Sports and physical activities have a positive impact on people's daily lives while also keeping the body healthy. Depending on what activity you want to partake in, sports can help to improve heart functions, it can also reduce risks of diabetes, lower tension, and help to keep those stress levels balanced.
Let's Talk Squash!
While it may be fair and accurate to say that all sports are healthy - one in fact, is healthier than most — Squash.
It's not the most common pick but there is plenty of evidence backing the claim. And believe it or not, squash or at least various versions of it have existed for a long time. It used to be an elite sport that was exclusive for only a few, such as monarchs and kings of the 15th and 16th centuries. As time progressed, the sport continued to remain an exclusive enjoyment at private clubs, which later on moved into more accessible public sport areas.
To summarize it, squash basically involves a ball with a squash racquet, and is typically played in an indoor court, which you can even imagine as a box room. The idea is to hit the ball against the front wall of the court until one of the players fails to return it.
Physical Fitness
With so many movements involved, a squash game almost becomes a physical version of the game of chess — where similar to chess, you've got to think and carefully out-manouver your opponent.
It increases your strength and flexibility and helps with building solid hand-eye coordination, all the while helping you to maintain a healthy weight with players claiming to easily have lost 500 calories in just 30 minutes of a Squash game. It even came out on top in 'Forbes Magazine's' list of top 10 healthiest sports based on its scoring by leading personal trainers, coaches and exercise physiologists, in terms of cardio endurance, muscle endurance, the amount of calories burned, etc.
According to a Spanish Squash coach, Margaux M. Pitarch, "Squash is the best sport for anyone who wants to stay in shape. It offers you the complete workout because you train your whole body in a relatively short amount of time."
Mental Strength
However, it would be remiss of us to only focus on the physical aspects of this sport, as it greatly helps to develop discipline along with mental determination. Strategy is a big part of this game, as you need to pick up on your opponent’s weaknesses and strengths, honing not just your evaluation skills, but making split second decisions faster.
It’s a sport that’s growing steadily in popularity in all parts of the world, and with the number of benefits attached to it with many advantages in the long run, it really is no surprise!
Female squash champion, Amanda Sobhy shared that while the advantages may be many and all beneficial; it still is a tough sport. She said, "You need speed, agility, endurance, plyometrics and power. That's why it's called the number-one healthiest sport - because all these different elements combined make it so tough and so difficult to play."
Everybody Can Join In
She also went on to say that one of the many reasons why Squash beats most sports is because it’s so inclusive. "There is no real ideal shape that you have to be," said Sobhy.
Sports can understandably feel daunting for some people because they don't fit the rigid criteria that qualify them to participate. With Squash, that's not a problem and a diverse range of people are actually more welcomed since everybody has something new to bring to the game.
Sobhy said, "Everyone kind of brings their own element to the game with their shape and size. You adapt your game to your shape, to your size, and you win because of that." In Squash, using your uniqueness and what makes you stand out from the rest may be your secret weapon!
To sum it all up, it's a demanding sport, one that's easier to learn and grasp the basics of but very difficult and challenging to master. If any of these pointers aren't tempting enough, a round of Squash will change your mind and we're sure you'll be running back for more rematches with friends.