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Fitnees for bowling and injuries

jonathanfs

Cricket Spectator
Okay ive been having problems with injuries. This had a significant effect on my bowling in matches. I often bowled short spells or opted not to bowl towards the end of the season. I appear to have inflamed muscles in my legs which is frustrating or shin splints it is sometimes called i only bowl medium pace but noticed the problem occuring again at a net yesterday. It felt almost like my shin bone had shifted slightly but wasnt too bad. I turned to bowling leg spin after this though. I can't shorten my run up as thats where i get my rhythm from and most of my pace. I wondered if its because of the weight im carrying im about 90 kilos i think and 175 cm or 5ft 9. I swim for a club twice a week but feel i should go running as this is what bowling is or what i use my legs for when bowling obviously. However dont know for how long before the season how often or how far. I also dislike running and am asthmatic so yeah any ideas on how to get fit and drop a few pounds if this is the conrtibuting to my problems.
thank you
 

MrPrez

International Debutant
Well I can concur from experience that cardio fitness is needed in order to bowl to your potential. I'm dreadfully unfit and struggle through a two-over spell (we play T20s) and it correlates to my lack of cardio fitness that I feel in general physical activity.

Wrt your shin splints I have no idea but I'd imagine it's caused by a sports version of rsi.
 

ClubCricketer

Cricket Spectator
Just using Body Mass Index (BMI) as a guide (and that's all you should use it for) you are probably carrying a little extra weight. I have calculated yours at 29.4 and anything above 25 is considered overweight.

The extra weight will have an impact on your cardio fitness and means you'll have to work harder to carry it. It may be contributing to your injuries although there are likely to be other factors as well there (bowling action for example). Certainly the extra weight will be putting more strain on your body overall, and bowling long spells is a hard job even for very fit blokes.

I think if you shed a bit of weight you'll find that you build fitness quicker and can bowl longer spells.

As far as your injuries go, you should get a proper diagnosis so that you can manage the injury now and recover from it, and then work out a plan to prevent it recurring.

Hope you sort your injuries out. Good luck!
 

Neil Pickup

Cricket Web Moderator
Yeah, this. Even 25 makes you feel fat, take my word for that...

PS - Exeter? Wonder if I've met you in a past life...
 

ClubCricketer

Cricket Spectator
Yeah, this. Even 25 makes you feel fat, take my word for that...

PS - Exeter? Wonder if I've met you in a past life...
I only moved to Exeter from Sydney last year so probably not. I have taken up following the Grecians and the Chiefs though, so I'm slowly integrating!
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
While BMI isn't a great gauge it is is a useful rule of thumb. It depends on your build. My BMI is currently 29. At 26 I breakdown too easily and feel weak. It just depends.

Regarding running, it is a way to keep your weight down but sprints and jumps are what you need to do for bowling quick.

Just to put my Neanderthal fast bowler hat on for a second, fast bowling hurts. It hurts like a mother ****er. Be careful of injuries but use the pain as bowling quick requires sacrificing your body. If quicks bowled spin because they were in pain then there would be no fast bowlers.
 

jonathanfs

Cricket Spectator
so do you think i should be going running i find i dont have any stamina in terms of running or in the field so if i play 2 games the 2nd game i feel pretty tired when im im fielding bowling or batting. It's not to bad at the beggining of the season but by end of may im knackered from playing twice a weekend and training swimming is tiring but i dont ever get any injuries from swimming
 

reverse_swinger

Cricket Spectator
reply

Well , fitness is King for a bowler , Shoaib , everybody knows him , why he is out now ?? Simple he lost his fitness.

And yes injuries is also a main part of bowler's career, no bowler i think has get rid of injuries. So these are very natural things to have injuries specially for a bowler. :cool:
 

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