(PEP) Training for Cricket

GCSE Physical Education (Sport & Coaching)

Abdullah Javad 11W George Mitchell School

(Personal Exercise Program)

Training for Cricket

Circuit training is a method of training. A circuit usually has 8 to 15 stations, where at each station a different exercise is carried out for a certain amount of time. Circuit training can improve muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, aerobic fitness, muscular strength, speed and agility.

A circuit-training program may also be designed for a certain sport. Circuits for this purpose will include exercises to improve all the muscles and skills associated with the sport. Example: A circuit-training program for football should include skills

Like Dribbling, Shooting or Tackling.

Specificity

My circuit-training program is for Cricket and it is based over a six-week period. The 10 stations are specifically suited to what is needed to play Cricket. The Circuit is specified for a Bowler, as there are no Batting skills involved in this circuit.

My circuit is aimed to improve the following over a six-week period: muscular endurance, muscular strength, speed, agility, and cardiovascular endurance and Ball movement skills. These are all needed for a fast bowler.

Muscular Endurance - To keep the muscles contracting for the full length of the match without them becoming tired or weak.
Muscular Strength - the force your muscles exert when they contract. This is an important part of Bowling as it is a contact sport and it is also very physical, players need to be able to bowl the ball with a great speed. Also muscular strength is useful when taking throwing the ball because if you have to throw the ball from the boundary line, it should get to the wicket keeper or to the bowler at the other end.
Speed - the ability to perform a movement in a short period of time. This is essential for a bowler, for example to be able to sprint for a run-up and bowl as fast as possible.
Agility - the ability to change direction quickly and control movements of the whole body. This is needed for a fast bowler because sometimes if the batsman hits the ball straight down the wicket then he should be able to dive and stop or catch the ball.
Cardiovascular Endurance - the ability of the heart, lungs and circulation to deliver oxygen and remove waste during exercise. This is essential for the bowler to keep a constant pace all the way through the match. This is hard to perform in a circuit, so it would be better to improve this by running long distances or cycling.
Bowling Skills - A bowler can improve his skills by balling different type of deliveries during a bowling spell. He can work on it by going into the nets and ball short balls, bouncer, in swingers, out swingers, slow deliveries or Yorkers.

Overload

To improve the fitness of a part of the body, you need to overload it. That means you need to make it work harder than usual. Over time, it adapts to meet the increased demand by getting fitter

You can overload your body in three ways:

By increasing the Frequency of exercise- how often you do it. For example start by exercising twice a week, then move up to three or four times a week.
By increasing the Intensity of the exercise- how hard you work. For example run faster or lift heavier weights.
By increasing the Time ...

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Overload

To improve the fitness of a part of the body, you need to overload it. That means you need to make it work harder than usual. Over time, it adapts to meet the increased demand by getting fitter

You can overload your body in three ways:

By increasing the Frequency of exercise- how often you do it. For example start by exercising twice a week, then move up to three or four times a week.
By increasing the Intensity of the exercise- how hard you work. For example run faster or lift heavier weights.
By increasing the Time you spend on the exercise. If you are very unfit you might start off jogging just for 5 minutes a session, and work your way up week by week to 30 minutes a session.

Progression

Your body takes time to adapt to the increased demands on it. So you should build up your exercise level gradually. But once it reaches a certain level when it can comfortably deal with the level of exercise, it will not improve anymore. This is called plateauing. To prevent this from happening, the exercises must be made progressively harder to ensure that the body continues to improve.

I will be using two different types of trainings mentioned in my Introduction, which as follows:

The Circuit
Weight Training

Equipment

· Cricket nets

· 10cricket balls

· Stumps

· 20 cones

The Circuit

The orders in which the exercises are to be done are:

Warm up >> Stretches >> The Circuit >> Warm Down

Warm up & Stretching

The warm up is very important, as the exercises a bowler will be doing are very demanding. The warm up will increase the blood flow and heart rate, warm up the muscles, warms and loosens joints. This will prevent any injuries to the muscles or joints.

Start by lightly jogging for approximately 10mins. DO NOT SPRINT! Then move on to some dynamic stretching. For example: rotating hips and arms. Then stretch all the major muscles used for fast bowling, each stretch should be held for a period of 8 - 10 seconds.

The muscles that need to be stretched are:

Biceps
Triceps
Gastronomies
Deltoids
Trapezium
Hamstrings
Quadriceps

Station One

On this station you have to start at the line, sprint to the first cone then sprint back to the line then sprint to the second cone, then sprint back to the line then sprint to the third cone, then back to the line. Then sprint to the second cone and back then to the first cone and back to complete the exercise. This will improve your speed, agility and muscular endurance of the quadriceps and hamstrings.

Station Two

This station is a sit up exercise. Perform as many as you can in one minute. These will improve muscular endurance in the abdominal muscles; this comes in handy when a bowler is on the field and has to throw the ball to the keeper with lots of power. This is explosive strength because it is done in one explosive movement.

Station Three

The bowler can sprint from a distance of 10m to the Ceres line and jump pretending he is going to ball and then start jogging after the jump for 2-3 meters, he should repeat this at least 5 times. This will help him not to bowl any no balls. This will help the bowler to generate speed in his run up and will also help him in getting a steady follow through.

Station Four

This time the bowler will have to aim at the three stumps and he will have to pitch the ball at one spot and he doesn’t have to concentrate at any speed or movement but he will have to concentrate at the spot where the ball will land. This will help the bowler to get his line and length right.

Station Five

Use this time (1 minute) to rest and relax. Some light stretching can be done to remove the lactic acid that has built up in your muscles during the first four exercises.

Station Six

The exercise on this station are burpees, burpees are squat thrusts and star jumps mixed together. Do squat thrusts then stand up and do a star jump and then another squat thrust then stand up and do another star jump. This will improve your agility, cardiovascular endurance and muscular endurance and strength of the quadriceps and hamstrings.

Station Seven

The bowler will now have to bowl at only 1 stump in the nets, this time he is going to run towards the crees and bowl with extreme pace at 1 stump for 10 times and will have to right down how many times he hits the stump. This station can be repeated as many times as possible. This is a skill practice and also helps the bowler with his accuracy of bowling.

Station Eight

At this station the bowler will hold the ball with a different technique e.g. upright seems position. He will then try to ball at a certain spot and try to swing the ball. The bowler will have to practice six different types of movements on the ball and will have to see which ones work.

Station Nine

Bowler will now try something different than his bowling ability. Throwing- bowler will through the ball at the stumps from a 50m distance and will try to get the throw inside the 10m perimeter around the stumps. This is a strength and muscular endurance exercise.

Once the circuit is finished it can be repeated or a warm down will take place, the warm down will consist of gentle jogging and stretching to remove the lactic acid that builds up in muscles while they are being worked. The warm down should help you perform better next time you exercise.

The muscles that were stretched in the warm up should also be stretched in the warm down. The stretches should be held longer then they were in the warm up to prevent stiffness and soreness.

The table below displays results for one week of this circuit.

In six weeks time these results should improve, below is a results table set over six weeks.

Analysis

I have taken the above results over the six weeks Exercise program. These results show that I achieved a lot of skills with great strength by working to my maximum best. For example if we look at the stations 4 above from the result table it will clearly show you how I improved my line and length during this six weeks exercise program. I started off with bowling 4 out of 10 deliveries at the spot but slowly I improved that result to 10 out of 10, which is absolutely perfect without a shadow of a doubt. These results are the average results of the exercise I performed 3 times a week.

The weight training was also part of my PEP so I also performed the weight training once a week.

Weight Training For Cricket

Weight training is also a method of training. But in this particular training I am going to do certain amount of weight lifting, which will help me, build up my muscular strength, Stamina and power that is very useful and necessary for fast bowling. In this weight lifting I am going to do Bench Press, Squat, Leg press, shoulder press, dumbbells and butterfly. I am going to train only once a week because I believe that every time I will train it will take at least 3 days for the muscles to come back to their normal position after stretching during the training session. After each exercise I am going to write down how many Reps and How many Sets I have done. This will help me to keep my record and to check if I have improved over the six-week period.

Equipment

Bench
Bar
Dumbbells
Weights
Squat Exercise station
Pen and a notebook

Bench Press

First of all I am going to adjust a certain amount of weight on a Bar and then I will Lift it and put it on the bench. I will then lie down on the bench and start pressing. I will do a certain amount of reps, then get up and repeat it again for certain amount of sets. I will write down the amount of weight, reps and sets I will lift. This exercise is going to work out on my Pectorals (chest muscles), which are one of the main muscles used by the fast bowler when bowling.

Squat

Again I am going to adjust the weights on the squat exercise station, and get my shoulders underneath the two bars and start exercising. In this exercise I will lift the weights with the power exerted by my leg muscles. This exercise will work out Hamstrings and quadriceps; again these muscles are used in a fast bowler’s run-up.

Leg Press

After adjusting the weights, I am going to sit on this work out station and push the weights with my legs; this will also work out my leg muscles such as Hamstrings, quadriceps Gastronomies.

Shoulder Press

In this exercise I am going to sit on the bench with my back against the side of the bench. I will adjust the weights and will lift the bar, which is leveled with my shoulders. This exercise will work out my back muscles along with Triceps. These muscles are also one of the most important in bowling.

Dumbbells

I am going to put some weights on the dumbbells and sit on the bench while holding the dumbbells in my both hands then I will put my elbows on my thighs and bend my arm towards my body the away from it. This exercise will help me build up my biceps, which are the most important muscles in a bowler’s body.

Butterfly

I am going to lie down on the bench same position as in the Bench press but this time I m going to lift the weight with my arms from my shoulders level. I am going to bring the butterflies up to my chest and then back. This exercise will also work out my chest muscles with the abdominals.

Jus like any other training I am going to stretch out all the muscles and for cool down I will cycle for 5 min at a very little speed. In all the above exercises I am going to use heavy weights because they will help me get bulk muscles by improving my Muscular Strength, power and Stamina.

This table shows how I completed my first weight training.

Evaluation

First of all I would like to say that I have enjoyed every moment of my PEP, which has finally come up an end. After these six weeks of hard work.