Custom Bats Cricket Forum
General Cricket => Cricket Training, Fitness and Injuries => Topic started by: iand123 on November 02, 2013, 04:55:53 PM
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I joined a gym for the first time this week. Main aim is to lose some weight but would like to improve for cricket too. Sure the general work out will help but are there any recommended areas to work on or specific routines anyone would recommend?
I'm a batsman if that helps
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Hi Mate,
I try to go to the gym 3-4 times a week
my main areas :
biceps
triceps
shoulders
core
cardio
glutes
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I'm aiming for 3 days a week. Need to shift the weight first which will be a challenge in itself
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When weight training, the half life of fat burning is 6-8 hours after the exercise.
With Cardio, it is about 1-2 hours.
If you weight train properly, you will lose weight (As long as you don't give into the carb cravings!) while adding size/definition.
Train in cycles - 2 weeks of cardio, 4 weeks of weights, 2 weeks of cardio etc just to keep your body guessing.
Most explosive exercise will help with cricket, but remember to do something like yoga/Pilates. Cricket is alot about flexibility (ESP if a bowler).
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as said as well as your cardio and weights try and incorporate some time on balance boards or anything else that will improve balance that will have a direct effect on your batting
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I'm aiming for 3 days a week. Need to shift the weight first which will be a challenge in itself
Not as manly as lifting weights but I've found that using the myfitnesspal app has helped me lose weight. Feel a bit daft logging stuff I eat every day but I've lost over 15kg in 6 months and its helped - just makes you realise how bad things are for you. Not been to the gym yet but eating less and better along with plenty of walking and kettlercise has made a load of difference.
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I too joined a gym this week! Went along for the first time today!
Pretty much because I want to shift a bit of weight really!
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Started back in the gym this week after a lay off of 10 months, had lost around 5-6 kilos of muscle. As this was my first season back in 20 years i really noticed a dip in my performance through the season as i started losing muscle due to work commitments. Aim to get it back through the winter months to hit my second season with a bang. Generally do a lot of body weight exercise plus core and flexibility stuff.
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During the cricket season, I train twice a week and play twice, if not three times, a week - not much need for the gym.
As a teacher, I always shut down from the end of the season to the first half term (8 weeks), just to let my body have some sort of rest.
Although the results when I return to the gym will be nothing short of horrific! Love how ten mins on the treadmill suddenly becomes the most painful thing in the world! :(
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I joined a gym for the first time this week. Main aim is to lose some weight but would like to improve for cricket too. Sure the general work out will help but are there any recommended areas to work on or specific routines anyone would recommend?
I'm a batsman if that helps
I dont think cricket demands heavy weight training. As the legend (Wasim Akram) once said - Bowlers need to build 'bowling muscles' and likewise for batsmen and the best way to do that is to practice as much as you can. Thats what Waqar and he did rather than spending time at the gym.
Even if you look at todays cricketers - Anderson, Morkel, Bhuvaneshwar, Rohit, Virat, Broad, Sachin, Clarke etc., they are all fit cricketers not big (muscular) cricketers.
I guess gym is good to keep you fit, flexible and develop stamina. Rest all gets built on the cricket pitch.
Practice, practice and more practice.
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Get back to basics, learn to do 4 main exercises, dead lifts, squats, standing military press, bench press. (Check out Mark Rippitoes book Starting Strength 3rd edition for lifting techniques). Base your workouts around these, go 4 times a week doing one of these exercises each workout with some additional complimentary exercises. Start off building strength (slow and steady movements) then as the season gets closer aim to increase your power with the same exercises but done more explosively. This will build a much stronger core and overall body strength. No need to do anything fancy, try and avoid spending too much time on isolation exercises and focus on large compound movements.
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My current plan is 3 workouts a week. Twice down the gym and go swimming once. In the gym, I'll do about 20km on the bike on a moderate uphill setting, keeping between 70-80 rpm the whole time. One gym session I'll end with core and flexibility work and the other I'll do weights. With the swimming, I find anywhere between 1.5-2km is sufficient for a cardio and strength conditioning workout. As the pool is only round the corner from home, I usually jog there and back too
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Hi Mate,
I try to go to the gym 3-4 times a week
my main areas :
biceps
triceps
shoulders
core
cardio
glutes
How come you dont train quads, hams and chest?
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I dont think cricket demands heavy weight training. As the legend (Wasim Akram) once said - Bowlers need to build 'bowling muscles' and likewise for batsmen and the best way to do that is to practice as much as you can. Thats what Waqar and he did rather than spending time at the gym.
Even if you look at todays cricketers - Anderson, Morkel, Bhuvaneshwar, Rohit, Virat, Broad, Sachin, Clarke etc., they are all fit cricketers not big (muscular) cricketers.
I guess gym is good to keep you fit, flexible and develop stamina. Rest all gets built on the cricket pitch.
Practice, practice and more practice.
That said i know England, Surrey and I would imagine most other counties do a fair amount of gym work including heavy weight training.
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How come you dont train quads, hams and chest?
Would have thought by doing cardio 3-4 times a week would be sufficient to build enough muscle in your legs as glute training helps stabilise your core and hips. Training chest doesn't really have a massive cricket benefit. Just my 2pence worth
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Would have thought by doing cardio 3-4 times a week would be sufficient to build enough muscle in your legs as glute training helps stabilise your core and hips. Training chest doesn't really have a massive cricket benefit. Just my 2pence worth
It all works together.
If you just train your shoulders, they will become bigger, placing strain on the tendons connecting your muscles. you need to try and grow in sync with the rest of the muscles so that there are no muscle imbalances or weak points.
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That said i know England, Surrey and I would imagine most other counties do a fair amount of gym work including heavy weight training.
And then wonder why players break down injured all the time. You only have too look at footballers to see that although fitness is important if you push your body to far it'll just keep breaking. Unfortunately for us we don't get the after care or treatment pros do so a massive hammy tear can be a massive weakness forever. Shoulders going can mean you just simply can't bowl properly again etcetc
Shame Watson used to gym it up, kept breaking so now doesn't do as much. Still breaks but not as much
Hard to see now but pre knee I used to train 6 days a week and easily run well over 100k a week ( excluding footy matches etc). I'm not skinny guy either but I was stupidly fit and strong. (No Swearing Please) my knee up and now am what I am. Exercise in moderation the same as food/drink etc. unless your a pro there is no need to sprint sub 12 100m or throw the distance of the ground etc. if you are agile, reasonable pace and stamina wise and can hit the bad ball for 4 then you'll be able to play ecb prem easy enough
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It all works together.
If you just train your shoulders, they will become bigger, placing strain on the tendons connecting your muscles. you need to try and grow in sync with the rest of the muscles so that there are no muscle imbalances or weak points.
SPOT ON!!
Everything is connected, if someone just trains shoulders and avoids, chest, upper back and traps, then you are looking for injury at some point. Weight lifting is what I am addicted to and when I started to play cricket this season I was so confident I would be KING KONG! However all it took was a quick sudden movement and my thigh went. My mistake was basically I got carried away with benching 140kg that I forgot my core.
Working on your core for sports is where you will notice changes. Resistance training will help you develop the tiny muscle around joints which will make you stronger and less prone to injury!
Anyways this is my outlook on training :)
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It all works together.
If you just train your shoulders, they will become bigger, placing strain on the tendons connecting your muscles. you need to try and grow in sync with the rest of the muscles so that there are no muscle imbalances or weak points.
I was just trying to break it down as to why he may train in a certain way, i have been training in the gym for sport specific stuff for for over 15 years but if you try and talk to technical it can get lost on people. You will see a lot of threads wether your on a golf,cricket or other sport forum that will poo poo weight training as having muscle is a bad thing, but if you train correctly for your sport and body type then it can only benefit you.
That being said it was my second session back in over a year today (had a little one plus started a new business) so feeling the aches and pains, looking forward to making massive improvements in my fitness and strength for the up and coming season, as i do feel my game suffered badly at the half way point of the season.
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Went for the first time today with someone from work who is a trained personal trainer. He showed me some arm exercises with the weights which felt good although a bit stiff now. Did a mile or so run too to keep the cardio ticking over. Feel good for it, onwards and upwards!
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Just to add my 2p..
I think the original question was to lose weight and get fitter/stronger at the same time. Most of the advice seems to be around the strength/fitness aspect. Diet is vitally important too, as gdb19 mentioned.
Your body works on a thermodynamic basis - for conservation of weight, energy in must equal energy out. If the equation is imbalanced in either direction you will either lose or gain weight.
If you want to adjust your weight then, as gdb19 says, download myfitnesspal, plug in your details and log your eating habits. The app works out your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) and then tells you how much you should eat to reach whatever weight you want to. So, for example, if you want to lose 1lb / 0.5kg per week, you should eat 500 calories under your TDEE per day. Most sources seem to agree that in order to lose 1lb of weight, you should eat 3500 calories under your weekly calorie requirement.
Obviously you don't have to use myfitnesspal, you can count calories yourself, but it does make it easier. There's also this: http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/ (http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/) which is a more detailed calculator used if you want to get involved with intermittent fasting (IF). It's useful as it shows your basal metabolic rate (BMR) - which is basically the amount of calories you need to stay alive - and tells you how much you should eat on workout days as well as non-workout days.
Losing weight in a practical sense is actually pretty simple. It's the mental side that's a little more complicated!
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Thanks for this, its also something im looking to change (diet that is) to help in the weight loss
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Good luck! once you get going with fitness it gets pretty addictive!! :)
The most important thing is consistency - doesn't matter how much (or little) you do, just as long as you keep doing it.
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For Cricket, Core is the Key. A strong core is a must if you want to be a good cricketer.
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Apologies if this is a studious question but what exactly is the core? And how does one excercise it affectively?
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The stomach and lower/mid back muscles.
and you exercise them carefully! :)
Planks are a good one for core stability - How To Do A Plank Exercise (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiA9j-dR0oM#)
And Russian twists are good for rotational strength. Seated Russian Twist With Medicine Ball, Ab Exercises, Fit How To (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V94UDjkJy5k#ws) (sorry if that isn't a very macho video!!)
If you can, try and stay away from crunches as they put loads of strain on the lower back and neck.
The core is key in developing all round stability and it's where you generate power from when batting/bowling or throwing.
Squats and deadlifts also develop core strength but I'd really advise getting a qualified personal trainer to show you how to do these properly...
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The stomach and lower/mid back muscles.
and you exercise them carefully! :)
Planks are a good one for core stability - How To Do A Plank Exercise ([url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiA9j-dR0oM#[/url])
And Russian twists are good for rotational strength. Seated Russian Twist With Medicine Ball, Ab Exercises, Fit How To ([url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V94UDjkJy5k#ws[/url]) (sorry if that isn't a very macho video!!)
If you can, try and stay away from crunches as they put loads of strain on the lower back and neck.
The core is key in developing all round stability and it's where you generate power from when batting/bowling or throwing.
Squats and deadlifts also develop core strength but I'd really advise getting a qualified personal trainer to show you how to do these properly...
Perfectly put Bro :)
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Minor weight training will help both bowlers and batsman.
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I got much more into cricket after giving up a decent football career partly due to being able to let things slide a little bit, and enjoy the teas a bit more.
Now you chaps are telling me I have to do all this gym/fitness work?! Madness.
I'll stick to balancing loads of food on my plate at tea like a tasty game of buckaroo! ;)
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I never really have much time for exercise, except for some physio strengthening work on my back and shoulder but a few planks would be easy to fit in. Might help control the beer gut a little, can do around 20-30 secs at the moment so not too bad for first tries.
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Would have thought by doing cardio 3-4 times a week would be sufficient to build enough muscle in your legs as glute training helps stabilise your core and hips. Training chest doesn't really have a massive cricket benefit. Just my 2pence worth
If you train everything but chest you'll look ridiculous.
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Started to do some upper body stuff after my cardio on monday. First set of weights I get on (Deliberately set to very light) I manage to tear my pec minor... Ouch! Not happy, just have to focus on cardio and core for the next 6 weeks...
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Started to do some upper body stuff after my cardio on monday. First set of weights I get on (Deliberately set to very light) I manage to tear my pec minor... Ouch! Not happy, just have to focus on cardio and core for the next 6 weeks...
Use free weights, less restrictive movement wise
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If you train everything but chest you'll look ridiculous.
How would you look ridiculous? we are talking about strength and core training not competing in the IFFB.
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How would you look ridiculous? we are talking about strength and core training not competing in the IFFB.
You'd be imbalanced which would place more stress on the body and increase your chances of injury.
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I did arms on Friday and woke up yesterday and this morning with that first net after a winter of doing nothing feeling. Been told this doesn't last too long and it's all part of the process of my muscles getting used to it
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I did arms on Friday and woke up yesterday and this morning with that first net after a winter of doing nothing feeling. Been told this doesn't last too long and it's all part of the process of my muscles getting used to it
Yep, that's a good feeling :). Means you've torn the little fibres and now they'll repair bigger and stronger
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You'd be imbalanced which would place more stress on the body and increase your chances of injury.
I don't train my chest that much just body weight dips (4x25) i don't seem to have this imbalance. I could understand if you where doing 200kg deadlifts you would gain an imbalance by not training your chest, i am just curious as to what would look ridiculous by not training your chest when you are doing minor strength and core/stability training.
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I don't train my chest that much just body weight dips (4x25) i don't seem to have this imbalance. I could understand if you where doing 200kg deadlifts you would gain an imbalance by not training your chest, i am just curious as to what would look ridiculous by not training your chest when you are doing minor strength and core/stability training.
Because you're training everything else, pro cricketer is spot on with the increase in injury. Secondly you use you pec minor and major when throwing, so why you wouldn't train your chest is beyond me.
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Gym workouts for cricketers is The Pub!!!!
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I've recently started training in the gym to try and reduce the injuries I'm getting. Can really feel the difference when bowling feels a lot more fluid and solid which I guess is down to a stronger core and back. Feel like im hitting the ball harder... possibly imagining it though!
Have also been eating a lot more protein been getting stuff like protein bread, cookies and protein pasta from Muscle Foods which seems to have helped a bit especially as I'm a veggie so don't get much protein. If anyone does fancy buying anything from there I do have a referral link below which will give you 4 free pieces of chicken breast etc (and me £5 off!) http://www.musclefood.com/LF15278 (http://www.musclefood.com/LF15278)
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I have started running as i need to loose a stone. I feel better already after a week. Going to get the bike out as well and try and get fit for one last season !!
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I have started running as i need to loose a stone. I feel better already after a week. Going to get the bike out as well and try and get fit for one last season !!
Never a last season !! You can keep going for many more years :)
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I have started running as i need to loose a stone. I feel better already after a week. Going to get the bike out as well and try and get fit for one last season !!
Exactly the same as me mate - gonna give the WEPL one last go, but I need to lose a bit more than a stone!!!
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I train with Kettlebells and have don't so for about the last 4 years. The ballistic movement of the swing or snatch has a great carry over to cricket as do Turkish getups.
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Does anyone know any workouts specifically for fast bowlers? What kind of workout would a professional county bowler do?
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Has anyone incorporated yoga or some similar form of flexibility increasing routine? If yes, does this help with your cricketing prowess?
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I use mobility drills daily, look up 'Original Strength', the presets in there work really well for me.
Turn of pace - my brother is an opening bowler uses KB swings and TGUs as 90% of his training and has noticed improved fitness, less injuries and picked up some pace. It's a good GPP workout.
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Cheers mate, I'll give it a go.
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Cool, check out simple and sinister by Pavel Tsatsouline its a program focusing on the swing and tgu. I'm following it. This guy is the real deal when it comes to strength training be wary of other advice on the web re kettlebells. Technique is all important!
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This is Ian Fisher's youtube page. Was Strength and Conditioning coach at Essex and now at Yorkshire.
http://www.youtube.com/user/idfisher1?feature=watch (http://www.youtube.com/user/idfisher1?feature=watch)
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Just be careful if following anything off you tube. The players in the clips are training to a set program with Ian with on hand. There are some technical lifts in their which if you have no experience or training could do you some damage. Club players generally will be better sticking to a gpp program purely down the time they have to train. The pros have more time to train so can focus on assisted drills specific to what they do in a match. I favour kb's over barbells for a number of reasons (I'm a club cricketer not a power lifter), they are easier to learn and allow more movement in the wrists, a barbell remains set in one place. I'm not a trainer, just a club cricketer who has trained and read a lot over the years. However you train make sure you get the right technical advise and are adding to your conditioning, not taking away.
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Just had a biannual medical with BUPA paid for by my work and after dieting, walking a lot more and taking up kettle bells workouts the results are a big improvement over the last one. Since I started trying to be healthier about 11 months ago I've lost over two stone in weight, dropped my body fat from 23% to 14% and my waist has gone from 99cm to 83cm. Nets start tomorrow night so I'm really hoping to see an improvement in my bowling as I used to be a decent bowler when I was younger but have been rubbish since I started playing again a few years ago.
For anyone wanting to get fitter I'd definitely recommend kettle bells workouts, the one I have is kettlercise.
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Those are some very impressive figures. You've lost the weight healthily as well so I'm sure you'll keep it off. I hope you find an extra 5mph now!
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Sadly I reckon I could do with an extra 10 or 15 mph as I'm very much military medium.
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I've recently been able to use the Concept rower again after a very long lay off. It's amazing an all round work-out.
Also try the 'functionality' machine. All cables and handles. Amazing! You can mimic the movements you make when playing to strengthen everything. Also, because you are always under tension and not sitting, you constantly use your core to stabilize yourself.
Also, if your gym has a 'weight assisted' chin up and dips machine, get on it!
I've lost 28lbs in 12 weeks and am rediscovering muscles I forgot I had from when I was a soldier.
I've got serious back problems, and would wholeheartedly recommend these to anyone.
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Does anyone get the CricketStrength emails? The one today has 3 cricket workout myths.
Quote:
Time to banish a few BS theories that we see banded around the place
Here's a beauty- To strengthen your bowling muscles copy your action in the gym!
Hell no!! Stay away from your action. S&C sessions & technical session should in the main be separate, apart from a few occasions. Setting the cable machine up to mimic your action is a fast way to nowhere
Another oldie that fails to go- You must run long distances to get up the endurance to bowl.
Now this little beauty generally gets trotted out by coaches who used to play in the 70's & 80's who's whole training regime consisted of long slow running and bowling. Maybe some sit ups to! And when you challenge them on it they say it never hurt them. Then you look at their body and it tells a completely different story!
And one more- don't go the gym, you will get bulky and not be able to bowl!
If I had a pound for every coach that said this id be living next to KP now! This is just 100% utter rubbish. If you are training in the right way then it will only add to your game. We are all about improvement, and if things we put in programs didn't work they would not be in there. Of course the most important thing is to improve your game, we are not into making gym monkeys who can't bowl or think for themselves
So these are 3 things to avoid if you are looking to put on pace
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Most people over complicate training. Go in any gym and you'll see people doing a million and one different isolated exercises. If you are training to be the next body building champ or doing a particular isolated movement to recover from a specific injury that's fair enough. If you are a club cricketer you should be looking to strengthen you entire body to aid performance, reduce injury and also condition to enable you to continue to perform over the course of a match. This is a lot simpler than you think, cheque out Dan John or Pavel Tsatsouline for strength and conditioning, they are world renowned coaches and talk a lot off sense. Following their advice has changed my game over the last 5 years (I'm 38) in terms of being stronger, fitter and quicker. Before that I was hindering my performance with isolated training, crossfit, etc etc and 'insanity' don't do it , the clue us in the name!
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Should have checked my spelling, don't you hate auto correct! >:(
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Have a search for 'Tentigers Full Body Workout'. A great starting point, and great for beginners.
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The one that's worked me has to be Shaun T's Insanity. 1 hour of weekday workout has suited my style :)
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Tentigers looks to be a rehash of Mark Ripptoes Starting Strength. I strongly recommend you go with Starting Strength over Ten Tigers. You can pick it up on amazon. I'd personally replace the deadlifts with kb swings (at least for pre/in season training), due to their ballistic movement. Nothing against DLs as a strength exercise infact its the best exercise if you are just looking to get strong,or build strength out of season. But I'm assuming everyone on here is a cricketer looking to add strength and not a lifter who plays a bit of cricket.
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Anyone got some good exercises to strengthen the back muscles? Specially lower back/side muscles
I find these ache after netting and also feel it would improve my balance
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Turkish get up, it strengthens your entire body. Also do some ground work, 'original strength' has some really simple daily pre sets, which are great for your core cross section. I use both of these.
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Has anyone incorporated yoga or some similar form of flexibility increasing routine? If yes, does this help with your cricketing prowess?
I use a fair bit of pilates and find it's helped me actually play again. It's great, especially if, like me, you have train and play around a bad injury.
I'd recommend pitates without hesitation.
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For strengthening lower back - deadlifts.
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Anyone got some good exercises to strengthen the back muscles? Specially lower back/side muscles
I find these ache after netting and also feel it would improve my balance
Are you doing any other strength exercises?
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Are you doing any other strength exercises?
Haven't recently due to bad health.
Just about to start up again. Previously was working chest/triceps 1 night biceps/abs another and cardio the 3rd.
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Haven't recently due to bad health.
Just about to start up again. Previously was working chest/triceps 1 night biceps/abs another and cardio the 3rd.
This looks unbalanced, what's your goal?
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This looks unbalanced, what's your goal?
Nothing major, ideally want to trim down a touch and show a bit more definition.
Please feel free to suggest a better plan
Unfortunately I'm a bit restricted on how much physical exercise I can do due to a recently discovered and on going illness :(
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Nothing major, ideally want to trim down a touch and show a bit more definition.
Please feel free to suggest a better plan
Unfortunately I'm a bit restricted on how much physical exercise I can do due to a recently discovered and on going illness :(
If your gym has a 'functional training machine', or 'cable machine' (as I call it), you can use that to great effect.
I have to train around a serious injury and have found this amazing.
Start light and gentle to build confidence first.
I don't follow a specific routine, just do what I feel comfortable with.
Good luck.
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This looks unbalanced, what's your goal?
I think what Stuey was getting at is that there's no specific leg exercise, shoulder exercise or back exercise - you're basically only training the front of your upper body. That can create muscle imbalances which can lead to mobility and joint issues over a period of time.
One of the simplest, balanced routines is "Push, Pull, Legs". So (for example) Chest and shoulders on Push day, Back and arms on pull day, and er..legs on leg day. Abs once or twice a week.
You then break each day down into different exercises depending on what you want to do. So chest might be Flat bench and incline bench. Shoulders could be front and lateral raise and reverse flys etc...the list goes on.
In terms of the number of days...you could get away with 3 days if you're starting back again, with a rest day inbetween....
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Does anyone use suppliments?
I've been using these and have had fantastic results over the past 10 weeks.
Alpha Male Multi Vit; daily
ZMA (only on training days)
Glucosamine; daily
Krill Oil; daily
BCCA (only on training days)
Protien shake (straight after training)
I've lost 2 stone and am fast returning to my levels of tone from when I was a soldier.
Anyone else spending their hard-earned that way?
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Just the protein shake on training days mate. I've got one with BCAAs in so I guess I use those too!!
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This looks unbalanced, what's your goal?
I've stated before I'm not a qualified s&c coach, but I've trained and read a lot over the years. That's the caveat done :)
What I mean is you should look to include a pull, push,squat,hip hinge and carry. This will strengthen and tie you together nicely for the season. An example might be:
Push - chest or overhead press
Pull - pull up
Squat - goblet or front squat. Leave back squat they are more technical
Hip hinge - deadlift or Kettlebell swing.
Carry - walk around carrying plates, kb etc.
I personally use kettlebell swings and Turkish get ups which covers all the above. I'm currently using a 32kg for the tgu and 40kg for the swing. I've programmed this a few different ways over the years but currently follow S&S by Pavel Tsatsouline. I find kettlebells work great for cricket due to the ballistic movement of the swing and I work long hours and have a family so these 2 workouts give me the biggest bang for my buck. I'm cricketer not a powerlifter .
I would suggest you either use barbell, kb or a mix of both.
Coaches to follow Pavel, Dan John, mark Ripptoe (starting strength) .
Feel free to pm me if you want some direction.
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I've found Landmine 180's to be very effective in helping hip/abs