When I started this site in 2006 I thought the words 'cricket fitness' meant roughly the same thing to everyone. How wrong I was.

Some people think it means bodybuilding and becoming bulky. Others are convinced it's all about long slow running to build up endurance. Power lifters, Olympic lifters, Crossfit enthusiasts and gymnasts all have their views too. Many pick and choose the most convenient method available to them.

Each argument has its case and its evidence to back it up. What it really all boils down to is this question:

Does the training you are doing transfer into better cricket?

It would be a pointless waste of time to do a training plan for no reason. If your goal is mainly to improve your cricket performance (and get healthier and better looking along the way) then why would you ask anything else?

The trouble is: how do you measure the transfer effect?

How do you know what is transferring and what is not?

For the average club cricketer without access to proper testing this can be hard, but not impossible. You just need to learn to read the signs.

There are several shortcuts to knowing whether your training is crossing over to cricket performance. The most obvious of these is your runs and wickets tally. Of course, those figures have a number of other factors that can influence them: mental toughness or technical improvements for example.

You can laser in more precisely on the effect of fitness work with some simple tests.

• Body fat levels. Fat is dead weight. The less of it you have the better chance you have of being faster with more endurance. You can buy body fat testing scales or get the instructor at the gym to do a calliper test (it's painless).
• Time to run a three. Get your coach or training buddy to time you while you run three runs with a bat but no other equipment. This will show you how your cricket specific speed is improving.
• Wall jump. To paraphrase Ian Pont, the hips are the powerhouse of the body, especially for fast bowlers. You can test you hip power by holding a bit of chalk or marker near a wall, jumping up and leaving a mark as high as possible. The higher the mark the better your hip power.
• Injuries. Keep track of the number of preventable niggles and injuries you get. If the number reduces your training is doing the right thing.

It's also worth keeping training and playing log. You can keep it private in a notebook or keep yourself accountable in the miCricketCoach Training Logs section.

You can record how you feel after each game or training session. As you get fitter you should notice the same work getting easier. This is often a slow process so recording it helps you remember how you felt weeks and months previously when you may have forgotten.

However you test it, transfer is the key to good training. Keep in mind whether your fitness work is applicable to your performance on the pitch or you may end up wasting your time, or worse, getting injured.

Image credit: chris_jd