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Peter
Nichol's Top 10 Tips
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1
Plan
to Play Well
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Tip
2
Get
into a Routine
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Tip
3
My
basic practises
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Tip
4
My
solo practise session
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Tip
5
Volleying
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This is my
training day. Whatever training you are doing try to get into a
routine. It will help a lot. I wake around 7.30am and have a large
breakfast (a smoothie or milkshake with fruit plus six pieces of
toast and cereal. During a training period I normally feel tired
and stiff. This is normal. It’s important to get motivated and
work out what you want to achieve in a training session.
On arriving at
the club I warm up by running for five minutes and stretching. I
then hit alone on court for a while and stretch for another 15 or
20 minutes. Then I start on a session with some of the guys in our
squad. Physically we work hard. Nearly all the movement is from
the T, exploding off and pushing back to it again. Our routines
are based on what we want to do in a match situation and we are
aware of this mentally. We’re not just practising shots, we’re
training and disciplining the mind.
Then we start
condition games (games with special rules that let us concentrate
on something we’ve been practising. Just before lunch we do
abdominal exercises and a good warm-down and stretch. After lunch
we might have a little nap.
The afternoon
session might consist of interval training on the bike. I try to
think of hard rallies in a match when that extra push is needed.
Again I will stretch before and after the session and do some
abdominal work.
I eat early in
the evening and try to relax for a couple of hours with something
totally unrelated to squash.
Later in the
evening I stretch for about an hour, preparing myself for the next
day. I get to sleep early. I deserve a rest and my body needs to
recover.
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