Uh, excuse me – what was that you said? Okay, okay ... maybe I should explain this just a bit differently. Have you ever taken a bit of time off from playing only to step back in the court and not be able to hit the same shots you were able to make when you were playing more often? Who hasn’t? When summer time activities come to an end and it’s time to get back into the racquetball court again, you’ll remember this discussion on why this phenomenon occurs and what can be done to counteract it.

Any time someone takes time off from an activity that requires very specific muscle contractions to perform (like a racquetball forehand, backhand, various serves, golf swing, or riding a bike) – the muscle and nerves “forget” what they are supposed to do to perform that specific movement pattern. I could go into long and painfully boring detail as to how and why this “de-training” phenomenon occurs or I could just expect that most everyone has witnessed and/or experienced this firsthand, and explain what to do to overcome this deficit. 

In the most simple terms – after you have taken time off from certain activities you have to “train” or “teach” your muscles how to perform that activity again. Anytime you do not make your muscles perform an activity for a long period of time, the muscle will “de-train” and become weaker. Now it’s not as bad as you might think. Re-training your muscles is easier once you have already learned an activity. 

The easiest way to re-establish the neural firing patterns is to practice your shots. Yes, you heard me ... that’s right – I said that nasty “P” word … practice. As well, the nerves integrating with the specific muscles will lose their ability to control fine motor movements. Thus, to overcome this problem, the body simply needs time to re-establish the recruitment pattern between the nerves and the muscles required to perform the specific activity.

Alright, that’s enough of that talk, even for me. So now the question is – how can someone who has not been playing for some time (even as little as three months, or as much as ten years or more) get back into the “swing of things” again, so to speak? 

The best remedy would be to reserve some court time and simply go practice your shots (yeah, yeah, I know I said that “P” word again). Take the time to practice the mechanics of the different shots by just swinging the racquet and not worrying about contacting the ball. This can even be done at home – just make sure you know where the lamps are and that young children (who like to copy what they see) are not watching! 

After a couple of days you will start to feel comfortable with your swing again and then it will be time to schedule a match. I would recommend facing someone a level or two below your former playing level, which will allow you to take more time to permit yourself to properly set-up for your shots. This will help you to regain a comfort level in moving around in the court before you play someone of equal or higher ability — rather than ending up spending more time chasing the ball off balance and always trying to catch up rather than setting up for the good shots.

So basically what I am telling you is … if you have taken time off – even as little as 3-4 months or as much as 20-30 years – you can regain your hitting ability by simply practicing a bit. And just so you do realize – the more time you have spent away from a particular activity – the longer it will take to re-establish those neural firing patterns. It’s just like they say about riding a bike – once you learn, you never forget – but you just might need to work through the rust a bit. So now that you have a better idea of how to regain that old playing form … go out, get in a court and practice!

As always – if you have questions you would like to have addressed here – just send me an email, at timscheett@hotmail.com.