A Guide to Training for Cricket - Part 3

As amateur cricketers, there is often not enough incentive to prepare yourself for the demands of the game. You play for fun, a social and don’t get paid! So why should you give up a few hours a week over the winter getting ready for something that is just a hobby?

Firstly, that hobby can leave you with a bad back, knee or shoulder for the rest of your life. Not the rest of your cricket career, the rest of your life! Why suffer and wake up in pain for the rest of your life because you didn’t think it necessary to prepare your body for the demands of a hobby.

This second point is the most important. Most cricketers already go to the gym or do some form of exercise. The goal of this is to live a healthy and active lifestyle to improve their physical and mental wellbeing. Make no mistake, this is great. But almost all these cricketers will still get injured playing cricket and end up in pain. This is because the bog-standard training routine of push/pull or back/biceps splits with a “leg day” thrown in once in a blue moon will simply not prepare you for cricket. If this is you, then you already spend somewhere between 1-5 hours a week in a gym or exercising but still get injured playing cricket. But at least you are an active human, right?

Why not spend 1-5 hours a week in a gym preparing your body for the demands of cricket whilst also living an active lifestyle. If you get fit enough to play cricket, then you are going to be ready for whatever your day-to-day life can throw at you.

The core & grip strength you need to carry 4 bags of shopping in from the car will be built if you prepare for the demands of cricket.

The knee stability you need to correct from a slip on an icy path will be built if you prepare for the demands of cricket.

The acceleration ability to catch the last bus home when you finish work late will be built if you prepare for the demands of cricket.

The list goes on. The other argument against solely preparing the amateur cricketer for just cricket is that many of these regular gym goers just want to build muscle. Now, if your passion is bodybuilding then absolutely go for that and don’t try and mix that with cricket. But if you prepare your body for the demands of cricket then there will be the added bonus of building muscle and probably dropping some body fat.

To summarise, a generic fitness regime to help you live an active lifestyle will not prepare you for cricket. Whereas, a programme to improve performance and play pain free cricket will have you living an active lifestyle at the same time. Two birds, one stone.