Concept2 Forum

Hey everyone, first post here

I am one of the top junior squash player, and as you can imagine, it requires extreme fitness. I began rowing for my school this year and really enjoyed it, so I thought erging would be a great fitness tool for the off-season.

I've been working out about 4-5 times a week for the last month, and I'm starting to see some improvements already. My low pace is 1:25, my 500 is 1:34, 1k is 3:25 and my 2k is 7:15.

I'm wondering if anyone has some tips that would maximize the benefits of rowing for squash. The average tough match would be somewhere between 50-80 minutes and the leg fatigue towards the end of a match is similar to that of a hard erg sprint.

thanks

I played squash in college and am familiar with the sucking-wind aspect of it.

It would be helpful to know more about the pacing of your matches.

What is the range of total points played? And what is the range of duration of a point and the interval between points?

I'd aim to eventually have a session or two of "simulated match play" of (pulling numbers out of the air) 75 rounds of 10:15 or whatever you think will mimic the demands of the match.

And with that I'd want a day or two of longer pieces, say 250m intervals or a single 5k or 10k piece, or whatever works with your total workload and goals.

When you say you work out about 4-5 times a week, what does that mean? 4-5 matches and row whenever you feel like it? Or you row 4-5 times/week on top of match play, schedule, other sports, whatever?

Squash specific Concept 2 Training

Came across a great article regarding the use of Concept2 rowing for squash training.

A number of assumptions have to be made about a typical, club level squash game

• Assume a point-per-rally scoring system, 11 points per game, 5 games per match, and that each game will consist of 15 points i.e. each game with a typical score of 11-4 or 4-11 etc
• Each of those 15 points consist of rallies that last 15 – 45 seconds, with around 15 seconds spent collecting the ball and preparing to serve for the next rally.

There is now sufficient information to build an interval routine

Keeping things simple to begin with

Set 15 x 30 seconds on \ 30 seconds off (row slowly during the rest phase)
2 mins rest (as in a normal match)
Same again for 5 sets

This takes a considerable amount of time i.e. 75+ minutes

As with all interval sessions, the work and recovery phases can be altered i.e. 45 sec work / 15 sec rest etc, but keep the 2 minutes interval, to replicate match conditions.

Alternatively, if you are in a gym, each set can be performed on different pieces of equipment
I have an erg and exercise bike at home and so switch equipment for each set.

I have played decent club/district level squash for over 20 years and this is the most specific training routine I have come across (aside from ghosting intervals on court). It also excellent for rehab after injury due to the minimal load bearing.

Original article by
Gary Nisbet
unique-fitness-solutions.co.uk