Want to keep up with other Open Squash members as we all try to get fitter and better at the game? Join our new Open Squash Whoop Group! Instructions are at the end of this post. You may have seen more Open Squash members wearing the Whoop on their wrists over recent months. The device tracks your strain, burned calories, sleep, and recovery, as well as resting heart rate.
Will Ahmed, the founder and CEO of Whoop, played on Harvard's squash team in the 2010s. He wanted to know what he was doing to his body after training for three hours a day. After reading hundreds of medical papers, he wrote the Whoop business plan. Now, the company is worth billions. Way to turn playing squash into becoming a billionaire, Will. Of course, making billions of dollars isn't a priority for most of us at Open Squash. We're a nonprofit squash center in New York City with a goal of making squash for everyone. We even offer sliding scale pricing for members who didn't found billion-dollar companies!
Communities on Whoop are a more recent development, allowing people to keep up with each other in a group. Every week, we crown the group's strain, recovery and sleep champions.
Want to know how your opponent really slept before your big game? When they show up claiming exhaustion you can now say, "but hey, Whoop says you slept nine hours and recovered 97 percent."
You'll have outfoxed them with digital technology! Surely, that's worth joining up, alone. The tool has also proven a good motivator for some members of the group to get better sleep. Others seem intent on continuing to sleep terribly, regardless. The group chat focuses on mutual support, from how to get good sleep when you're a parent, to some light competition about who's training hardest during their squash sessions. And...who isn't.
Peter Creed, former PSA World Number 50 and Director of Squash at Open Squash Bryant Park has also joined the group and is looking forward to competing with members to see who has the lowest resting pulse. So far, today, nobody was under 50. But Peter’s resting pulse has been known to go as low as the high 30s in his day!
Meanwhile Open Squash co-founder James Green slept the best on the night of May 1, with 7:57 hours of sleep and a recovery in the high 60 percent.
“I love Whoop because I get to see how much effort I really made on court,” he said. “I may feel like I worked hard, but I’ve noticed a correlation between the strain numbers and how I feel about my game. I’ve also learned that too many alcoholic drinks, eating right before bed, and staying up late are a disaster. I love to see all that data. It also doesn’t make a difference to my recovery if I have a pet with me in the room when I’m asleep. I’d love to learn from how others are making it in Whoop world!”
With a mission to broaden squash participation for everyone, we'd love Open Squash members to join our Whoop Group. See you there!
How to sign up to the Open Squash Whoop Group
First you'll need a Whoop. Go to Whoop.com and sign up for membership by clicking "join." Right now there's a $30/month membership offer or a month's free trial. Once your Whoop arrives, set it up on your phone and open the app. Hit "community", bottom right, when you open the app. Hit the three dots next to "teams" and "enter invite code", then write "Comm-933318" and click "Join Team" for "Open Squash." Any questions? Email Matt Davis, the group's admin.