miCoach | Cricket coaching, fitness and tips

How important is fitness & nutrition to club cricket?

"I think all sports evolve at some point where technique and skill level are almost equal and wins and losses are decided purely from a strength and conditioning angle."

That's the thoughts of sports conditioning expert Alwyn Cosgrove. Does this apply to club cricket in the same way?

What do cricket players eat and drink?

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Food and cricket performance goes hand in hand. That's a principle Mike Boyle pressed home to me in our recent discussion.

Studies have shown that eating and drinking right can make a significant difference to how well you train and how much endurance you have on the pitch.

What does 'eating right' look like?

Why practice matches are better than nets

Pakistan warmed up for the World Cup by having a practice match between themselves. It's quite a change from the normal nets, nets and more nets.

Why did they do this?

As David Gower says in his autobiography, there is a world of difference between having a net without any of the pressure of a game and actually being out in the middle.

What muscles are used in a cricket shot?

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What muscles do you need to train to be able to bat more powerfully and with better timing?

I always thought I knew the answer to that question and could reel off a list of muscle groups involved in every shot. But now I'm happy to admit that I was wrong.

Hitting a ball with a cricket bat is not about what muscles you use and the strength of each individual muscle. It's about generating power through correct coordination and timing.

The most important question a cricketer can ask

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As you can imagine, I get contacted a lot by cricketers asking all kinds of questions about their game.

I love it, so don't stop but it got me to wondering about some of the bigger questions we often forget to ask ourselves as players.

I think the number one question any player can ask is only 4 words but it can reveal so much:

9 Ways to improve your cricket fitness

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Recently I was lucky enough to speak to Michael Boyle, one of the foremost experts sport strength and conditioning in America.

Michael was kind enough to give me a series of tips for cricketers at any level who want to improve their game by being stronger, faster and more powerful.

  1. Train for speed and power. Cricket is a sport built on fast, powerful movements. Michael was quick to point out that this is what you need to train: "Long runs won't help with cricket. Neither will the light weights and lots of reps crap. Train like a speed and power athlete."

7 Deadly sins of cricket specific core training

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I'm increasingly becoming a fan of core training. Not as some odd gimmick for gyms to use their Swiss balls, but as a way of teaching yourself to generate more speed and power for cricket.

That means doing core (or trunk or pillar) training in the right way: A way that allows you to transfer power from the "toes to the fingertips".

It's a way that we as cricketers can learn from the world of baseball.

The golden rules of cricket fitness

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This is the final part the "Principles of Cricket Fitness" series. To go to Part 1 click here.

The world of fitness is ever changing as new research, techniques and fads come to light. Some ideas work brilliantly for cricket and some are a waste of time.

That's why it's important to focus on the constants that have been proven over the years with real cricketers.

Cricket fitness isn’t like riding a bike

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This is the 4th in the "Principles of Cricket Fitness" series. To go to Part 1 click here.

One of the most frustrating things about fitness training is as soon as you stop your improvements start to fade. Unlike getting back on a bike, your muscles and lungs do forget.

That's the third training principle: All fitness improvements reverse when training stops.