Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

[FBI]

Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

Thought this could be useful to some bowlers...

Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee - Cricket - Fox Sports

"Because he's been a bit underdone he's been bowling a bit at half- and three-quarter pace at training, concentrating on his technique trying to do everything right," Ponting said.

"But by doing that he's probably taught himself to bowl slow. For the next week he'll be doing that dynamic stuff.

"When he bowls at training he'll be bowling off his long run to train that back into his body again."

The team's fitness adviser Stuart Karppinen, a former Western Australia fast bowler, has devised a program that will see Lee do 11 varied sessions in the week leading up to the third Test, which begins hin Delhi on Wednesday.

The first was a weights session as soon as the team arrived at its New Delhi hotel two days ago.

"We want to mimic the movements that happen when he bowls," Karppinen said.

"We're trying to promote speed."

That includes quick, light upper-body weights and heavier lower-body weights. During special bowling sessions there will be extended recovery between balls so Lee can focus on fast, high-quality deliveries.

 

[mas cambios]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

Makes sense, I think most of us now realise that training should mimic what you would do in a match as much as possible.

 

[FBI]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

On a related note, an article has been written on cricinfo about Watson shunning the gym and alcohol in favour of a different regime.

Cricinfo - Watson health kick works wonders

 

[edladd]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

Who else had this thought when they saw the title of the post:

"Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. Brett Lee will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster."

Although it makes sense that you should try to replicate game situations in training as much as possible, what role does other forms of training play? Ian Pont says in his book that if you are changing your action, you should walk through it in stages until you understand it and then build up the pace. Peter Philpott advocates bowling over shorter distances initially and building up. Does this mean that Lee's approach was right (bowling slower to re-work action) - but the timing was flawed in that he wasn't back to match readiness in time. Surely if this was the case they would have known before the games and he shouldn't really have been playing!

Then again, you'd need one hell of an excuse to leave out Brett Lee, even at less than full capacity.
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[mas cambios]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

Ed - think of it as a progression. You start off doing something in the 'correct' way but at half pace or 2/3rds distance and then once you have it, crank up the pace, increase the distance. Continue doing this until you are doing what you would in a match.

Lee is an elite athlete so you could argue that he doesn't need to go back to basics but should just be doing what he needs to in match.

 

[FBI]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

Also, Lee has close enough the perfect bowling action.

 

[MV!]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

Does this mean that Lee's approach was right (bowling slower to re-work action) - but the timing was flawed in that he wasn't back to match readiness in time.
[/LEFT]

In a nutshell: Yes, pretty much.

One of the major drawbacks of international cricket is that there is no real recognised lay-off and pre-season times. A rugby, or AFL player will finish their season and in some cases, especially for those around the 30 year old mark, have up to 2 or 3 months off. Then they undertake pretty gruelling pre-seaons to meet certain strength and conditioning standards, as well as honing and developing skills. This is generally another three to six month period (depending on when seasons finish, etc).

For an international cricketer, they may only have three real months off from cricket in an 18 month period. And even then, it may only really add up to about two weeks, to a month of cricket completely. Then they're required to get themselves back and match fit in an exceptionally short, and almost super condensed pre season period. This timing has to be pretty spot on: It's half the reason why so many players hit their straps half way through a long test series instead of firing right from the start. Oh, and with Brett Lee's off field problems that occurred during this time, I can't believe anyone is particularly surprised that he's not been operating at his best. Not even the most professional approach to training can make up for stunted or preparation.

This is one of the reasons why I think strength and conditioning for cricketers is so far behind almost every other major sport in the world. Maybe Liz, who has worked with some much higher level crickets that me can contradict me (and I really hope she does, it would be refreshing), but I just don't think that our players at the highest level have the time to devote to proper strength and conditioning. Maybe strength maintance, but not much more. Hell, half the coaches I talk to are still convinced that weight lifting makes you slow! Even sports that are incredibly similar in the way that players are required to think, move and perform skills (such as baseball), stopped believing that 50 years ago.

Ps: And I REFUSE to believe that Shane Watson's injuries problems can be put down to lifting weights. More like poor programming.

 

[big blue]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

Ps: And I REFUSE to believe that Shane Watson's injuries problems can be put down to lifting weights. More like poor programming.

I would point out that anyone who reaches a decent level of strength in the gym (amount of weight lifted) will most likely eventually get injured and have injuries. Mayb this happened to watson ? mayb not. Most strong people(trained) will be walking around with some type of niggle- its just an occupational hazard.

 

[micoach]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

I would point out that anyone who reaches a decent level of strength in the gym (amount of weight lifted) will most likely eventually get injured and have injuries. Mayb this happened to watson ? mayb not. Most strong people(trained) will be walking around with some type of niggle- its just an occupational hazard.

Strength training should never give you more niggles. It's there to prevent them.

If the right exercises are done with good form there is no risk and statistically speaking weight training is one of the safer physical activities.

 

[big blue]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

Strength training should never give you more niggles. It's there to prevent them.

If the right exercises are done with good form there is no risk and statistically speaking weight training is one of the safer physical activities.

If you lift a decent amount of weight you will get niggles.

 

[Liz Ward]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

Not if it is done correctly. Niggles appear as a result of technical malfunction or overuse.

I am no longer amazed at the number of guys who have total muscle imbalance; guys who overwork an agonist whilst totally neglecting the antagonist. As you can imagine, this leads to no end of injury.

I have known guys who have undergone shoulder reconstruction because they neglected their rotator cuff endurance, concentrating on the big weights.

I watch guys during sport or on the beach and can see instantly which exercises they are not doing correctly back in the gym and it can be a slight alignment or posture issue. For instance, the number of guys I see who leg press with incorrect technique is shameful; hypertrophy in the wrong muscle.

It is painful to see guys who have spent a lot of time on their quads but have neglected to stretch or work their hams. Guys who bench press until their pecs are really rocking but their lats and traps is loose.

This is what causes niggles

 

[breeno]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

Thats why you train your whole body, largest muscle to smallest (Not all in one workout of course), as to get in proportion yes?

 

[Liz Ward]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

Yes and compound movements. Too many sportspeople train their muscles in isolation e.g. bicep curl, which [apart from not being at all functional in mainstream sport] causes a lot of problems unless you really know what you are doing. I will only prescribe isolated muscle exercises in rehabilitation, and then under supervision.

Good technique is vital though. Take the leg press, the muscle imbalance comes from incorrect positioning of the feet. A small discrepancy at the distal end causes huge problems at the proximal end and the bigger the weight pumped, the bigger the problem. So much so that I can often see it walking towards me at 50 paces.

It takes me so much longer to correct a bad technique than to teach a good one to a novice so I would always advise a series of sessions with a certified personal trainer to get you off on the right foot. Don't copy your friends and don't fall for the guy who has been using the gym for years, it does not, necessarily, mean he knows what he is doing. Most of these people do not even know what the muscles are, let alone what they do or how they are used generally, let alone in your sport. It's a bit like learning to drive a car from a 14 year old joy rider.

It is a sad fact that I get more clients as a sports therapist than a personal trainer. If they had come to see me to start with, I could have saved them a lot of pain, loss of sport and more importantly, money.

 

[breeno]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

Haha very true.

 

[micoach]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

If you lift a decent amount of weight you will get niggles.

Not on my or Liz's watch soldier

Seriously though, I have seen pain free guys deadlifting over 200kg and squatting over 120kg. That might not be world record standard but it's strong and without niggle.

 

[MV!]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

If you lift a decent amount of weight you will get niggles.

if by decent weight, you mean, a decent weight by competitive lifting/ nearing your genetic potential standard - i.e. powerlifters, strongmen, olympic lifters - then yes, lifting a decent weight will result in niggles. actually... forget niggles, you'll tear muscles clean off, have all sorts of hip and shoulder impingements and struggle to get moving for the first half of every day... but generally elite international cricketers don't have side careers in powerlifting (though graeme smith, matty hayden and andrew symonds should look into it.)

but falling back onto the shane watson example - if he was lifting with a properly designed program and using good form (esp. while deadlifting and squatting), then he shouldn't have had hamstrings and a lower back that would strain or tear at the drop of a coin. it's funny, since he has layed off of weights he's been fine - so the mainstream assumption is automatically that the issue was with strength training instead of how that training was conducted.

and the biggest issue i've seen with peoples leg press form is that they're leg pressing in the first place! squat, lunge, step up, box jump! anything but leg pressing!

ps: and i can count on one hand the number of personal trainers that i've met that know how to deadlift. it's far too easy to become an accredited trainer in Australia.

 

[Liz Ward]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

ps: and i can count on one hand the number of personal trainers that i've met that know how to deadlift. it's far too easy to become an accredited trainer in Australia.

Very sad but too true Actually, anybody can call themselves a 'personal trainer' and quite a few of the guys in gyms over here are L2 gym instructors. However, to certify as a personal trainer over here, you must be an advanced gym instructor and would have had to demonstrate the correct technique for all the exercises, machines as well as free weights. More importantly, you need to have advanced knowledge of anatomy and physiology. If anybody is in doubt, no certified personal trainer will be insulted if you ask to see their qualifications; they would be only too pleased to show you.

 

[big blue]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

yeah i take your points im probably coming from more of a lifters perspective (i have niggles).

I find the strength training of athletes quite interesting especially regarding striking that balance of how strong that athlete has to be, after all your not gonna be a world class powerlifter and a world class cricketer - one will suffer because of the other.

With regards to personal trainers - iv always thought (apart from the obvious qualifications) that the most important thing is the guy/gal is a damn good athlete too- so if i was going to someone for strength they would be bloody strong.

 

[Liz Ward]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

I find the strength training of athletes quite interesting especially regarding striking that balance of how strong that athlete has to be, after all your not gonna be a world class powerlifter and a world class cricketer - one will suffer because of the other.

To maximise their potential, all athletes must be as strong as they can be; mentally, tactically and technically as well as physically. This is totally different to, and should not be confused with, bulk.

With regards to personal trainers - iv always thought (apart from the obvious qualifications) that the most important thing is the guy/gal is a damn good athlete too- so if i was going to someone for strength they would be bloody strong.

All personal trainers are strong but if you are talking about superficial aesthetics [without getting too metaphysical] this is a sad, outdated view... however, I am not too worried about this; after all, it provides my bread and butter .

Weight lifters/body builders know how to lift weight and build body. It is unlikely that you will find one who is also a cricket coach so will have no idea about how to train functionally. As I say, as long as guys continue to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut, my business flourishes.

 

[micoach]

Re: Blueprint to rebuild Brett Lee

and the biggest issue i've seen with peoples leg press form is that they're leg pressing in the first place! squat, lunge, step up, box jump! anything but leg pressing!

Wise words, machines are the DEVIL. Leg press, leg extension and leg curl are not only useless but they may contribute to niggles.

Go free weights with good form or go home.

Am I right? High five? Don't leave me hanging...