|
|
“I also get thera-bands, tie them around a pole, wrap them around my waist, then run three steps into the resistance of the band, before it pulls me back. I also do a lot of static holds where I’ll hold a medicine ball and then squat down on a single leg and hold it for a minute or two. Where I am now – 32 years old and getting near the end of my career – my biggest challenge is speed. I’m playing 22- year-olds – the days where I’m fast around the court, I go with them, the days where I’m slow, I’m in trouble. I see my speed on the court as the key to my success over the next few years.”
“The main endurance work I do is on the track, running 800s. I sprint 600m then jog 200m. I run the 600 in two minutes, jog the 200 in one minute. Then I start again, with no break in between. At the moment I’m trying to build up to eight-to-ten sets nonstop.
“Another typical training department is court sprints: running from the back wall to the front, up and down. I can normally do the length of the court in five-to-six steps, so I run a length, lunge, then push off without touching the wall or the floor with my hands. I normally run 20 sprints in a set. At an explosive pace that takes around 50 seconds. I’ll then do 20 sets.
“Sometimes I turn it into an endurance exercise and do 300 lengths in 15 minutes. That’s a real mental drill – one of those drills you dread. But knowing you can do 300 court sprints in 15 minutes is a real confidence builder.
“Recently I’ve started using the beep test as a training tool. I’ll do five tests in a row with a threeminute break between each test. My goal is to get over 15 on the first one and top 12 on the last one. It’s a killer, but that’s what squash is about – trying to max-out your opponent’s heart rate. If I can get you to your max as quickly as possible, then you’re in trouble; you start making mistakes and you can’t cover the court. The game’s about how many times you can max-out, then recover. Perhaps the guy who’s 50th in the world can do it twice, the top ten guys can do it continually.”
“Sometimes our matches go for 40 minutes, sometimes they go for two hours. You get a 90- second break between sets, so it’s not like tennis. I like tennis and I think tennis players are fit, but I definitely think squash is the harder game. I admire Rafa Nadal for what he did at the Australian Open, but the difference with squash is that during tournaments we don’t have days off between matches, so we play five days in a row, no breaks. Often the key to success is winning your early matches as easily as possible so you have something in the tank for the later matches. If you get sucked into a five-set match on the first day then you’ve got under 24 hours to recover for your next game and you’re struggling.”
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Next >> |
|
