Lift Less Weights As You Get Older
I began High Performance Cricket after my internship working with the Cricket Victoria Men’s Team back in 2021/22 season. I got to see how the best operated, Scott Boland’s pre season before his test debut, I was in the gym and doing fielding drills with Aaron Finch weeks before we captained the T20 World Cup Victory, I saw Will Sutherland run sub 6:20 2k TTs and bulgarian split squat 100kgs.
Playing premier cricket at the time I’d hear people complain how they weren’t getting opportunities like the pro’s and I understood why, these guys trained ridiculously hard, harder than any premier cricketer and also they trained smart. More is not always better. There is an intensity and volume trade off. Think of a 100m sprint vs 5km run, you can’t run at the same speed as you would for 100m for 5k, you have to slow down.
My biggest mentor Adrian Mott ( Cricket Victoria High Performance Manager ) always prioritised intensity in the gym, with his conditioning and speed work over volume.
However , this is for the pointy end, the experienced well trained athletes, not the juniors. Juniors need lower intensity and more volume to build a foundation of work capacity & technique before adding intensity. Whereas for experienced athletes we want to actually do the smallest amount of gym possible to get the best results on field. Because we are cricketers not power lifters.
I understand this nuance would be so so difficult to do figure where you sit yourself. You might even be confused on how much to do in the gym based on where your at.
The best thing to do if you’re unsure what the best plan is for you to actually improve your game and get closer to your goals and dreams in cricket. It is to find a coach who gives you the plan forward. You’ll never be more confident in your plans and processes of getting better.
Here is 2 example gym sessions. 1 for junior athlete, 1 for senior athlete
Junior
Box Jump 3 x 5
MB Slam 3 x 5
Goblet Squat 4 x 12
KB RDL 4 x 12
Incline Push Up 4 x 10
Inverted Row 4 x 10
Side Plank 3 x 30s
Senior
Hurdle Hops 3 x 3
Split Jerk 3 x 2
MB Scoop Toss 3 x 3
Front Squat to Box 3 x 3
Landmine Power Press 3 x 5
BB Hip Thrust 3 x 3
GHD Side Bends 3 x 8es
