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Bodybuilding.com - Strength Training For Cricket! http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/strength-training-for-cricket.html

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Strength Training For Cricket!

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The game of Cricket has historically been known as "the gentleman's game." Until about threedecades ago Cricketers were certainly not the fittest athletes on the planet. Often it was remarkedthat Cricket is physically an easy game which requires one to stand on the field for most of the dayand requires little running, jumping or strength.

However with the introduction of one day Cricket, the game has gone through major changes andthe physical demands made on a cricketer's body has also increased dramatically. No longer can abatsman just continue to defend away for overs, he has to often use his strength to hit big sixes.The highly-developed levels of fielding in the modern times require a player to have strongshoulders and arms to make direct hits at the stumps. One look at the photo of a modern dayplayer and a player from the 60s and you will notice the difference in the bodies of the two. Themodern player is leaner, stronger and far more athletic!

As mentioned earlier, Cricket was not really considered a physical game, thus proper strengthdevelopment was often ignored by Cricketers. Now if you look at modern day players like MathewHayden, Andrew Symonds, Shoaib Akhtar you will notice how these guys use their muscularstrength to their advantage and perform better. Let us look at some proven benefits of addedstrength for a Cricketer:

Prevent injuryIncrease running speedIncrease bowling speedIncrease throwing distanceReduce the effects of fatigueImprove bat speedHelp with technique

The point of preventing further injuries I want to further explain to help understand the necessity ofstrength training. The great sir Don Bradman in a career spanning 2 decades played only 52 testmatches, and no one days. On the other hand, modern day great Sachin Tendulkar in the samespan of 20 years has played 167 test matches and 442 one day internationals! In short he hasplayed more than 3 times the number of matches when compared to sir Don. This clearly showsthe drastic increase in the physical workloads of the modern day Cricketer.

In such a demanding age, if a player does not have a strong body he will certainly not be able tosurvive for long in the international arena and will perish soon. Thus Cricket teams all around theworld place a great deal of time on developing the strength of their players.

Developing Strength For CricketNow I will discuss how you can develop strength for Cricket. I mean real functional strength andnot the type of training that asks you to balance on one leg and do the exercises. So here are theprinciples that you must keep in mind when designing your strength training program for Cricket.And by the way if any you have fears that strength training will make you too bulky and you willlose your agility and speed, then let me assure you that you cannot become too big with all thecardio work that you do on the field.

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Bodybuilding.com - Strength Training For Cricket! http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/strength-training-for-cricket.html

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Rep Power: 0

Body

Statsht: 5'9"wt: 140.4lbsbf: 10.0%

ameyp97Probably the only article on bb.com.This indian cricket fan lovesit!

Aug 13, 2013 8:09am | report

Rep Power: 0

Body

Statsht: 5'9"wt: 191.6lbsbf: 25.0%

pratiksp13I play cricket in summer and i was really looking forward to aspecific workout that improve my performance. I am activeperson lifting 4-5 days a week and playing cricket in weekends.I will definitely try this work out and see the results my self.Thank you.

Jun 11, 2014 10:09am | report

Rep Power: 0

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Statswt: 133lbsbf: 8.0%

ma9ishGreat article Indians wish many more to come of this type withnutrition.

Oct 27, 2014 10:35pm | report

Bodybuilding.com - Strength Training For Cricket! http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/strength-training-for-cricket.html

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Bodybuilding.com - Strength Training For Cricket! http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/strength-training-for-cricket.html

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