In the latest part of his series on how to get cricket fit, former England Lions wicketkeeper Ben Scott, now of Kinetic Cricket, discusses the importance of posture.
The importance of posture
It’s impossible to overstate the importance of posture, not just when you’re playing cricket, but afterwards, and in your everyday life.
We find in cricket that we end up in hunched positions a lot of the time. I was a wicketkeeper by trade, and I found myself crouched over, with my shoulders rounded inwards, every day for 15 years. The shape of batting – not that I spent that much time doing it – was similar as well. Think of a batsman’s stance and again, their shoulders are rounded and their lower back is rolled.
So we need to think about where we need to strengthen. Nowadays we go into the gym and everyone wants to press and squat, and all we’re working on the front part of our body. But what we really need to be thinking about is what’s happening through the back – our posterior chain.
So start thinking about releasing the muscles at the front, so it’s a case of stretching out our chest and stretching out our abs – which in turn strengthens our upper back, our glutes and our hamstrings. It sounds like a small change, but it will make a huge difference to your posture.
Read part one, part two and part three of this series.