as to precisely why the warm-up is so vital, and how to go about structuring one correctly. There is also often a particular misunderstanding of the value of ‘stretching’ as part of any warm-up regime before sport/exercise. In today’s blog article we’ll examine these areas in more depth, and provide a little more info and guidance as to what exactly constitutes an appropriate warm-up for such an extremely demanding sport as squash.

Whatever standard or level of competition you play at, the game of squash always begins with a knock-up – 5mins of hitting the ball back n forth with your opponent, 2½mins on each side. For many amateur players, in particular, this knock-up is nothing more than a necessary evil, used to just briefly get the ball warm before plunging straight into a game. This is a gross oversight, however – taken advantage of correctly, the knock-up can be an excellent way to groove in your shots, scope out your opponent, and to properly prepare yourself for the forthcoming match.

In Amy Cuddy’s TED talk on body language: Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are, I discovered some impressive statistics to support the “fake it ’till you make it” concept of physiology. It’s been long known that not only does your mental or emotional state affect your body language, but the reverse is also true. You can choose to change the way you feel by assuming a different posture, pose or facial expression.

In our recent ‘Flexibility for Squash’ blog article, we looked at the use of stretching as part of a squash-specific warm-up, where the traditional concept of ‘static’ stretching was somewhat outdated and had shown little appreciable benefit in controlled studies.

In part 2 we looked more into the mechanics of stretching, the actual effects on the muscle, and what the latest research says as regards the potential use of flexibility training as part of a wider athletic programme. As an addendum, in this article, we’ll be exploring the different types of stretching in a little more detail.

There’s a huge range of different fitness tools and devices available these days, of a wildly varying degree of use and effectiveness. Amongst this backdrop of ‘must-have’ gadgets carefully marketed to part the fitness enthusiast from their money in their quest for the next latest and greatest workout tool, sometimes the simpler things get lost.

The humble Skipping Rope is one such oft-forgotten item, yet for the squash player in particular, it is an invaluable addition to your kit bag. Cheap, portable, and easy to use, no squash player should be without one!

Energy gel carbohydrate supplements are becoming increasingly popular and widespread in sporting circles, though there are still a lot of myths and misconceptions as to their correct usage and potential benefits. In today’s blog article we’ll be looking at how useful energy gels may be to the average squash player, and also their possible advantages/disadvantages to recreational athletes in general.

Over the last few week’s we’ve featured a number of playlists from Laura Massaro, covering both constructing rallies and finding your own brand of squash. Given Laura’s presence on SquashSkills, we thought it would only be right to do some research into her very successful career so far!

We all know improving fitness is an easy way of becoming a better squash player. However, one area and element of the game that we forget about that can also dramatically improve your standard is mental agility and strength.

Squash is the most demanding sport in the world with some of the fastest athletes, most intelligent players, and most skilled in hand-eye-coordination to ever grace the earth. The footwork, balance, and stability combined with aerobic and anaerobic endurance are unmatched in the competitive arena.

BUT – it has one major flaw that could be destroying your game and your body.

For the diligent squash player, the cool-down (or warm-down) has long been as much an integral part of training/playing as the warm-up.

But while for most players the warm-up will follow the same general pattern of progressively warming and mobilising the body in preparation for exercise, there is usually seen a far higher degree of variance in cool-down routines.

Looking to take your game to the next level? Make sure you’re including these 3 crucial elements in your training.

The warm-up is a crucial part of the performance puzzle for the squash player, and is a topic we devote a lot of attention to here in the content on the site, and in the sessions at our SquashSkills training camps.

I was lucky to play Jansher Khan during my career (left), not that I always thought that at the time! Jansher was an amazing athlete, with the ability to understand the court, game and his opponent with what seemed like relative ease.

Of course, the work he put in as a younger player was monumental and this gave him the tools to be the player he was by the time I had a chance to play him. The most memorable period playing Jansher for me was two of our main encounters in major events of 1994, and the different outcomes of those matches.

We played at the Leekes Welsh Classic in Cardiff, second round, in February 1994. I was a young and eager professional at 21; Jansher had just won the World Individual and Team titles in Pakistan late in 1993. To me it was the perfect draw, I desperately wanted the challenge of playing Jansher and unbeknownst to me, Jansher had not really lifted a racquet since his victories the previous year.

The match was an education, I was trying to play every ball and force Jansher to play in prolonged, energy-sapping rallies. Jansher, for his part, was trying to end every rally early by going for winners and also tactically making my path to the ball as difficult as possible. Luckily I was very fit and stubborn, he was unfit at that time and had already won everything in squash for numerous years so did not seem overly bothered by the end of the match – I walked off court a 3-1 victor.

The confidence this gave me was unbelievable and I attribute my immediate improvement to this one outcome. However, the second match I remember playing Jansher from that year was in the final of Hong Kong, and it was a lesson I’d never forget.

I’d come to the final beating Rodney Eyles and Brett Martin in the process so I felt good about my chances. Prior to going on court, I saw the glass boxes with ticket stubs – a chance for the spectators to win a ticket with Cathay Pacific if they guessed the winner correctly – and my side had 90% of the tickets! Going onto court Jansher was a very different beast, he looked fit and focussed, although that didn’t bother me in the slightest.

The next 31 minutes did though! Jansher systematically took me apart on court. His line and length were almost perfect and then he would finish the rallies off with ease. He was so much better than me it felt embarrassing. I was humbled and Jansher took the time to shake my hand for an overly sincere length of time whilst looking into my eyes, he was saying, “I’m the champion here and you’ve been given a lesson, that’s what I can do to you”.

I was deflated but within a few days had renewed energy to try and challenge this great player. The beating he gave me spurred me on as it showed what I still needed to learn. I had witnessed Jansher play great squash in the past but that was my personal chance to feel what it was like to be on court with him when he was playing his best.

The main point I took from these encounters is that results will vary against players but my personal progression has to be put in front of any outcome. Learning from wins and losses equally meant more to me and helped define my success over the following decade.

Peter Nicol

You only have to look at today’s crop of emerging Egyptian players to realise that the game has changed dramatically since the attritional length battles that were played by legends of the game such as Geoff Hunt and Jonah Barrington. Today’s game is filled will flare, angles and a desire to attack the front corners when the opportunity presents itself.

In this essential beginner’s guide to squash, players who are new to the game will learn a mixture of technical and tactical tips that will help them make giant leaps forward.

Each squash tip is backed up by a full-length video or PDF that offers up a deeper, in-depth explanation of the teaching point. All videos can be unlocked with a SquashSkills subscription.

For the squash player, the ability to move dynamically and efficiently around the court is key.

To this end, much of the training that we do to improve our athletic capabilities revolves around various drills and workouts focusing on the muscles of the lower limbs – various squats, jumps, and lunges, that predominantly target the quads, hamstrings, and gluteals.

As vital to our athletic development as these kinds of movements and exercises are, there is usually very little (if any) attention paid to the only part of our body that actually makes contact with the ground, and through which all of our drive, push, and stabilisation force actions stem – the feet.

To play sport competitively at any level requires a range of different skills and abilities to succeed. To really excel though, it’s necessary to garner a deeper understanding of the major elements that blend together to make up that sport.

While each sport has its own unique set of attributes required for success, particularly one so multi-faceted as squash, all competitive athletic pursuits can be generally divided into four main components: Technical, Tactical, Physical, and Mental.

There are always an interesting variety of ‘performance enhancement’ tools, supplements, and interventions being utilised/promoted by top level athletes, some with more scientific plausibility behind them than others. These tend to vary in popularity, some being mere fleeting trends that are gone and replaced by some other fad in short order, while others can often stick around a lot longer.