With the Christmas period fast approaching and many of us across the world preparing to celebrate the festivities, it’s easy for squash to get lost in the shuffle at this time of year.
To avoid that happening and to make sure you keep an equal balance between Santa and Squash this festive season, check out our top 3 SquashSkills Christmas training tips!
Top up your conditioning
Club matches, tournaments, and box leagues tend to quieten down over Christmas, so take the opportunity to devote any court time you have into some focused physical work, rather than just cruising along with meaningless practice matches.
At the elite level, many PSA players will use the 2 weeks either side of Christmas as a kind of mini pre-season, where they get in a solid block of physical training to set them up for the second half of the season. Emulate the pros by fitting in some hard physical sessions to work on your speed, strength, and stamina.
Review your year, and plan ahead
Use some of your downtime over the festive period to think back over your year, and mentally review your results and performances. Use your recollections and any match/training logs you’ve kept, to start to isolate where you need to focus your training moving into 2022 to make sure you’re hitting the right spots.
Taking a little time to evaluate your performances over the most recent few months in particular, can prove extremely useful in guiding your training for the first phase of the new year. 2021 was a heavily disrupted year for many, so this is the perfect opportunity to set yourself up to really hit the ground running in January.
Enjoy yourselves!
Of course, however big a role squash plays in your life, don’t forget to take a little time to let your hair down and enjoy yourself over Christmas!
Squash is a tough sport both mentally and physically, so taking a few days over Christmas to eat, drink, and be merry, provides some necessary respite for the mind and body. Regardless of the level you play at, one of the great benefits of being a regular squash player is the amount of calories you burn off in the average session – so don’t feel too bad about putting a few calories back on before January hits and new year’s resolutions kick in!
Gary Nisbet
B.Sc.(Hons), CSCS, NSCA-CPT, Dip. FTST
SquashSkills Fitness & Performance Director
Looking to make 2022 your best year yet?
Why not join one of our exclusive SquashSkills Training Club programmes, and take advantage of the opportunity to train with some of your favourite PSA stars!
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