Strength & Conditioning for Fast Bowling
The Basics
Athletic development is a critical element of a fast bowlers training regime. Fast bowlers need to withstand high impact forces, twist and bend their body to generate high speeds and maximise their bowling technique. If they expect to bowl with pace, control and accuracy for extended periods, fitness training is a must.
Good bowling technique and good athleticism are a critical interaction for fast bowlers to reach their potential. To be a high performance fast bowler you need both, one won't cut it. The science supports this and an examination of modern elite fast bowlers demonstrates it.
The mid-teenage years are the right time for fast bowlers to start working on their fitness. Its surprising how many don't, or don't know how to go about it. At the age of 15 - 18 years is where there is a high occurence of lower back injuries for these fast bowlers, with the main casues being poor fitness, poor workload management or a risky bowling technique. In many cases it's likely to be a combination of these things.
Here are the fitness basics for young fast bowlers. Consider these the minimum fitness standards and basic components of your fitness training if you want to take your talent to the next level.
Aerobic Fitness
Aerobic fitness is a basic underlying physical capacity for a fast bowler. It helps sustain effort over time, helps with concentration and the ability to recover between deliveries, overs and spells. It is the body's ability to burn energy in the muscles using oxygen, and requires good heart, lung and muscle function. For fast bowlers the best way to train this capacity is running. Fast bowlers need to run to the wicket over and over again, so having "miles" in the legs will be an advantage. Running sessions can be done on grass to minimise impact and other aerobic fitness activities will also be beneficial, such as cycling and aerobic exercise machines in gyms. Being able to perform 2 - 4 aerobic sessions per week for 30 minutes at 70-80% of maximum heart rate is a good baseline fitness routine to aspire to.
For a young teenage fast bowler here are some standards to assess where your aerobic fitness levels are at (senior fast bowlers should be more developed):
Teenage Males (15 yrs+):
2km time trial: < 10 minutes
Beep test: Level 10+
Teenage Females (15 yrs+):
2km time trial: < 12 minutes
Beep test: Level 8+
Core and Gluteal Strength
This is a critical area for fast bowlers as the pelvis and lumbar spine are subject to large repetitive torques, shears and stresses when bowling fast. Couple this with teenage growth spurts, relatively lower bone mineral density and lower general strength levels it is unsurprising we see so many lower back injuries in adolescent fast bowlers. Exercises that maintain muscle balance, strength and range through all the muscles, tendons and ligaments supporting the pelvis and lumbar spine are a fundamental training regime for any fast bowler wanting to sustain their performances, and minimise their risks of injury. The video below shows a routine of these exercises, being demonstrated by former Australian team S&C coach Stuart Karppinen. This core routine should be performed 3 times in a session, 4 times per week.
General Body Strength
Ultimately fast bowlers want and need to bowl fast, which requires them to generate forces by achieving speed throughout their body and limbs. Strength is a fundamental part of speed, for example 100m sprinters are strong athletes. Fast bowlers don't need to be as strong as sprinters but they need to develop good levels of strength through their lower body, core and upper body so they can bowl faster for longer. For a teenage fast bowler hitting 15 or 16 years of age strength training becomes an important part of their development. This is where basic strength training should be introduced and feature body weight exercises such as push ups, squats, lunges and pull-ups, and then start progressing to weighted squats, some olympic style lifts and weighted pull-ups. These exercises lay the foundation for more specific and individualised fitness programs as the fast bowling athlete develops and matures.
Here are some basic indicators of appropriate strength levels at this foundation phase. If you can't achieve these standards treat the exercises themselves as your strength training program, with the addition of 15 body weight squats and/or lunges, 2 - 3 times per week (2 - 3 sets per session), until you can reach these levels:
Teenage Males (15 yrs+):
25 - 50 push ups in one set
6 - 15 pull ups in one set
50cm + in the counter-movement vertical jump test
Teenage Females (15 yrs+):
15 - 30 push ups in one set
4 - 10 pull ups in one set
30cm + in the counter-movement vertical jump test
Speed
Speed, and speed endurance, are important for fast bowlers as well. Bowlers run to the wicket repeatedly and the speed generated in the run-up helps create momentum in the delivery stride, which in turn produces ball speed after the crescendo of the delivery stride. Research has shown that elite fast bowlers hit peak running speeds of around 5-6 metres per second in the final strides before their jump into the delivery stride. Thats about 18-20 km per hour, not 100m sprinter speeds, but a decent pace. If a young fast bowler bowls 10 overs in a day thats 60 sprint repititions, illustrating the repeat sprint ability required for optimum fast bowling performance. Good basic repeat sprint training is to run sets of 6 x 30m sprints (about the length of a wicket square) at about 60-80% of maximum sprint pace. Try and hold good technique, stable head, good knee lift and strong arm action. At the end of each sprint, turn around and walk back to the start position and go again, similar to bowling an over. After the sixth repetition, rest for 3 minutes (i.e. about the time of an over) and then start another set. Try and do 2 sessions per week and slowly build up your sets over a 2 month period from 2 sets in week 1, to 6 sets in week 8.