Which Muscles Are Used While Playing Racquetball?

The game of racquetball involves numerous muscles working in a coordinated manner to swing the racquet and move your body around the court. If you are serious about the game and want to train your body for maximum performance, learning about these muscles and how they function is important. The knowledge you acquire will help you select training exercises that best prepare your body to meet the demands of the game.

Core Muscles

The core muscles are essential during the backhand and forehand racquetball strokes, which require powerful rotational movements from the hips and torso. The muscles that facilitate these movements include the erector spinae muscle group and deep spinal muscles of the lower back, along with the external and internal obliques on either side of your abdomen. The lower back muscles are located on either side of your spine and produce rotation to the opposite side, which means the muscles on the left side of your spine contract to rotate your torso to the right and vice versa. The external obliques also cause rotation to the opposite side, while the internal obliques facilitate rotation to the same side. All of these muscles are hard at work during every drive serve and ground stroke during a racquetball match.

Quadriceps

The quadriceps consist of the rectus femoris, vastus intermedius, vastus lateralis and vastus medialis muscles of the anterior, or front, part of the thigh. The rectus femoris attaches to the iliac spine, just above the hip joint, and the other three muscles just below the hip joint. All four muscles converge at the other end, attaching to the patella bone of the knee. The quadriceps facilitate knee extension and the rectus femoris also assists with hip flexion. They contract powerfully to help you accelerate and decelerate on the racquetball court and jump high to hit balls that bounce above your head.

Triceps Brachii

At times during a racquetball match, the ball bounces high above your head, requiring you to swing the racquet much like you would throw a baseball or softball overhanded. As you accelerate the racquet to and through the ball, the triceps brachii muscle contracts powerfully to extend your forearm at the elbow joint. The triceps brachii, or triceps for short, consist of three heads -- the lateral head, long head and medial head. Proximally, or closest to your torso, the lateral head attaches to the humerus bone, just below the shoulder joint, the long head to the scapula bone on your upper back, and the medial head to the bottom two-thirds of the humerus bone. Distally, or farthest from your torso, all three heads adjoin the olecranon process at the elbow, which is part of the ulna bone of the forearm. Along with overhead shots, the triceps also play a role in the forearm extension movements during the backhand and forehand racquetball strokes.