The Importance of Functional Strength – Not Maximal Strength
We have already covered in detail the pitfalls of a standard bodybuilding approach to strength training for cricket – and you should now be well versed in the fact that just because this form of training may make you look strong due to muscular development – it certainly doesn’t automatically mean that you are functionally […]
Thats 6!!!….(Of the best reasons that single leg training is superior to double-leg)
Perhaps a controversial discussion point – after all the squat and the deadlift have been the central pillars of most functional lower body training for years. As we have discussed elsewhere the squat and deadlift are 2 great full body functional exercises and are light years ahead of time wasters like leg pressing and leg […]
Batter or Bowler
Are you training for batting or bowling? In your life as a cricketer, is your game based more around the art of scoring runs, or the art of preventing them and taking wickets? The answer to this question will dictate where exactly your focus should be in your strength training, as physically speaking, […]
Why Strength train for Cricket?
There is far more importance to strength training for improved sports performance than simply adding some muscle to your body. Strength training aims to improve the baseline from which all physical attributes are expressed – in other words, actions such as a more powerful cover drive or a more powerful throw when fielding, are the […]
Throwing and Cricket – Part 2
Throwing is more than just the shoulder and arm Of course there is more to the throwing action than just the shoulder and arm (which we looked at in part 1). There are certainly various forms of throwing, and as a result the degree to which various parts of the body are involved differs. However […]
Cricket Training Needs Analysis
The aim of this short article is to give an overview of the type of physical qualities required, as well as the movements performed in a game of cricket, in order to get you to thinking more about how this will impact how specifically you should look to prepare with your gym-based training. Of […]
Periodisation: What is it, and why do I need to bother?
You have likely heard of periodisation before, and may have read about its use in conditioning athletes, particularly athletes in individual sports such as Olympic weightlifting. It all may seem very technical (particularly with all the numbers and graphs and %’s listed when you look at a weightlifters or a runners program) and over the […]
The 3 Planes of Movement
For starters, as you move around, you are moving around and operating in a 3-dimesional existence, where your movements operate in one of, or a combination of, 3 planes of movement. Most everyday movements will require movement, or at the very least some stability, in all 3 planes. As cricket is a very dynamic part […]
Movements not muscles when training for cricket
Why when preparing for cricket, if you are ‘body-building’ you are heading down the wrong track ‘Movements not muscles’ means a change in focus on what you are developing and how you are developing it. This is a very important discussion to have for all cricketers looking to improve their physical capacity for contribution to […]