I've been playing squash for a pretty long time (around 15 years) and there have been a number of periods throughout my squash journey in which I've slipped into the bad habit of having a lazy movement.
I've noticed that this usually happens when I haven't played for a little while.
This is a pretty common issue in squash and it usually takes some time for players to realise that they're doing it and, unfortunately, it can also take some time to fix the issue.
However, there's one drill that does an awesome job of fixing lazy movement and I thought I'd focus on it in a blog post...
When I refer to lazy movement, I'm talking about when players don't move all the way back to the T after playing their shot, particularly during length rallies to the back of the court.
It's an easy habit to slip into and it can lose you a lot of points.
If your opponent is playing drive after drive, it might almost feel like a waste of energy to move all the way back to the T just to move back to the back corners again.
But, in case it's not obvious if you're constantly hanging back and waiting for your opponent to play another length back to you (rather than moving all the way back to the T), the moment they take the ball into the front of the court, it becomes much harder for you to reach their shot before it bounces twice.
It can actually be pretty hard to notice whether or not you're guilty of this, but, if you repeatedly find yourself at the back of the court at the end of rallies that you've lost, it might be a sign!
Or, if you notice that, during rallies, you're having to exert a lot more energy and cover a lot more ground than usual when moving into the front of the court, this may be another sign that you're hanging back and not returning to the T after each shot.
Anyway, there are a number of different drills that are great for fixing your movement.
The first one that comes to mind is ghosting (moving from corner to corner and simulating the movement of an actual match situation without using a ball), however, I don't know a single person who enjoys ghosting. Let's be honest, it's not really that fun is it?
Most recreational players, or players of pretty much any standard (other than professional) who are looking to improve, would likely prefer to do drills in which they're actually playing with the ball because let's face it, it's far more fun.
This leads me to the main drill that I wanted to cover. It isn't particularly exciting, but I do think it's one of, if not the best, drills for curing lazy movement.
There's only one rule and it's pretty simple, you have to touch the T after every single shot you play, with no excuses.
Some people use their racquet to touch the T when they do this drill, however, I personally think that it's better to actually touch the T with your foot after each shot, to ensure you're actually on it!
I used to do this with my coach pretty often back when I was a junior and you can make a number of changes to the drill to make it work best for you.
Personally, I think the best way to execute this drill is by placing another condition that every single shot also has to bounce past the short line, so everything goes into the back corners.
After all, lazy movement is usually only an issue when moving in and out of the back corners so there's no real need to incorporate the front of the court into this drill unless you want to do a heck of a lot more hard work.
Just think, if the ball goes into the front of the court during this drill, it's a long way to go to get back to the T, plus, if the next player plays a counter shot it becomes even tougher.
So, I'd advise keeping things at the back of the court for this one.
It's a pretty physically demanding drill at times anyways, so if you want to slow things down even more (meaning that you can completely focus on your movement), you could try adding in the condition that every shot also has to hit above the service line on the front wall.
You can also choose whether or not you want to score when executing the drill, it's totally up to you.
I find that this drill works wonders when I'm struggling with lazy movement, so if you're struggling too, you could always give it a try.
It doesn't usually take long before I notice the movement from this drill begins to transfer into my movement in actual matches. It really does a great job of building up muscle memory, the more times you touch that T, the more your body will get used to it.
I hope you gained something from this article, perhaps it's not the most exciting drill ever, but even if it just helps one or two of our readers, I'll be happy!
Also, if you have any requests for topics or advice, please feel free to get in touch and I'll do my best to cover them.
This article was taken from our On The 'T' Newsletter, if you're interested in receiving more content like this, please feel free to sign up using the subscribe section located at the bottom left of this page (or underneath the article if you're on mobile), thanks!
