Mohammed emailed me recently with a question. 

"I'm fast bowler, however my stamina is very low. After 3 or 4 overs I get tired quickly. Can you please tell me the exercises and nutrition that I should take in order to improve my stamina and reduce my belly?"

This is a common question, especially with bowlers. Not having the capacity to bowl at your best must be frustrating. It certainly is for the rest of the team.

What is fast bowling stamina? '

Do you have any questions related to cricket fitness or nutrition? If so, drop me an email and I'll answer it on harrowdrive for you.

I'm lucky that I get contacted a lot with questions about tactics and technique (Especially from bowlers who want to bowl faster). I love getting those so please keep sending them, but I can't remember the last time I got a question about cricket fitness or nutrition.

Remember when 'The Atkins Diet' was all the rage with celebs, housewives and anyone else wanting to lose weight? It was the fad that sold in it's millions and was totally ignored by club cricket the world over.

It's time for a rethink though.

The good doctor may have had a point. Contrary to common belief, low carb eating can actually boost your cricket performance.

1. Playing to get fit not getting fit to play. If you want to get the best out of your cricket performance you need to play cricket. However, you also need to be ready to play cricket by being strong, fast, agile and have good movement skills. These are transferable fitness skills that provide you with a base to put your cricket skills on top. The best way to get there is via a functional sport training plan. This can be as simple as a couple of bodyweight training sessions a week or as complex full year plan.

As a follow up to yesterday's cricket nutrition podcast, the good Dr. Berardi wanted me to tell you about this competition on Precision Nutrition at the moment:

1. Free groceries and supplements for a year
2. Free meal delivery for 3 months
3. Free camera and Results Tracker

So what do you need to do? Just visit the PN Body Transformation Contest page here for full details.

If you have ever wanted to improve your diet for cricket reasons then this latest podcast is for you. I speak with sport nutrition expert Dr. John Berardi about a range of topics including:

• 5 ways to immediately improve your nutrition
• What to eat on matchday
• Tips on eating for health, appearance and performance
• The growing importance of fish oil

Useful links The links we discuss during our chat are:

This post is by by Dr John M Berardi, CSCS

Nowadays there are a lot of misconceptions with respect to protein intake. Should one take in 1 gram of protein per lb of body weight? Or is it 1 gram per kilogram? And, to the non-scientist, just how much is that?

Well, before discussing this issue, I think it's important to explore the difference between protein need and protein optimization. When someone asks the question – how much protein should I eat – they are usually trying to figure out how much protein they need to optimize body composition and performance. But the question, "How much protein does an athlete need?" is a very different one from "How much protein should an athlete consume to improve body composition and athletic performance?"

This is cricket nutrition tip of the week #5 by Dr. John Berardi.

If some people eat one food not on their plan, their failure to be perfect sets in motion a psychological chain of events that leads to frustration and the inability to get right back on the plan. The all-or-nothing mentality sets in and BAM, they're back to nothing. But it doesn't have to be this way. 100% nutritional discipline is never required for optimal progress. The difference, in results, between 90% adherence to your nutrition program and 100% adherence is negligible. So allow yourself the extra 10% wiggle room. This will allow you the freedom to eat a few extra things not on your menu without the guilt and subsequent crash.

This is cricket nutrition tip of the week #4 by Dr. John Berardi.

I recommend more calories than most do. That's because there's no such thing as a stagnant metabolic set-point. Instead, metabolism chases intake. So, if you want a bigger metabolism, you need a bigger food intake. And if you're worried about fat gain with this approach, just use outcome-based decision making and adjust energy (calorie) intake every two weeks based on your results. Not much 'damage' can take place in only two weeks. So if you end up boosting your metabolism, you'll be thanking me eternally. And if it turns out you're consuming too much, you can just adjust down.