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Avoid injuries and back problems.
STRETCH !!
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Jonathon Power. |
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Many of the professionals I work with on the circuit consider training to be the time devoted to fitness work, practicing and playing practice matches. I, on the other hand, define it as purely the fitness side of my profession. Practicing is practicing, playing is playing and stretching is stretching etc. Fitness work that pushes the body’s anaerobic and aerobic systems is what I understand as training. All those people doing their aerobics, step classes, cycling and running machines, weights and rowing are training to some degree. I just do it as part of my living not a hobby. There are times when perhaps the fitness fanatic may talk themselves into missing a few sessions or just not have the time because of work commitments, I don’t have that luxury! It is true that many sports are excellent ways to keep in shape but if you want to get the most from your sport then a training schedule is imperative. A saying I have for Squash also relates to a lot of other sports.......
--------------------------------------------------------------- Good planning makes a difference.
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As a professional Squash Player training is a vital component to the complete picture but it is easy to do too much or not enough at the right time. So in order to get the maximum benefit from the work put in (why waste any effort?) I follow certain strategies through out the year. Summer training - done over a sustained period of weeks without the discipline of tournament play. Season training - done in between tournaments during the season. Top-up training - done in a period of 3-4 weeks when the calendar is not busy. R & R - Rest and Recuperation at various stages in a year. |
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Without getting in to specifics summer training is done when there are no big tournaments (allowing for the exception) in the months of May, June and July. This is the most concentrated training period in our 12 month cycle and the most important. There are no pressures on having to play great squash so I can concentrate totally on getting in to top physical shape following an intense, disciplined and ‘planned to the minute’ schedule. I would be in the gym regularly through the whole summer pumping iron to help strengthen my body and prevent injuries which are often caused from over play and not having a strong enough build to handle it. (Doing light weights and a lot of reps as squash needs speedy movements). Week 1-3 : concentrate on building stamina and taxing the aerobic system (work lasting a sustained period of time). This is the time for long runs and cycles keeping the heart working at a consistent pace for 30mins - 1 hour a time. Week 4-6 : The emphasis switches to progressively shorter distances with the introduction of interval training. For example : 8 x 800m sprints with 2 minutes rest between each.... to 400m to 200m. More time is also spent on court. Week 7-9 : The focus now leans heavily toward speed and power at the end of the summer. A much higher proportion of court work is also introduced. e.g. playing, practicing, pressure feeding with a coach.
This is the hardest type of training to get right because it is always so ad-hoc. It is simply the spaces between tournaments and matches that is filled with some sort of program. Depending on the number of days before a tournament and how much traveling has been done means that a lot of planning needs to go in to this. Generally though it would incorporate work on court and some longish runs - the track work is out at this stage because it takes a while to get your ‘court legs’ back after doing 400m reps!
The ideal time for this is the mid-season gap which is at Christmas, lasting 3-5 weeks. It is effectively a condensed summer training schedule except that the court work is always priority (so as not to lose touch and start off badly after the festivities) and the track work is minimal.
This is one area that is extremely important for the mind and body. A holiday at the end of the season is essential to let the body recover fully before embarking on the summer training stint and occasionally a few days off mid-season is a great investment to recuperate from a particularly hard tournament or series of matches and traveling. ‘NEVER UNDER ESTIMATE THE BENEFIT OF A GOOD REST!’ It is often the ‘goal’ of a good rest after a series of matches that keeps me going. I played 11 matches in 13 days in 5 different countries at one time in my schedule. If I hadn’t had a good rest PLANNED after that I would probably have thrown in the towel at some stage. Well, I hope that gives you an insight to how a Squash professional has to manage his time and focus. As you can see it is a full time job and has to be treated like one - professionally but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy what you’re doing. In Squash, Chris Walker.
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What is training?