Looking back at the training that we have been undergoing since the past 2 weeks, I often wonder if it is making any difference at all to the way I have been playing. I gave it a lot of thought yesterday and realized that this training is teaching me a lot of things and some of those learnings have been captured in my thoughts below.
First and foremost, this training has taught me that the results will not be delivered overnight!! I will not become a Grade-A squash player with fantastic footwork by training for 2 weeks!! I have to persevere and that is going to be the only way forward.
I can already see some benefits that have come out of this training for 2 weeks. These benefits have been towards my attitude in retrieving the ball and in the overall physical fitness that is making a difference in the way I feel after the practice session is over. When I used to play earlier, there were a lot of those tight “no way I can reach those” balls in the front. It was as if the mind would tell my body that you are not going to get over there – hence there is no point in event trying!! While these “no way I can reach those” balls have not vanished completely, they have started reducing significantly. Some of the balls that I retrieve from the front corner are the balls that I could not dreamt of reaching 2 weeks back – and it is not because of any dramatic improvement in my physical capabilities, but only because of the change in the mental makeup. Moreover, though my feet, ankle, thighs and hamstrings are all sore after the practice, I can feel the degree of soreness decreasing and feel the feet and the ankles becoming stronger. This has been a key change – a lot of change in my mental and physical makeup while playing the game.
There are some peripheral impacts of this change also – I have to now discipline my entire lifestyle to ensure that I make it to the courts in the morning in time so that I am not late for work. This has resulted in our (me and my family) completely cutting down on eating out on weekdays so that we can sleep early!! (How are these 2 connected? You have to stay in Mumbai to understand that – the average commute time one way to a good restaurant over here can vary from 40 min. to an hour depending upon the traffic and the place where one stays). This has resulted in all of us feeling a lot healthier – eating healthier, getting enough rest and of course, saving the much needed money!!
But perhaps the most important thing for has been applying myself to learning a new skill – as I mentioned in my first blog. Application and perseverance have not really been qualities that I have been born with. To subject myself to the discipline of doing something on a regular basis is an alien concept for me – so wanted to do this once, subject myself to the discipline and see how much do I succeed in making the small promise that I have made to myself.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Physically demanding training
Our training sessions are primarily a mix of squash and physical activities. The physical activities are on court and involve a mix of timed sprints, lunges with toe touching, side sprints etc. I guess all these are aimed at improving our movement in the court.
These physical exercises can be killing to say the least!! Though we are nowhere closer to the demanding standards of physical fitness required by high-standard squash, even these set of exercises are good enough (or bad enough!!) to leave us in a pool of sweat with every muscle and sinew in our aching body protesting- especially the warm-up!! This warm up, after a bit of loosening, consists of timed sprints up and down the court. By the time we finish these sprints, our lungs are starting to register the initial signs of protest!! Then without any rest, these sprints are then followed by lunging walks up and down the court – all the while ensuring that we touch the court in front of the outstretched leg with the opposite hand!! I have literally come to dread these walks – they really set the body on fire!! By the time I finish 3 rounds up and down, my ankles are screaming!! It feels as if my legs are going to come off my body – after 3 or 4 rounds, it I cannot really feel my legs anymore and the brain really has to command the body to do a couple of more rounds!! By the end of these lunging walks, my legs are wobbly, lower back is quivering in pain and I am standing in a pool of sweat so deep that I can swim in it!! But this is not the worst phase – by no means!! The worst phase happens when the mind starts becoming cloudy and you can see three squash balls – you try and hit the middle one!!
This primeval torture is then followed by a minute’s rest – to be followed by the second round of torture – squash drills and rallies!! Don’t get me wrong – all this fun but the physical strain of doing these extremely intense activities with minimal break in between is extremely high. All the muscles and ligaments are screaming for rest by the time we finish our training.
These physical exercises can be killing to say the least!! Though we are nowhere closer to the demanding standards of physical fitness required by high-standard squash, even these set of exercises are good enough (or bad enough!!) to leave us in a pool of sweat with every muscle and sinew in our aching body protesting- especially the warm-up!! This warm up, after a bit of loosening, consists of timed sprints up and down the court. By the time we finish these sprints, our lungs are starting to register the initial signs of protest!! Then without any rest, these sprints are then followed by lunging walks up and down the court – all the while ensuring that we touch the court in front of the outstretched leg with the opposite hand!! I have literally come to dread these walks – they really set the body on fire!! By the time I finish 3 rounds up and down, my ankles are screaming!! It feels as if my legs are going to come off my body – after 3 or 4 rounds, it I cannot really feel my legs anymore and the brain really has to command the body to do a couple of more rounds!! By the end of these lunging walks, my legs are wobbly, lower back is quivering in pain and I am standing in a pool of sweat so deep that I can swim in it!! But this is not the worst phase – by no means!! The worst phase happens when the mind starts becoming cloudy and you can see three squash balls – you try and hit the middle one!!
This primeval torture is then followed by a minute’s rest – to be followed by the second round of torture – squash drills and rallies!! Don’t get me wrong – all this fun but the physical strain of doing these extremely intense activities with minimal break in between is extremely high. All the muscles and ligaments are screaming for rest by the time we finish our training.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Our Squash Journey
“Squash is not a sport – it is self-flagellation” – I have decided to join this sado-masochistic bandwagon now by putting myself through a grueling, limb-busting, puke-inducing, sinew-tearing training session daily for about 40-45 min.!!
Let me clarify – I am not preparing for any professional competition – you would have guessed that by now – 45 min. a day is too less even for amateur competitions – even for a session that is so intense that every morning I really start wondering if I am developing masochistic tendencies.
I had been playing my self-taught version of squash for some time – which included using a bit of intelligence and trying to smash the ball as hard as possible. This used to work fine in patches – I would play okay squash at times – but would often get thrashed by players with better ball-control! One ortwo games with better players and I would be completely at sea with my tactics, strategy, game sense - running all over the court like a headless chicken!!
There were two things that made me want to put an end to this thrashing that I was receiving on a regular basis from the better players. One, I decided that for once in my life, I want to put sustained efforts over some period of time in developing skills at some sport. Two, tired of getting second hand information from the internet and from the various other sources, I wanted to actually become better at a game by understanding and learning the basics of a game – taught properly and drilled into me. I had been playing some sports at any given point in time – cricket, field hockey, volleyball, table tennis etc. however, all of these were self-taught – that left me with what a friend once called – “curse of mediocrity” – better than average at all these sports but not really very good at any one of them.
Squash has provided the perfect opportunity for this - I also have a small group training with the coach that I train with. Most of them are better squash players than me – but I am hoping that sustained efforts for 5-6 months will make me a technically better player.
We stay in a fairly large apartment complex in Mumbai. We are fortunate that this apartment complex has a fairly large and functional clubhouse with various facilities – like a fully equipped gym with trainers, squash court, tennis court, swimming pool etc. Our training started on 11th of November and all of us have lasted the first week of training – albeit with sore muscles and aching limbs!! My wife has been extremely supporting in my efforts to undergo training as morning times are really rush hours for us – what with our having to get our daughter ready to go to school!! But we are managing!!
This blog will trace my journey and the journey of my training mates over the training duration. I hope I can make this blog as entertaining and fun as the training is!
Let me clarify – I am not preparing for any professional competition – you would have guessed that by now – 45 min. a day is too less even for amateur competitions – even for a session that is so intense that every morning I really start wondering if I am developing masochistic tendencies.
I had been playing my self-taught version of squash for some time – which included using a bit of intelligence and trying to smash the ball as hard as possible. This used to work fine in patches – I would play okay squash at times – but would often get thrashed by players with better ball-control! One ortwo games with better players and I would be completely at sea with my tactics, strategy, game sense - running all over the court like a headless chicken!!
There were two things that made me want to put an end to this thrashing that I was receiving on a regular basis from the better players. One, I decided that for once in my life, I want to put sustained efforts over some period of time in developing skills at some sport. Two, tired of getting second hand information from the internet and from the various other sources, I wanted to actually become better at a game by understanding and learning the basics of a game – taught properly and drilled into me. I had been playing some sports at any given point in time – cricket, field hockey, volleyball, table tennis etc. however, all of these were self-taught – that left me with what a friend once called – “curse of mediocrity” – better than average at all these sports but not really very good at any one of them.
Squash has provided the perfect opportunity for this - I also have a small group training with the coach that I train with. Most of them are better squash players than me – but I am hoping that sustained efforts for 5-6 months will make me a technically better player.
We stay in a fairly large apartment complex in Mumbai. We are fortunate that this apartment complex has a fairly large and functional clubhouse with various facilities – like a fully equipped gym with trainers, squash court, tennis court, swimming pool etc. Our training started on 11th of November and all of us have lasted the first week of training – albeit with sore muscles and aching limbs!! My wife has been extremely supporting in my efforts to undergo training as morning times are really rush hours for us – what with our having to get our daughter ready to go to school!! But we are managing!!
This blog will trace my journey and the journey of my training mates over the training duration. I hope I can make this blog as entertaining and fun as the training is!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)