During a break in the filming of Kevin Pietersen’s coaching course, KP and I got to chatting about fitness training.

He said he spent a lot of his gym time working on his core. It wasn’t just so he could look good on the beach between Tests. He knows instinctively that the core is crucial to batting power.

That’s because timing and power with the bat are all based on the ability to transfer your weight from the ground, through your body and into the ball.

When you bake a cake you don’t wait until it’s in the oven before making it taste good. A good cake is all in the preparation.

Cricket is just the same. When you put in the work mixing the right ingredients, you know you will be proud of the results.

So, if the weeks before the season starts is the prep time of cricket, what are the ingredients?

No one wants to be a fat cricketer or coach.

Sure, you point to the tubby players at the top level and try to fool yourself that it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t work because deep down you know that being overweight just isn’t fun, especially if you want to do well on the pitch.

Losing weight and dieting and hitting the gym are even less fun than being fat.

Running on a treadmill isn’t anywhere near as exciting as scoring a hundred. Eating a cake at tea is plainly better than a protein shake and an apple.

Cricket is a simple game, but getting good during preseason gets complex when you look at the hundreds of different methods espoused by coaches and fitness gurus.

These are the things I have tried and tested over a 20 year period as both a cricket coach and fitness trainer.

Controversial? Only if you don’t follow the evidence.

I stand by every one (and have made them all at one point or another).

If you could boil preseason training down to its most basic and important elements what would you be left with?

The answer is the following 4 ingredients that anyone can mix together to improve their game in the shortest possible time. Think of it as your cheat sheet for what to work on in preseason.

That’s something which is especially important for those of us with limited time to train.

How strong should you be? Well, that's relative, but here are some general benchmarks.

When the season is over and the sun has disappeared from the sky the temptation is to hibernate until indoor nets start again.

But a recent trip to a physio for a sports massage changed my mind about winter training.

I had noticed over the last couple of years that my back began to feel tighter and tighter and now was the time to do something about it.

My logic was to give my back a service to allow it to feel loose for a few months before the strain started again.

If you want someone who has experienced everything in the world of coaching then you need to look no further than Mark Garaway.

Mark joins the show as our latest – and Burners aside, greatest – contributor. He brings a wealth of experience from coaching county cricket, being England analyst, directing performance for Ireland and coaching in the IPL.

And from now on Garas will be answering your questions and discussing coaching news as part of the team.

It’s controversy all round in the show as David and The Boss take a look at pink balls and floodlit first-class cricket, bad pitches and the fitness – or otherwise – of India’s cricketers.

We also answer questions on fitness and have an interview with Joe Shillaker of SM1 Coaching all about how cricket is an important factor in the wider development of youngsters in society.

It’s an unmissable start to your weekend, or your money back. 

Burners and David swap cricket injury stories and we want to hear yours too. So drop us a line with your most gruesome injuries, just please don’t show us your scars – that’s gross.

The show also features part 3 of the spin bowling tips interview with South African coach Menno Gazendam.

Plus we answer your questions on cricket careers and how to be loose like Joel Garner recommends. 

It’s the modern dilemma of the good coach: how much can you do with your players to get them fit?

It doesn’t help that opinions vary greatly as to the answer.

The purist says that there is no need to do anything at all. Simply playing the sport is plenty fitness training enough.

The progressive on the other hand is doing all kinds of crazy drills to work on speed, agility and conditioning.