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Squash Warm Up Exercises

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SQUASH WARM-UP EXERCISES

Squash Warm up Excercise

During an intense game such as squash, the body exerts great efforts to perform twists, sudden turns and deliver force on the court. Forcing all of the muscles to perform at its best at a very fast pace can wear on your body. Warm-up exercises are strongly recommended when doing any strenuous activity to help condition the muscles before playing the game.

STRETCHES

Quad Stretch

  1. Find a wall or something you can hold onto to keep your balance. Hold onto the wall and lift your ankle towards your butt with your opposite hand.
  2. Keep your standing leg straight as you bring your head as close to the ground as you could while keeping your torso straight.

Hamstring Stretch

  1. Step one foot forward and place both of your hands on your thigh.
  2. Bring your head as close to the ground as you can while keeping your torso and your legs straight.

Arm Stretch

  1. Stand next to a wall. Press one hand against the wall with arms straight and perpendicular to your body.
  2. Keep yourself straight as you turn yourself close and perpendicular to the wall.

DRILLS

Arabesque

The arabesque is a dance position in ballet. Combined with a lunge, this improves balance, stability and leg strength.

  1. Stretch the arms out to balance your body. Bring the torso as low to the ground as you can while stretching out a leg backwards. Keep your back and legs as straight as you can.
  1. Keep your balance and lunge your hanging foot forward as far as you can while keeping a straight back. Then do the same with the opposite side.

Duck Walk

Derived from a basic military exercise, the duck walk activates the lower body and legs.

  1. Take your hands on the back of your head. Chest out and keep your body straight. Bring your feet far apart as you bring your buttocks as low as you can.
  2. Make one large step forward followed by the other foot. Then return to your original position. Do the same with the sides and backwards.

Flamingo Raise

Designed to further develop balance and strengthen your muscles on your waist to your toes.

  1. Hands wide apart for balance. Keep the body straight as you one foot off the ground.
  2. Bend the standing foot slowly to bring your body as low as you can. Do not let raised foot touch the ground. Raise your body up as slowly as you can. Do the same on the other side.

 

 
 
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Squash Solo Practice

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Solo-Practice-Drills

Learning to control the ball, footwork and spatial awareness is essential in playing squash. Improving these fundamentals increases your skill level and gives you an upper hand in a competitive game against your opponent. These solo practice exercises will help you improve by practicing against yourself.

STRAIGHT DRIVES

Position yourself next to the wall doing straight drives.

Aim to:

  • Project the ball as parallel and close to the wall as possible.
  • Move forward and backward working on your forehand swing.
  • Switch to the opposite side wall. Move forward and backward working on your backhand swing.

STRAIGHT & CROSSCOURT DRIVES

Do a straight drive followed by a crosscourt drive catching the ball on the opposite side wall.

Aim to:

  • Bounce the ball on the side wall with each crosscourt drive.
  • A transition between backhand and forehand racquet control landing the ball as accurately as possible.
  • Improve your footwork as you transition between the walls.

STRAIGHT DRIVE & VOLLEY

Feed yourself the ball with a straight drive and volley making sure to bounce it on the side wall before making another straight drive.

Aim to:

  • Make a strong drive on each straight drive and perform a different racquet position on every volley. Observe the reaction on your volleys.
  • Keep yourself moving in and out of the ‘T’ on each shot coming from different angles of the court.

FEED & STRAIGHT DRIVE

Position yourself next to the wall and feed the ball with a bounce. Make a straight strong drive keeping the ball trajectory parallel to the wall with a spin to bounce on the side wall.

Aim to:

  • Spin the ball while keeping the trajectory straight.
  • Note your position and racquet control while working on backhand and forehand drives.

TOP, MIDDLE & BOTTOM STRAIGHT DRIVE

Visually divide the front wall into 6 sections. Right, left, middle sections and above and below the service line. Shoot for all 6 sections in succession with straight serves, positioning yourself back to the ‘T’ after every shot.

Aim to:

  • Work on your footwork as you go back and forth at the ‘T’ position from all angles of the court.
  • Make notes on racquet position as you perform your swings.
  • A transition between forehand and backhand serves.

COUNTER DROP OFF OF THE BOUNCE

Position yourself between the short line and the front wall, close to a corner. Feed yourself the ball with a bounce and volley towards the corner with a counter drop off.

Aim to:

  • Spin the ball from the front wall to the side wall making the drops as close to the wall as possible.
  • Observe ball behavior between volleys.
  • Work on your backhand and forehand racquet control.
  • Work on your footwork as you make tighter corner volleys.

 

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Top reasons to play squash

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Reason to Squash

Play it any time of the year

  • Spring
  • Summer
  • Winter
  • Fall

Squash is an indoor sport that is typically played on a 21 x 32 feet covered court. Because it’s an indoor sport it can be played anytime of the year.

Good for your health

  • Burn calories
  • Build muscles
  • Improve flexibility
  • Improve endurance
  • Improve body coordination
  • Improve reflexes

Squash is a fast paced game. Depending on how competitive you are, you will be forcing your body to move in different ways because you need to react. If you don’t react, your opponent will take advantage everytime you slow down.

It’s for everyone

  • Team
  • Partner
  • Alone

It can be played by young and old at any skill level. Squash can be played in a doubles match with your team against another pair, a singles match against an opponent or just you going in the courts to practice.

Minimal Equipment

  • Racquet
  • Shoes
  • Ball

There is not much equipment needed to play squash. All you need is a pair of non-marking shoes, a racquet and a ball.

Did you know that squash balls have different color dots? The reason behind this is that the balls are classified at a certain level the player is playing at. A blue dot ball stands for beginner players, a red dot for progress players, yellow dot as the regular ball and the double yellow dot as the competition ball.

What’s more is that there are modified versions of the game that matches the skill level for the people playing it.

Connect with everyone with the sport

Squash is a social game built on local players competing on the same courts. It’s easy to interact with people playing the same game as everyone tries their best to improve their skills.

 



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Squash lob serve

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Squash-Lob-Serve

A lob serve is a serve in squash that is very hard to volley when done correctly. It takes advantage of the opposing upper corner of the court and the height at which the ball is projected. This leaves a very small room for your opponent at a very far position from the front wall.

Projecting the ball on the serve

During the serve, the ball is projected towards the highest thirds of the front wall and slightly bouncing from the sidewall as it reaches the opposite corner of the back wall. The height of the ball must also be constantly above the opponents head to make it even more hard to reach.

Project the ball to bounce off from the highest third portion of the front wall.

Slightly bounce the ball on the side wall to bring it as close to the wall as possible.

The ball must be projected over opponents head to make it even harder to volley.

Overhead Power Serve

The lob serve is performed with an overhead power serve. This makes it easier to hit the ball high enough towards the direction above your opponent’s head.

  1. Position your body with your feet wide apart, knees bent and the racquet at head level.
  2. Gently throw the ball at arm’s length with the opposite hand.
  3. At the peak of the throw, hit the ball towards the intended direction.

 

 
 
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Tecnifibre Carboflex 125 Review

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The new Tecnifibre Carboflex 125 is similar to the older Tecnifibre Carboflex 125 that Mohamed Elshorbagy used in 2013 in Qatar Classic competitions. This racquet’s frame weighs 125 grams, has a balance point of 350 mm with a slightly heavy 500cm2 (77sq.in.) teardrop head.  It is strung with a Tecnifibre’s 305+ 1.20mm premium string.

We took our time to write a detailed Technifibre Carboflex 125 review that will help you decide whether this racquet is for you.

If you want to see more of the racquets that are available, checkout our review of the Best Squash Racquets, which features the Tecnifibre Carboflex 125 as one of our favorite racquets for singles squash players.

Tecnifibre Carboflex 125 Benefits

Most of the specifications in this review apply to both the original version of the racquet and the new one (x-speed range).  The differences, apart from color, between these racquets are so small that only advanced level Squash players may notice. You can expect the following from the racquet:

Maneuverability

It is easy to maneuver for switching sides, getting up to volley, overhead shots and any other shot that requires quick racquet speed. Any player at any level will appreciate this quality.

Power

I actually never expected that such a light racquet could still be remarkably powerful. You will be able to generate decent pace with this racquet, which is partly because it is strung to a lower tension.  To generate excellent power with this racquet, just hold it well and snap through the ball. I definitely did not have a hard time getting the ball to the back of the court with the racquet.

Control

It has great accuracy when cutting the ball short from midcourt. The racquet has a dense string pattern that helps with adding cut to the ball. This is one of the reasons why I have this racquet in my bag.

Grip

It has a squash dry grip that is tacky and also has a cool design with Technifibre branding. The grip has a great feel and can last for many plays.

Sweet Spot

This racquet is very forgiving thanks to its large sweet spot. All you need to do is connect well with the ball to experience just how explosive it can get.

Construction

The racquet is constructed with graphite and has a multi-directional weave that helps reduce shock and enhance feel.

You will enjoy the almost perfect balance on this racquet and the nice swing facilitated by its head weight. You may notice a little vibration on off-center hits but it will not be too pronounced.

Of course, this Technifibre Carboflex 125 review does not touch on all aspects of the racquet. You may want to go out and try it for yourself to see how it feels for you.

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What the Pro’s Say

Mohammed El Shorbagy says that he loves the new Carboflex 125 because the color is completely different from the previous racquet. He says the head is a bit lighter as well, which gives him more speed when it comes to the point in a game when he wants to volley more. This is also an advantage when he plays at a faster pace.

El Shorbagy appreciates that the racquet also has the power that you need when you want to get the ball to the back of the court.  He cut the guard of the bumper strip to make the racquet even lighter to make it more maneuverable. This he says makes it quicker on the volleys and helps take the ball earlier.

Taking the ball earlier increases the pace and forces your opponent to move faster, from corner to corner. This disrupts your opponent’s momentum and ruins the opponent’s rhythm causing them to make mistakes. That means more opportunities for you to attack the ball and increase your points tally.

El Shorbagy says that the grip makes the racquet cooler than most other racquets in the market. He started playing with this new racquet in January 2018 and he has not had any issues with it.

El Shorbagy’s brother and Miguel Rodriguez are among other known Squash players that have had a chance to use the new Tecnifibre Carboflex 125.

Pros and Cons of the Tecnifibre Carboflex 125

Pros
  • The racquet offers a very solid hit
  • Cool design with a new color
  • It is even balanced
  • High performing top of the range squash racquet
  • A high-quality string that gets better at gripping and cutting into the ball the more it is used
  • High maneuverability
  • Can generate excellent power with a quick short swing
  • The new racquet has a morphed shaft design that provides maximum ball feel and control
  • The new racquet has cast ultra-thin edges for structure reinforcement
Cons
  • Only advanced players can enjoy using this racquet. Beginners may only notice the flaws in their game when they use this racquet, which may discourage them from playing squash. For example, beginners cannot generate enough power if their swing is not great when they are using the racquet.
  • Some players do not like the string while others feel that the new smaller grip only gives them more blisters. Others felt that the new Carboflex 125 is heavier than the previous one making it less maneuverable.  But all this could be because they have not gotten used to using the new racquet.
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Conclusion

There is no question that this is a top of the range racquet. The original Carboflex 125 was discontinued meaning that you will mostly get the previous version and the new Tecnifibre Carboflex 125 (X-Speed range) in the store.

You can watch a video about the new racquet:

With this new racquet you get:

  • A cooler design
  • Great balance
  • Ability to generate more power with short swings
  • Ability to quickly change the pace of the game in the court
If you want to see more of the racquets that are available, check out our review of the Best Squash Racquets, which features the Tecnifibre Carboflex 125 as one of our favorite racquets for singles squash players.