strenghtening the body with exercise

Doing Squats & Lunges will strengthen thighs...

put your back to the wall and sit down on an imaginary chair will strenghten your thighs.

Your back is antagonistic to your chest so you have to strengthen your back as well as your chest muscles. After I bowled 90 minutes in the nets in the preseason it felt like I'd been doing a lot of bent-over rowing. I work out with weights so I probably have a bit more muscle than might be desirable but I've got a heavy build anyway. Triceps and biceps in your bowling arm also take a pounding so you want to do EZbar curls and hammer curls and concentration curls for the biceps and skullcrushers/close grip bench press and single-arm tricep extensions for your triceps. Try doing clap pressups for your chest which will produce explosive power without putting too much muscle mass on you. Squats are a definite must for me because my legs and buttocks really take a pounding during an afternoon's cricket. Strong legs will help you bowl faster and help you to move to the side quickly when fielding. Sit ups (don't anchor your legs as that puts most of it on your hip flexors, just do crunches as far up as you can before your legs start to come up into the air) will tighten your guts and strengthen them, which is important for fast bowling and for posture, and will make you less tired standing around in the field all day long. Try holding a weight plate to your chest as you do it if it's too easy without weight. Aim for 40-45 minutes for a workout because for most people, any longer than that and your intensity drops off and you are really then wasting your time. If you keep your rest periods between sets short you burn off a lot of energy just like doing cardio.

You want to make sure you are training with someone who knows what they're doing though if you haven't trained with weights before because if you don't use proper form you can end up injuring yourself, even with relatively light weights.

Yeah, my shoulders are a weak point for me - it's my front delts that let down my bench press, not my chest. My right shoulder gets very sore. I might have to see the doctor and see if I have some instability in the joint if the pain persists. It hasn't been too bad lately. Bowling puts a lot of stress on it so you want to do some shoulder work, but you don't want to overdo it. I think I was doing too many shoulder excercises and overtraining it to compensate for a percieved weakness. When I stopped doing raises (front and lateral) and just did overhead presses and my usual chest routine (which works the front delts anyway); the pain has practically disappeared and my bench 3-rep max has increased (I never go for a 1-rep max to reduce chances of serious injury).

I was using (IIRC) 12kg dumbells when I stopped for the front raises, and about the same for the side raises. Occasionally I'd take off a little weight for the 3rd set if I was struggling to complete the reps I was looking for with the second set.

I just play for a small village team in the bottom division of the league. I'm only 5'10" and I'm not built like a bowler I weigh about 15stone. I lift weights mostly for bodybuilding rather than bowling, but during the cricket season I try to go for tone rather than mass-building like I do in the off-season. I'm not that big and I don't think putting a bit of muscle mass on has restricted my movement at all. I do know that when I put my back out then had a bout of flu and didn't lift for a month, the next session in the nets led to 3 days of agony for several muscle groups that had grown a bit soft through lack of use. I've definitely gained a yard of pace since last year and I put that down to several months of hard work in the gym (well, mostly at home and at work, I don't get to the gym much). My bowling speed is limited by my accuracy anyway as I tend to bowl short and wild when I bowl flat out.

The same principles apply, and the muscle groups I picked out I'd say were important - including the arms, which shouldn't be neglected. I'd just advise people wanting to be really quick bowlers to use lighter weights and do more reps - except for the stomach. Most people think that lots of crucnches are needed to tighten the stomach, but you should treat your abs like any other muscle group and try to do 3-4 sets at 15-20 reps or even less - hence using a weight plate to increase resistance.

I'd also point out that diet is extremely important and you need to get enough protein and try not to reduce your calorific intake too far, even when trying to tone up. If you are hungry, your body will be reducing it's metabolic rate and trying to store fat rather than using it and will burn muscle instead of putting it on. If you start feeling tired, run down or catching colds then you are overtraining and running your body down, and that is partly caused by not getting enough food while training. I know this from personal experience. I feel a lot healthier now I'm a few pounds heavier because I'm eating properly. I'm stronger, have more energy and I've stopped having a permanent 'cold'.

Thanks rambo, your points has surely helped me a lot. Now I know why I have a cold that hasn't gone away for a long time .

Also your body building points are very helpful for me. Thanks for them mate .

simce the start of the season ive been having problems with my calfs. at first it was just after playing allot of cricket but now its starting to hurt after most sporting activities no matter how little. its realy affecting my fielding. i dont think its an injury as ive given it time to heal, so the only other thing i can think of is taht it is a fitness problem. what particular excersises are good for your calfs and whats good for building stamina?

If you live in Australia may I recommend having at least 7 weet-bix before every match they really work. As a "pommie" I struggled keeping energy in the intense heat. Have that Weetbix really worked and I never run out of puff after that.

what muscels would i build up if im a leg spinner?

Make sure your wrist is strong and your shoulder to build up the power for your delivery.

im guessing that a good slow long run will help you out with that, as many times a week as you can!

Sounds like typical Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness to me. I feel like that after the first game of the season, or at least I did the last couple of years. Since I've been doing squats regularly I haven't had that problem, or at least, nowhere near as bad (ie, practically unable to walk/stand up/sit down without wincing in agony for 24-48 hours). It's worked for me. You don't need to use a ridiculous amount of weight, either, and only once a week - but give yourself at least 3 days to recover before your next game (at least until you get used to how quickly your muscles recover, and how hard you can work them). Everyone is different. You're legs will hurt like hell the day after the first time you squat (like the day after a game) but by the second and third times you'll hardly feel it.

If you already squat, maybe you're squatting too much weight or not allowing enough recovery time between workouts, or between your workout and the game.

It worked for me, anyway, so I hope it works for you.

Thanks for the advise Rambo.  Could you elaborate on the sqauting exercise a bit so I can get it right.

As for being unfit....I'm fit as a fiddle, I go to the gym and workout 3 or 4 times a week - it's just my legs and hamstrings that are the problem.

Oh, yes, well pointed out. Post excercise stretching and warming down is just as important as warm-up stretching before hand. Although you probably want to sit in a huff or kick the hell out of your kitbag/mate who ran you out when you get out, and get to the pub as quickly as possible after coming off the field, warming down is essential to reducing muscle soreness the next day.