Functional strength vs. muscle mass: what’s more important for cricket?
When I first joined my local club, I started wondering about this a lot — is it better to focus on building big muscles or on functional strength? There’s a guy in our gym who looks like a bodybuilder, but he runs out of breath so fast on the field and can’t chase the ball properly. I’m not bulky at all, but I feel like I can keep up the pace much longer, especially when fielding. Maybe I’m missing out by not training for more size?
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I’ve seen the same thing in my college team. Some of the guys who focused only on heavy lifting looked impressive but struggled when the match got intense. Personally, I switched to explosive training and interval runs, and the difference was huge — my reactions got sharper, and I didn’t fade out as quickly. Big muscles are nice, but in cricket the way your body performs is way more important. The article at https://assamtribune.com/article/how-to-train-like-a-pro-cricketer-fitness-diet-and-drills-1587645 also points out how agility drills and nutrition often give players the real edge.