(by 4 people)
Fitness training for cricket has always been an issue of debate.
Should you get fit for playing by playing? Is going to the gym any good for your bowling? Isn't pounding the streets boring?
This lens answers all your cricket fitness questions with one foot in sport science and the other in club cricket mentality.
So whatever level you bat, bowl or field - read on and don't forget to find out even more detailed tips, programmes and excercise routines at www.harrowdrive.com
The Duncan Fletcher secret to cricket fitness
Top coach Duncan Fletcher is a big advocate of making fitness training both cricket specific and fun.How does he do it?
Combine fielding drills with fitness training.
For example: 'Ten Catches' where the coach hits high and difficult catches until ten are caught. It's designed to leave you gasping but you will be fitter after a few sessions and it's much more engaging that going on a jog.
So next time you don't feel like doing your fitness training, grab some cricket balls, cones, stumps and a couple of mates and head to the ground (or sports hall) instead.
Recommended cricket fitness links
some cricket specific, some just great fitness sites
- Sports Coach
- Sports Coach provides information on the many topics related to developing athletic ability and coaching expertise.
- Netfit cricket training programme
- Cricket specific fitness training
- Play Better Cricket - Harrowdrive.com
- Want to play better cricket? Get tips, tricks and practical advice from ECB cricket coaches, sports scientists and first class cricketers.
- Fitness4cricket
- Fitness 4 Cricket is an essential resource for ambitious players and coaches, the site is packed with over 200 pages of the latest cricket fitness information.
- Cricket Secrets Revealed
- Discover How You Can Explode Your Batting or Bowling Averages, Hit More Runs And Take More Wickets Than You Ever Thought Possible
5 reasons you need to get fit for cricket
- Performance - Fitness improves bowling speed, hitting power, reaction times and running speed. It does this for everyone without fail (no matter how old). What's more, even highly trained elite players suffer no loss of performance through bulking up - they are not training for huge bodybuilder muscles and neither should you.
- Injury Prevention - Stronger bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons reduce the risk of injury.
- Teamwork - Training in pairs or in a team is great for building camaraderie between teammates. Making training competitive also makes it more fun.
- Variation - Playing cricket is the best way to get fit for cricket. That said, the body likes variation. Different activities cross train your body and keep your mind alert.
- Health - General fitness makes you feel and look better in the rest of your life too.
Cricket Stuff on Amazon
The Fast Bowler's Bible
Amazon Price: $26.96 (as of 07/26/2008)
Cricket (SAQ)
Amazon Price: (as of 07/26/2008)
A typical cricket training session
In-season whole team or small group training sessions
- General Warm Up (10-20 min)
The warm up is vital to reduce the risk of injury, so don't do what most club players do and skip straight to the skills session. - Cricket Specific Conditioning (15-30 min)
This section is designed to work on general skills, fill in the gaps in conditioning and maintain the physical condition you developed pre-season.
Start with a few minutes of core stability training to help reduce the risk of injury. Concentrate especially on exercises that work the legs, ankles and knees.
You can then move on to skill sessions with the emphasis on physical training over technique improvement, however you should not let your technique drop too far as you are increasing the risk of injury.
This portion should last no more than 45 minutes and if you are less fit you should cut the time back. Always do at least 15 minutes to get the benefits. - Skills Practice (15-45 min)
Once you have worked on your physical conditioning you can move to working on specific skill drills. The focus here is on skill improvement and maintenance so work on areas that you feel are weaker first.
This practice should take the largest chunk of time of your session no matter how long you have. The longer the better up to the point when you are too fatigued to practice effectively (that is to say when you start to lose form).
Ideally you will also have access to a coach who can give you pointers as you train, although if this is not possible then a willing training buddy will do. - Team Practice (30 min minimum)
If you are practising as a whole team, now is the time to get back together and do some team practice.
You could take part in fielding drills or have a cut down practice game. Either way the idea is to be working together.
If you are working in a pair or smaller group then you can use this time to extend the other parts of your practice depending on your needs. - General Cool Down (10-30 min)
It is essential for injury prevention and recovery that you take a few minutes to cool down. This also gives the team a change to go over the session and discuss upcoming game tactics.
The cheaters guide to speed, agility and quickness
Bob Willis is a great believer in long slow running to get fit for cricket.Bob may have been a great bowler, and he sure knows more about the game than I ever will.
He doesnt know fitness for toffee though.
Cricket is a game based on explosive speed, quick feet and fast sprints not long, knee crushing endurance tests. Thats according to Alan Pearson the sports science mastermind behind the SAQ for Cricket book.
Think about it: Running quick singles, chasing a ball, diving for a catch or running in to bowl all require short bursts of activity with longer periods of recovery.
In short, good cricketers need to be fast, agile and have quick feet and hands.
So how do club cricketers achieve this in the limited training time they have?
1. Read my free guides to setting your goals, planning your training and having a good base level of fitness.
2. Buy Alan Pearsons SAQ for Cricket. Its a simple to understand book based on using sport science to develop your fitness specifically for cricket(get it from Amazon above).
3. Use the SAQ drills to follow the preseason cricket fitness plan you can get for free from harrowdrive.com.
If things go according to plan you will be a significantly better player in time for next season.
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Have you ever pledged to improve your cricket fitness by doing more running?On the surface things are straightforward: The longer you run the fitter you are. But fitness is rarely that simple.
Long runs are boring to most cricketers and its very hard on the knees to pound the streets.
But the key is this: Long runs do not train you well for cricket because they are not specific enough.
Cricket is a stop/start game that involves short bursts of fast running (chasing in the field, running between the wickets and a bowlers run up). So long running is unsuitable.
The answer to this problem is interval training.
Intervals involve many short bursts of work followed by rests to recover. You can do them indoors or outdoors as long as you have a space of a couple of hundred yards.
For example:
3 sets of 200m (followed by 3 minutes rest)
4 sets of 100m (followed by 3 minutes rest)
5 sets of 50m (followed by 3 minutes rest)
10 sets of 25m (followed by 3 minutes rest)
10 sets of 10m (followed by 3 minutes rest)
The great thing about intervals is that you can adjust the distance and rest as much as you like. Shorter distances with less rest trains your speed, longer distances and rest trains your endurance.
You can also adjust the angle of running, the start point (for example with back turned or lying down) and involve a ball for skills drills.
Why one leg is better than two
Cricket is a game played on one leg.
OK, that's not quite the whole story but as sport science students know: Running, throwing, batting and bowling movements occur with one leg applying more force than the other.
This means that training that involves one leg at a time is more specific to cricket.
Exercises like single leg squats, lunges and step ups work well. So would plyometrics based on single leg movements. You could easily replace the squats in my yearly training plan with any of these (although if you are new to training build up your strength with squats first).
Really it's not about one leg being better: I find having two legs is much better for balance. But when it comes to initiation of the important movements that make your game better, single leg training will give an edge.
Thanks to Cricket Fitness for the original idea.
OK, that's not quite the whole story but as sport science students know: Running, throwing, batting and bowling movements occur with one leg applying more force than the other.
This means that training that involves one leg at a time is more specific to cricket.
Exercises like single leg squats, lunges and step ups work well. So would plyometrics based on single leg movements. You could easily replace the squats in my yearly training plan with any of these (although if you are new to training build up your strength with squats first).
Really it's not about one leg being better: I find having two legs is much better for balance. But when it comes to initiation of the important movements that make your game better, single leg training will give an edge.
Thanks to Cricket Fitness for the original idea.
How important is the gym for cricketers?
Is pumping iron going to get you wickets and runs?
1. Some things, like strength training, are best done in the gym. You can exercise in ways, with weights and with muscles you would have great trouble or expense replicating elsewhere.2. Good gyms have good gym instructors who will quite happily reel off as much advice as you need.
3. Fitness training is good for your general health (the main reason why most people go to the gym anyway).
So every player should join a gym unless they have a very strong reason not to.
What are the reasons not to?
There are a few:
1. If your doctor has told you not to (mind you, I cant think of many conditions that make it OK to play cricket and not go to the gym).
2. If you don't have the money (although for many that's an excuse more than a reason).
3. If you are under 18. You shouldn't be lifting heavy weights at a young age as it is detrimental to your physical development (although light or body weight exercise is fine).
4. If your gym training is detrimental to developing cricket specific speed, endurance, agility or skill. Ideally the gym will compliment these, but if its better to stay away and just train cricket specifics than lose out because the gym is taking too much time.
As usual then, its all about finding a balance to get the best results: more runs, wickets and catches. For the vast majority that balance involves the gym.
