Resistance Running with Chinmoy Roy during Lockdown

Cricket is a game where off the block speed is of paramount importance. When David Warner sets off in a flash to steal a single he saves a fraction of a second from getting run out.

And if you observe closely about 95% of the time a cricketer needs to sprint within a distance of 20-30 metres max, either for chasing a ball or taking a run,. Therefore, it is the short burst, off the block speed that a cricketer must focus more than the 50 or 100 metre sprint. I give you an example.

The great Jonty Rhodes says, “During training I would beat all my South African mates in the first 20 metres, including Harschell who was lightening quick. But after 20 metres most of mates would beat me.” Now this 20 metres matters most in cricket. Especially during batting you run between the wicket a distance of 17.66 meters. Inside the 30 meters circle you don’t run more than 10 metres.

This installment of my fitness video zeroes in on the drills and exercises that fires the fast twitch muscle fibres for that short burst of speed. As said in the video just think on what you intend to achieve out of an exercise and manipulate it accordingly. For the batsmen and outfielders their primary movement is to take the body horizontally forward. Then the sled run is the exercise to look for. While a James Anderson or Md. Shami would be better served by the vertical box jump. Remember, they have to jump six times each over to hurl the ball at 145 k clicks.

Key Technical point:

Drill-1

While running within a distance of 30 metres with the sled the body would be leaning forward throughout the run.
Choose the weight of the sled according to your body weight.
You can do the alternate leg bounds 3 left 3 right or 4/4 and then explode into the sled drag.
Sustaining the speed throughout the 30 metres distance remains the key. If you slow down then you do not have enough power endurance in the leg.

Drill-2

The height of the box should be between 1-2 feet.
Since you are holding a barbell which acts as an additional resistance, do not go for a higher step box.
The landing on the box should be soft. No thudding noise as your feet hits the box.
Maintaining right centre of gravity is extremely important. To ensure that the barbell must remain very close to the chest during the jump. Else you might fall over.