How Can Gym Work Help You Succeed with a Cricket Bat?

With the cricket season starting next month, male and female players alike will be getting ready for the new season. But is your preparation likely to help you score more runs this year than last?

You might think that the way to answer that question in the affirmative is all about practising things like your technique, with your grip, backlift, balance and weight transfer all important, as might adding new strokes to your repertoire.

However, while developing such skills is very important, you should not overlook how beneficial it can be to use home gym equipment to get yourself fitter and stronger. This can also help you improve your performance.

That may be something that club players overlook. There will usually be a few players around the dressing room who look like they have never been in a gym in their life, who might rely on raw power when batting and be a liability when fielding.

Such players can even be seen on occasion at international level, but that doesn’t mean you should be one of them. Anyone who plays while unfit will be limiting themselves and will be at greater risk of injury.

What Are The Key Benefits To Batters Of Being Fit?

There are several ways in which better strength and fitness can help you when batting:

•  Greater strength enables you to hit the ball harder
•  Core strength will give you the flexibility to play certain shots with more comfort
• More flexibility will help you play shorts that require more balance and agility, like the sweep
• Being lighter and faster on your feet can improve your footwork, as well as your running between the wickets
• Better endurance will stop you from getting too tired when you have been in a long time, helping you turn good starts into big scores
• These benefits can be particularly useful as you get older and your natural fitness and speed are not what they once were
• All this may help you improve, from hitting more boundaries to being able to scamper quick singles.

How Can Dumbbells Help You Train For Cricket?

Although dumbbell sets may not be quite as important as the bat in your hand, these are among the items that can help you build up for the new season.

Among the exercises you can do with dumbbells is the single-arm dumbbell bench press. This will be invaluable for the shoulder and core muscles. It is a variation of the dumbbell bench press, which can be very useful for increasing arm strength for bowling and throwing.

Another use of dumbbells is for single-leg straight-leg deadlifts, where the dumbbell is held in the opposite hand to the side where the knee is bent. Often known as a ‘golfer’s lift’, this is good for functional balance, something that matters enormously when batting.

Another leg exercise is the Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat, where dumbbells are used to increase resistance as you progress through more strenuous versions of the exercise. The result is increased leg strength.

What Other Equipment Is Good For Cricket Fitness Training?

Dumbbells are just one of the many pieces of home gym equipment that can prove very useful in helping you do exercises that can make you fitter for cricket:

• Kettlebells can be great for power swings to increase strength and explosive power
• Barbells can be used for the single-arm landmine press, which boosts arm strength
• A training mat can be used for push-ups
• Medicine balls can be used for side throws, building up hip and core power, as well as side twist throws, kneeling chest throws, standing chest throws and stepping chest throws

Such training should start long before the season, so if you are just starting to set up a home gym now, you will only get some limited benefits from it at first, although the benefits should start to be felt by the time you get into mid-season.

It is very easy to be complacent if your role in the team isn’t that of the fast bowler who has to race in and hurl the ball down, the wicketkeeper who has to dive around behind the stumps, or the all-rounder who has to do a bit of everything. 

Nonetheless, by improving your strength and fitness, you will be able to contribute so much more yourself. You can improve with the bat and also contribute so much more in the field, although, of course, you need to practise your catching as well as chasing after the ball.

Cricket may be a sport that can be played by those who are far from supremely fit, but by enhancing your strength and fitness, you could end up easily outscoring your plodding team-mates, as well as the opposition.