Squash keeps topping ‘healthiest sport’ rankings, and everyone who plays it knows why: it’s interval training that forgot to feel like exercise. A small room, a bouncy-ish ball, and forty minutes later your watch thinks you ran a 10K. Here’s why the little court earns the big numbers.

The Ranking Explained

Squash’s fitness math: the ball stays in play (walls mean fewer dead stops than tennis), the court is small (every rally is a burst of lunges, twists and sprints in a phone booth), and the pace is yours-ish but never zero. The result is sustained heart-rate work with agility, flexibility and core rotation folded in — the whole gym, one room.

Easier to Start Than Tennis

The beginner-friendly secret: the walls forgive you. In tennis, a bad shot ends the point and someone chases a ball into the next county; in squash, the wall sends everything back and the rally survives your learning curve. Beginners get real rallies — the fun part — in session one, which is why squash converts curious people faster than most racquet sports.

Your First Session Kit

The list is short: non-marking indoor shoes (the one non-negotiable — courts turn away black soles), a loaner racquet from the club, and a beginner-friendly ball (the blue dot bounces more; the pros’ double-yellow barely bounces at all — starting with it is self-sabotage). Book a court with one patient friend; thirty minutes is plenty for the first outing. Hydrate like it’s a real workout, because it is.

The Etiquette and the Addiction

Two things to know: the ‘let’ rule (squash shares a room, so you call do-overs instead of colliding — politeness is literally in the rulebook), and the ladder culture (most clubs run beginner ladders where you always play someone near your level — the matchmaking is why people stay). The addiction arrives around week three, when your first perfect drop shot dies in the corner and you hear yourself say ‘one more game’ for the fourth time.

Blue-dot ball, clean-soled shoes, one patient friend. The healthiest sport rankings weren’t lying — squash is interval training in disguise, and the disguise is excellent fun.