Racquetball requires speed, sport-specific and racquet skills, endurance, multidirectional movement, strength and power to play your best. With all of those requirements, your workouts will be varied, with many happening off the court. By doing all of the necessary workouts, you will be able to outrun, outlast and outscore your opponents. An added benefit of your diligent conditioning will be enjoyment of your sport, since you will be less prone to fatigue and injury.
Build Your Aerobic Engine
Solidify your aerobic endurance by running, cycling, swimming or rowing. Train your body to use its fat stores once your sugar stores have been depleted, since many times a point is won based on your ability to outlast your opponent's endurance. Work on your slow, long-distance training -- running roughly 2 or 3 miles every other day -- to encourage your body to tap into its fat stores and help decrease the chance of "hitting the wall" during a long game.
Improve Your Muscular Strength
Increase your overall fitness with a full-body strength-training regimen, since muscular strength will help you avoid fatigue and reduce the risk of injury. Develop a resistance-training workout that incorporates your arms, legs and core. Biceps curls, triceps extensions and the leg press are solid options for muscle training. Perform crunches and planks, or do a Pilates workout to strengthen your core, since having a strong and limber spine, hips and pelvis are critical to the flexibility and multidirectional capability requirements of racquetball.
Use the Shuttle Run for Sprint and Multidirectional Training
Since you need to move quickly, as well as make sharp changes in direction, in racquetball, the shuttle run will be a valuable addition to your workout. Begin your shuttle run drills with at least four batons, placing them 5 feet apart at several points on a straight line. Start the drill at one end of the line -- or at 0 feet -- and sprint to the first baton at 5 feet, turn quickly to return the baton to your starting point, then sprint out to retrieve the next baton at 10 feet and return, and so on until you have brought each of the batons back to the starting line.
For more variation, less predictable direction changing and a chance to work on your agility and analytical skills, plan a set where you will place the batons in a zig-zag pattern on the ground, rather than in a straight line.
Work on Your Sport-Specific Training
While building your overall fitness for racquetball, you should also be refining your strokes, serve and other specific aspects unique to the game of racquetball. Work on your forehand and backhand strokes by aiming for a specific point on the front wall. Perform this drill 10 times for each stroke, allowing your body to move and change direction in order to reach the spot you have chosen on the wall.
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Writer Bio
Melissa Cooper writes on topics including education, fitness and business, using her Bahelor of Arts in English at Ohio State University. An effective researcher in her expert subjects, Cooper has produced a newsletter and an internal office website that focused on fitness and well-being.