Amazing Tips/Ways to Improve Your Cricket Fitness

As cricketers, you have to go through a lot of wear & tear throughout training. There is need of high level of skill to play Cricket, a successful player needs good balance and core strength, speed for running between the wickets and in field while fast bowlers particularly need very good speed and power.

Good workout for cricketers includes Endurance, Sprint Fitness & Speed/Agility/Quickness (SAQ), Muscular Strength, Flexibility and Cricket specific training.

Below are few of the amazing tips/ways to improve your cricket fitness:

Explosive Power and Flexibility:

Cricket is a sport built on fast, powerful movements. Flexible fielders can make the most acrobatic of catches. Flexibility also helps batsmen move their body into position quickly for a shot and even prevents bowlers from picking up too many injuries. Two useful ways to get limber for cricket are pilates and yoga. Short energetic exercises can improve your overall endurance and explosive power such as an indoor group cycling session. Try sprint exercises, which will help you, get used to the stop-start nature of cricket.

Cardio Fitness:

Good cardiovascular fitness is required by cricketers whether it’s batting, bowling or fielding. Cardio or aerobic fitness exercise relates to how well your body takes in oxygen and gets rid of carbon dioxide. Aerobic exercises help you to prevent muscle injuries and fatigue. Some of the useful aerobic exercises for cricket include running, cycling and swimming. Another tip for cricket fitness is to practice running with full pads and cricket gear on. You may be able to run 100 feet wearing a t-shirt, but running in full pads is another matter.

Cricket Training in the Gym:

Gym training for cricket fitness poses the question of which machines and exercises to try. For cricket fitness in the gym, try several cricket-specific routines. For example, leg lunges work the muscles used for positioning yourself for perfect batting shots and gaining a fast sprint start. Bench pressing and dumbbell exercises will help strengthening the muscles needed to hit big shots or bowl fast balls. However, more than bulk strength is usually the aim of cricket fitness programs. Use of rowing machine will help you develop good overall upper body strength for cricket.

Cricket Circuit Training

To improve cricket fitness developing a circuit-training program is an excellent way. Cricket exercise should focus on a combination of explosive power and stamina. You need no specialist equipment for exercises like pull-ups, burpees, back raises, push-ups, abdominal curls and sprint runs as part of an overall fitness program for cricketers. Aim to include eight exercises in your session. Perform each exercise with as many repetitions as possible for around 60 seconds.

Cricket Diet:

For a cricketer diet plays an important role to remain fit. A cricketer should know which foods give more power or nutrition to the body. Long day training in nets will not work; you have to concentrate on your diet plan. Best diet plan for cricketers is high protein foods like fish, sweet potatoes, carrots, oranges, apples, potatoes, rice, and wheat germ. Cricketers must eat 4-7 meals in a day and meal should be lean protein. Energy intake, which has come from fat 25-35%. Eat dried fruits like raisins, dried apples, dried prunes, and nuts like cashews, macadamia and almonds.

Also, it should be said that before playing any game, every player has to do a proper warm up to help body stretch up and get charged up. This will help cricketers to deliver optimum performance.