Supplements for cricket | Cricket coaching, fitness and tips

Supplements for cricket

Filed in:

supplements.jpg

image credit: Cronfeld

A friend who I had not seen for a while was staying with me for a few days. He was shocked when he saw what I ate.

"Are you trying to bulk up?" he asked.

I'm not sure what prompted the comment. I was eating a salmon fillet with spinach at the time. Perhaps he had seen in my supplement cupboard. A place that I admit appears to be bulging with all kinds of powders and pills.

He was simply applying common knowledge. Bodybuilders take supplements therefore David is bodybuilding.

The thing is: Common knowledge isn't always right.

I'm no bodybuilder (I'm 5ft 11" and 13 stone so I'm never going to be Arnie even if I wanted to be). Any supplements I take have to meet two very strict requirements:

  1. Is it a supplement, not a replacement?
  2. Will it have a positive effect on my cricket performance?

Before you buy any supplements you can ask yourself the same questions.

The first is easy: If you are eating well 90% of the time and training right you can consider supplements to help out in certain areas. If you trying to use supplements to replace a deficiency in your training or eating you will never get the results you want.

The second question is more difficult, I'll attempt to answer it for you here by telling you what supplements I use and recommend for others. As always I'm interested in what you use to improve your game too.

What supplements are best for cricket?

Fish oil. Hands down, fish oil rocks for everyone. Omega 3 has been in the news recently from its ability to improve concentration. It also helps reduce inflammation so is great if you are coming back from injury. Finally it helps you keep muscle and lose fat if you need to. The easiest way to get your dose is to take capsules like these. You can also get fish oil from fresh oily fish in your diet like salmon.

Workout Drink. The right drink taken during your workouts, practices and play can make a difference to reactions, sprint speed and accuracy. It's hard to eat during play or training so a workout drink is a great supplement that meets my rules. I use the customiser here to get a balance of fast acting proteins and carbs. Here is the formula I use (based on Biotest Surge):

  • 32% MyPro Hydrolysed Whey (a fast acting protein)
  • 31% Dextrose (a fast acting sugar)
  • 31% Maltodextrin (another sugar)
  • 6% BCAA
  • Vanilla flavour (chocolate tastes terrible)
  • Sweetner

That means in a 50g serving with water I get 15g of protein, 3g of BCCA and 31g of carbs which is about an hour of intense exercise covered. If you are not a nutrition nut don't worry too much about the details, just make sure you are getting protein and carbs with your training drink.

Creatine. Creatine is one of the most well research supplements ever. It boosts your ATP-CP system which as you know is perfect for cricket. It's safe, cheap and can be used every day. While not essential, the potential boost to your training and playing when combined with a proper exercise plan is hard to ignore. Read more here and pick some up here.

Protein. Protein powder has a bad reputation for being for bodybuilders not cricketers. Protein from any source is good in my book though. While it is a matter of debate how much to eat, it's safe to say most of use could eat more and get a lot of benefits. Also, flavoured protein tastes darn good in supershakes and healthy bars to satisfy my sweet tooth. I use this stuff but there is plenty of other choice.

What are your experiences with supplements? Do you feel they are surplus to a cricketers requirements or do you feel lost without your pills and potions? Leave a comment and let me know.

© Copyright miSport Holdings Ltd 2008

Broadcast Your Cricket Matches!

Ever wanted your skills to be shown to the world? PV/MATCH is the revolutionary product for cricket clubs and schools to stream matches, upload HD highlights instantly to Twitter and Facebook and make you a hero!

PV/MATCH let's you score the game, record video of each ball, share it and use the outcomes to take to training and improve you further.

Click here for details.

Comments

ill criticize what you said for starters, then offer better alternatives. 'Fish oil. Hands down, fish oil rocks for everyone. Omega 3 has been in the news recently from its ability to improve concentration. It also helps reduce inflammation so is great if you are coming back from injury. Finally it helps you keep muscle and lose fat if you need to. The easiest way to get your dose is to take capsules like these. You can also get fish oil from fresh oily fish in your diet like salmon'it has been in the news, but it does not neccesarily maintain concentration, and even so, it aids it a degree where 0.000001g extra in your food would provide0 .000001g extra of carbs, there is a massive range of things you do to increase concentration, this is just one of them. this comes from macronutrients called EFA's, which can easily be picked up elsewhere, heck, a teaspoon of virgin or olive oil will benefit you practically the same. 'Workout Drink. The right drink taken during your workouts, practices and play can make a difference to reactions, sprint speed and accuracy. It�s hard to eat during play or training so a workout drink is a great supplement that meets my rules. I use the customiser here to get a balance of fast acting proteins and carbs. Here is the formula I use (based on Biotest Surge):'the right drink can make a difference, correct. however, i am a customer of myprotein, and PULSE will do a great job to stimulate and provide focus, you should check that out. fast acting sugars will keep you on a high for 30 minutes and then 'deflate' you, whilst paltinose in pulse keeps you going for at least 3 hours.'Creatine. Creatine is one of the most well research supplements ever. It boosts your ATP-CP system which as you know is perfect for cricket. It�s safe, cheap and can be used every day. While not essential, the potential boost to your training and playing when combined with a proper exercise plan is hard to ignore. Read more here and pick some up here.'creatine is very good, however for cricketers i suggest CEE from myprotein, it does not bloat you and you need it in small amounts to work. trust me on this.protein, especially whey has no bad reputation, it has the highest biological values ever at 140+, and you should buy some isolate and casein to use for differet parts of the day.

Great feeedback fs quayum.

Fish oil is amazing for so many reasons I don't want to get bogged down in detail. Everyone should be getting some. Suffice to say there is research into fish oil and concentration levels in both adults and children with positive results. Fish is brain food, I'm sure you agree.

PUMP seems to be a stimulant and contains AAKG where the jury is out on it's effectiveness in a sport performance environment. PUMP contains no complete protein and not enough fast acting sugar which is what you body needs after a hard workout to restore glycogen levels. Hydrolysed whey is the fastest acting which is why I recommend it (and more importantly John Berardi) but any liquid complete protein will do to be honest.

I have also never heard of Palitnose so would not recommend PULSE overall. I would be happy to stand corrected if someone can point me to relevant studies.

Other than that I don't mind what creatine or protein a cricketer chooses. I'm sorry to say most cricketers think protein is for bodybuilders and will make them too bulky to play. I wish I could wipe that misconception from people's minds.

Great feeedback fs quayum."Fish oil is amazing for so many reasons I don�t want to get bogged down in detail. Everyone should be getting some. Suffice to say there is research into fish oil and concentration levels in both adults and children with positive results. Fish is brain food, I�m sure you agree."You are correct, fish is brain food, but just standard EFA's, if your diet plan is already geared towards giving youenough EFA's, fish oil is not really neccesarily. However, if you have problems, virgin/olive oil is perfect and cheap.You seem to put a lot of emphasis on fish oils, if you do your research, fish oil contains EFA's which are linoleic and lilelic acids(spelling is wrong) and these are neurotransmitters, so by increasing the amount of these neurotransmitters in the body,you can inevitably increase your concentration, but not to that of a great standard unless your diet is very poor. For cricketers,I would recommend a nutrition plan, so fish oil is not really needed but to give that extra BOOST, instead of trying to meet your RNI for the day."PUMP seems to be a stimulant and contains AAKG where the jury is out on it�s effectiveness in a sport performance environment. PUMP contains no complete protein and not enough fast acting sugar which is what you body needs after a hard workout to restore glycogen levels. Hydrolysed whey is the fastest acting which is why I recommend it (and more importantly John Berardi) but any liquid complete protein will do to be honest."Pulse is a pre-workout drink, it blasts you for 3 hours, this is PERFECT for cricketers, regardless of whether it gives youa pump or not, this is not the aim. The aim of this product is to keep your focused and on the ball throughout the game, thishas before severely improved my game and my training. AAKG is the pump ingredient which is irrelevant right now. As I've said, this is pre-game or pre-workout, and the post-game/workout nutrition will aim to replace glycogen, althoughI wouldn't recommend dextrose but WMS, beacuse after 3 hours(20/20 games) you need a very quick acting one. In terms of keepingyour body anabolic throughout the match, I would recommend Casein, it will provide a slow steady drip throughout the game andis what I take before I go to sleep. After the match, the type of whey does not really matter unless you really want to beconsistent and aim for a 5-minute digestion, instead of a 10-minute digestion, cricketers are not bodybuilders, therefore WPC80should suffice IN WATER. WATER, why? because in water it provides the greatest absorption as compared to milk. John Beradi, I havemy own opinions about him but he seems to be all over the bloody place, I suggest you speak and look for James Collier. "I have also never heard of Palitnose so would not recommend PULSE overall. I would be happy to stand corrected if someone can point me to relevant studies."Whether you've heard of Paltinose does not matter, however, I can only give it my own personal badge of recommendation forcricket games and weight-training. I suggest you ask MP for a sample and try it, first at 10g, 15g then 20g to measure its effectiveness. I assure you, it has kept my focus, endurance, and increased my power. You've forgot to mention it contains CEEand CEE is by far the most effective creatine ever for a cricketer. "Other than that I don�t mind what creatine or protein a cricketer chooses. I�m sorry to say most cricketers think protein is for bodybuilders and will make them too bulky to play. I wish I could wipe that misconception from people�s minds."For cricketers the best creatine is CEE, beacuse it does not cell volumise, and protein? Well any protein is fine, all ofthe ones at MP stock good ones depending on your taste and with a correct nutrition plan, it will not make your bulky. Its not for just bodybuilders, its for everyone whether its a ballerina or the elderly.Furthermore, nutrition is very important and can make the difference in your game, many cricketers do not really value this.Please keep posting, I think this is getting somewhere, and I have 100% faith in everything I'm writing, its just for you to try it.

fs quayum,

I agree with the principles behind your comments. Diet is critical to performance and supplements are just one piece in the jigsaw.

I only recommend a couple of supplements that are backed by hard science. If you have had good experience with PULSE then I'm sure it is excellent but I would never recommend a product like that because I have not seen enough research into it and never seen it 'in the field'.

Please tell me more though. What is it about Pump that improves your focus? Is diet not as effective?

What are your issues with Dr Berardi?

Oh yes, and it's pretty tough to get enough EPA/DHA from any other source than fish, especially when you consider how imbalanced most diets are to getting Omega 6 fats. Reference from here: http://www.precisionnutrition.com/members/showthread.php?t=10479

Basically what I am saying is this: fish oil is good!

fs quayum,

"I agree with the principles behind your comments. Diet is critical to performance and supplements
are just one piece in the jigsaw."

supplements are no more than 5%, and are only their to assist and cover the holes - so to speak. i.e after a workout
you require a quick intake of fast acting sugar, what is better than WMS? You cannot get that from a 'whole' food
and this is where supplements 'cover the holes'.

"I only recommend a couple of supplements that are backed by hard science. If you have had good
experience with PULSE then I’m sure it is excellent but I would never recommend a product like
that because I have not seen enough research into it and never seen it ‘in the field’."

Same with me, I'd only recommend a couple of supplements, hard science has already proved PULSE, if you look for
analysis of each of the ingredients, then ask a biochemist/pharmacist then you analyse the sort of effect they
have together, you would have the 'hard science'. I doubt their are researchers out there right now checking the
specific effect of PULSE out, so right now we poor cricketers are the scientists, and I've researched and it is effective.
I can only suggest you try it, MP sell them as a sample pack of 100g/150g I think? Try it and see how you feel, of course
try to keep an open mind. You can only really test this out in a quantitive manner, such as weight-training, because
cricket is a qualititive game and PULSE will not make your technique better. This is a supplement so will cover the holes,
so if your technique is spot on, this will take care of focus and energy and thats your best preformance.

"Please tell me more though. What is it about Pump that improves your focus? Is diet not as effective?"

Please refer to it as PULSE, its not just built for a pump, but pump whilst working out is effective, however, you wont
get a pump whilst strenght-training nor will you get a pump playing cricket - so that is irrelevant. It has many ingredients
that improve your focus, of which one of them being CEE. That is creatine, and as you should know will improve your neurological
function more than fish oils ever will. A planned diet will be effective, but when do you need more focus? Whilst training
or whilst playing cricket, so therefore PULSE enables that boost.

"What are your issues with Dr Berardi?"

Just some issues of which I do not trust him for specific reasons I wont go into. Having said that, he is not the 'be all,
and end all' of nutrition. Furthermore, I would recommend James Collier of Healthy Action, and suggest you get in touch
with him, he is neither the be all and end all either.

Having said all of this, I am not a representative of MyProtein, James Collier or anything which I've recommended, I just
by pure coincidence use MyProtein and recommend them and I've talked with James Collier and John Beradi, and recommend
James Collier instead. James Collier is from the Uk, and so naturally would know and have a lot more experience that
John Beradi who is based in the US and may use theory instead of prelimnarys and 'hard scientifical experiment' to deduce
what is best for you as a cricketer.

"Oh yes, and it’s pretty tough to get enough EPA/DHA from any other source than fish, especially
when you consider how imbalanced most diets are to getting Omega 6 fats. Reference from here:
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/members/showthread.php?t=10479

Basically what I am saying is this: fish oil is good!"

Correct, it is difficult, hence supplements were produced. Of course fish oils are good, your just putting far too
much emphasis on them for improving your concentration, they are just one small piece, for example 0.5% of the total picture.
This is the only cricketing help website on the internet, so when you base your opinions or 'facts' on any of that when
it comes to nutrition, I hope your using a far wider audience other than John Beradi, to produce better nutrition JUST
for the cricketer.

fs quayum, I do agree and your information has been most helpful to me, I hope others find it so.

We are all trying to learn and to get the best from our game, I hope this one small site can help people acheive that. I hope you agree.

Noone has all the answers. Not you or I, not Dr Berardi or James Collier. Together we can make a big difference and whether we agree on the dose of fish oil or not one thing I would love is to find some consensus between us. Here are the things we agree on, correct me if I'm wrong:

1. We need a certain amount of omega 3 in our diet for various reasons. My view is Omega 3 and Omega 6 should be balanced.
2. Creatine is a good supplement for cricket. You reccommend CEE as the best form.
3. Protein is important and can be got from whole food and also supplemented with powder in water in the workout/playing/training window.

Do you agree? Is there anything I have put in error or missed that we agree on?

I just thought of another:

4. Diet and exercise are far more important than any supplement.

"fs quayum, I do agree and your information has been most helpful to me, I hope others find it so.

We are all trying to learn and to get the best from our game, I hope this one small site can help people acheive that.
I hope you agree."

Thank you for appreciating my answers, took a while to put them into a decent order instead of an incoherent ramble. Absolutely
true, this is a site people can learn from, and get the best from our game, It's certainly helped me in the past.

"Noone has all the answers. Not you or I, not Dr Berardi or James Collier. Together we can make a big difference and
whether we agree on the dose of fish oil or not one thing I would love is to find some consensus between us.
Here are the things we agree on, correct me if I’m wrong:

True, no-one has all the answers, far beyond it. We just know about our own 'fields', and my particular fields are powelifting
and nutrition.

1. We need a certain amount of omega 3 in our diet for various reasons. My view is Omega 3 and Omega 6 should be balanced.
2. Creatine is a good supplement for cricket. You recommend CEE as the best form.
3. Protein is important and can be got from whole food and also supplements with powder in water/milk in the
workout/playing/training/general diet window.
4. Diet and exercise are far more important than any supplement."

1. Agreed.
2. Agreed.
3. Agreed.
4. Correct, I class execise - cricket/strenght-conditioning as 50%, and nutrition at 50% of which 5% is supplement

"Do you agree? Is there anything I have put in error or missed that we agree on?"

I agree.

When taking sources of omega 3, they should be in a 1:1 ratio with Omega 6 .. and you should also make sure you eat fruit and/or veggies and grains with it.. a good source of anti-oxidants (A,C and E) Omegas can convert to free radicals if your not getting enough A,C and E

Great point Rob. I would add there is no need to supplement with Omega 6 most people with an 'average' diet have a ratio of more like 50:1 Omega 6 to Omega 3!

1:1 is pretty hard to get unless you supplement with Omega 3.

I read your post with interest - I play table tennis and have recently started supplementing my diet with creatine and nitric oxide.

I have noticed awesome improvements in performance shortly after.

One thing that I wanted to add - it's a common misconception that creatine needs to be loaded at roughly 15g per day for a week, and then cut down to 5g per day. My doctor who also coaches me, has advised that cycling is unnecessary and is basically a waste of money.

Keep the great info coming!

i want to know about the best supplement drink ! as i am a cricket player and going to gym too.. !!