Top 5 tips for Cricket fitness

With the Ashes about to start all eyes will be on the England Cricket team and their desire to beat the Aussies in their own back yard. 

I am currently working with a lot of young cricketers and there are some common themes that run through their training.

1. Warm up properly– the warm up should be structured and purposeful, it should not include boxing drills, football matches or any other faddish activities 
2. Ensure that both sides of the body are worked evenly. Developing cricketers especially tend to grow like weather beaten trees- they lean off to one side through repeated overuse of technical work only. This can lead to things like patellar pain in the plant foot of fast bowlers and pars defects in the back from repeated rotational and lateral work on one side only.
3. Take time off from the nets. Skill can be developed through basketball matches, volleyball and soccer. Fitness and speed can be improved through cycling, tennis, swimming and judo.  This is especially true in under 16s where the variety and depth of skill acquisition will be improved by participating in something different. More cricket is not the answer long term.
4. Work contralateral movements in running, crawling, resistance work and agility work. Dumbbell swings, one arm get ups, over head lunges, bear crawls and H shape agility drills will all help the overall athleticism of the cricketer.
5. Work the whole body as a unit. The “core” is not a separate entity. there is no use doing single plane movements on machines and then doing circus tricks on a stability ball or wobble board. Instead get the whole body moving under control and then perform those movements under load.

In short lets help create a generation of young cricketers who don’t keep breaking down and who can help keep the Aussies Ashes free.

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