One part of my game has plagued me throughout my racquetball playing has been my forehand. (No it is not because I am left-handed) The flaws in my forehand show up in two areas of my game.
1: Power – as compared to other players at my level or higher, my forehand lacks the “snap” that other players have in their forehand shots.
2: Hitting down the line. Because of the ‘hitch’ that is in my forehand stroke and timing of hitting, when I attempt a down-the-line shot. (Note: For a lefty, the forehand side matches up with a right-handers backhand, generally the weaker stroke) my shot hits the side wall, the front wall and then the opposite side wall leaving a set-up for my opponent. Frustrating to say the least! This was a primary reason for my loss in the State Finals two years ago.
One of the keys to the forehand stroke is the hips. One coach had me wear a long sleeved jacket with my left arm out of the sleeve. Using just my hip and should rotation (my arm at my side) get the sleeve of the jacket to move forward. Another area is getting my butt down and not bending at the waist. Kinda like a goblet squat. Hip flex mobility is one area I am working on in hopes to fix this problem.
Undoing 35 years of bad form is not going to be easy though. Here is Ben Croft and a text-book example of the forehand stroke.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
My Racquetball Forehand
Posted by Swami at 8/21/2014 03:53:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Swami racquetball
Friday, August 8, 2014
It's been a month
The bad: No real appreciable weight loss during the month. I really don’t count weight loss unless its 5lbs down for a week. I was hoping to be 5 to 7lbs down for the month. Some good news though. I am starting a 6 week fitness challenge at G365 Fitness. The challenge is a combination of nutrition and exercise goals.
The ugly: I’m playing morning racquetball and started the Monday night league however I have not dedicated any time to practice specific drills. I thought I would have 30 minutes in the morning before racquetball, but so far I haven’t made it. Hopefully I can make some headway here. Here is one drill I want to start, the Star Drill. It is designed to help with movement. I did wear my HRM and recorded 674 calories burned for 58 minutes.
Posted by Swami at 8/08/2014 03:25:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Swami personal, Swami racquetball, Swami workout
Just trying to keep up
Interesting story. 2 weeks ago I was out of town for work, M-Th. So I was going to be a good guy and keep up with exercising. I brought my jump rope! The morning routine was jump for 3x 90s, 15 GS w/35lb dumbbell and 10 pushups. End it all with a 60s plank. I did this for 2 of the 3 mornings I was there. An accomplishment in itself! As fate would have it, on the last morning, I left the jump rope at the workout center. I realized it when I unpacked. I got another one and I was reading the recommendations on the back. 12 minutes, 5x a week, burn 650 calories. Hmm.. 12 minutes of continuous jump roping! I can barely do a minute and a half. I can’t imagine 12 minutes! 650 calories for 60 minutes it only 10.8 cal/min. Secondly, I get emails from the kettlebell blog and today’s was titled, 7 fun and whimsical kettlebell workouts. It was not the Kb weight or reps, but this statement, 15 minutes on the clock and accumulate as many quality rounds as you can. 15 minutes! I know from kb class, that after 8 stations of ~30 seconds (~6 min), my heart is going to pop out of my chest. And I am not using 24s. 20s, & 14s with a 32 for DLs. Am I just that completely out of shape? Is it the extra 40lbs? My last class was a technique/strength class. 532 cal / 50 min. 10.6 cal/min. HR max 158 (94%), 132 (78%) avg. Still sweating an hour later. But good news, my back didn’t cramp up! Barb kept on the lighter bells specifically to help with the back. A nice blood blister under my callous too.
Posted by Swami at 8/08/2014 01:23:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Swami personal, Swami workout
Monday, August 4, 2014
The Hit List
Posted by Swami at 8/04/2014 04:10:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Swami racquetball
Friday, August 1, 2014
Such Promise...
Posted by Swami at 8/01/2014 01:58:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Swami racquetball
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Racquetball Wednesdays
On Wednesday’s we have the regulars, plus the once a weekers. Today we had regulars, Al, (Nancy out with kayak injuries), Arlan the Quick, Steve the Greyhound, and Steve the Whippet. Additionally, we had Big Dick, Little Dick and Rex. I played about 90 minutes. Some singles, some doubles. Worked up a good sweat.
The morning crowd is thinning out some now. We’ve lost Marvelous Mark to rheumatoid arthritis, Dale aged out and Kern’s shoulder can’t take any more repairs. Roger’s legs and age have caught up to him. Super Dave moved to the greener pastures of Milwaukee, and Ray never returned after the meltdown. However we did get a new slogan out of it, “don’t go all Ray now.” Ralph’s hip got the best of him. Jimmy the Mouse stopped after being hit one too many times (with the ball and racquet!) Jeff switched to LA Fitness. Recently, we lost Terrific Tom for 8 months with a torn rotator cuff and repair. Little Mike is just returning from knee replacement, retirement and moving up north. Steve the Whippet’s missing ACL is becoming a problem.
Posted by Swami at 7/09/2014 04:29:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Swami racquetball
Kettlebell Tuesday
50 minutes, 520 calories, 75% average HR. My lower back didn’t cramp up until about half-way through this time. I still haven’t gotten to the bottom of this problem yet. It also plagues me in racquetball. The gal next to me was using a 24kg as compared my 20kg for swings, goblets and dead lifts. For doubles, she was using 16’s vs. my 14’s for cleans, clean and squat, swings and renegade rows. Generally a strength session with ~ 30 second sets done in a ladder format. We finished with lots of ab work – 2 rounds of pull-overs, planks, criss-cross leg raisers, side planks, leg raisers alternate leg. Mixed in all of this were squat holds, sumo squats, 3 point hold and push-ups.
I go to G365 for my kettlebell classes. They are taught by RKC II instructor, Barb. The classes are between 4 and 12 people, mostly women, mostly over 40 and strong as hell. I seem to be the only one breathing like a race horse and sweating like a pig in class.
Kettlebells are a key element in my training. I get everything I need in these sessions - Strength, Cardio, Flexibility and Sweat. It was Scoundrel who introduced me to kettlebells and if it wasn’t for kettlebells, I don’t know what I would be doing for general exercise. While working on my technique, my goal is to reach 12 calories/minute for these sessions.
Posted by Swami at 7/09/2014 11:23:00 AM 2 comments
Labels: Swami workout
Monday, July 7, 2014
Week One
The first week started out slowly. About two weeks ago I increased my kettlebell classes to 3 a week (Tue/Thu/Sat) except for last week (only 2) because of the 4th of July. The kettlebell sessions are about 45-50 minutes, burning about 500 calories with an 80% average HR. On Saturday I played some pick-up racquetball with some of the regulars. Let's just say I've got some work to do. Skipping the ball has become a big problem. I broke out the jump rope. Initially aiming for 1 minute of jumping for warm-up and another 1 minute after I'm done playing, by the count of 35, my calves are burning and thighs are screaming. On the weight front, I'm up 10lbs from 2 months ago. I did not get any dedicated racquetball practice in.
Posted by Swami at 7/07/2014 04:20:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Swami personal, Swami racquetball, Swami workout
What do I want out of this?
1. Improve my physical condition
- Increase stamina
- Get stronger
- Become more flexible
- Work on past injuries
2. Better court movement
- Reaction time
- Quickness
- Movement
3. Develop racquetball skills
- Serving, particularly my drive serve
- Forehand
- Shot selection
4. Lose weight
- Lose 20lbs
I will expand on each of these areas in further posts.
Posted by Swami at 7/07/2014 04:09:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Goals, Swami racquetball, Swami workout
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Herein lies the heart of the struggle
Posted by Swami at 7/05/2014 12:12:00 PM 2 comments
Labels: Swami personal