There are a lot of different ways to prepare your body for playing cricket and preventing injury. One of the best is your own bodyweight.

I must admit I'm a weight training kind of guy: It's the fastest and best way to improve your strength and with it your cricket performance. There are a number of reasons you might not be willing or able to head for the gym though. You might be under 18, feel a bit embarrassed about it or not have a lot of time to spare.

That's where a good bodyweight routine wins hands down.

Why bodyweight training for cricket?

• You can do it anywhere
• It's easy to get into a training habit with it
• It improves a number of fitness elements in a short amount of time
• It's great for any age, even under 18s
• It's quick to get through a workout
• There is a good transfer to the cricket pitch
• It allows you to burn excess fat but increases strength without getting too big

It's important to note that there is no one way of training that is best for cricket fitness. You should still be planning your training and progression some time in advance just as you would with any other type of workout. However, bodyweight is one of the easiest to start with and still produces great results.

If you just want to get started I would recommend the workouts in Turbulence Training (That's the sponsor with the picture of the guy with killer abs on the right too). It does cost money (about £19 at current conversion rates) but you get 26 weeks worth of workouts. Perfect if you are a beginner to cricket fitness.

A sample bodyweight workout

Here is a sample workout I have done for myself for in season, just to keep ticking over.

Warm up/dynamic stretching. Focus on a long warm up ensuring you have activated you nervous system fully through a range of dynamic movements.

Once your body is warm and muscles are activated, do the following circuit with 20-30 seconds work followed by 10 seconds rest before moving to the next exercise. If that's too easy increase the work time to 60 seconds with 20 seconds rest.

• Burpees
• Cook Hip Lift
• Abdominal Bridge
• Jump Squat
• Press Up
• Split Squat

If there is a something nearby that you can pull your self up onto (a chin up bar or tree branch) then try adding in chin ups after the split squat. These are hard to do though but persevere if you can. If you have access to any weights (a dumbbell for example) then add in some rows.

Not sure what those exercises are? Leave me a comment and I'll take some pictures.

It won't take long for you to feel fitter and stronger with this workout. But you will also adapt to it quickly and need to change it up.

That's why you should get Turbulence Training. It will keep giving your body new challenges and help improve your game. I don't reccomend many paid for workout plans as there are plenty of free ones you can get that work just as well. TT is one of the better ones though.

Once you have mastered the bodyweight workout you may be more ready to start some training with weights too. Until then you can still be fit and strong for cricket.