Quicks must build stamina and durability, not muscles, says Steyn

[Chandan]

Quicks must build stamina and durability, not muscles, says Steyn Jesse Hogan February 16, 2011 Speed machine ... Dale Steyn's advice for young pacemen is simple - "Your gym work has got to be worthy. You don't need to look like Tarzan if you bowl like Jane." BANGALORE: The world's premier bowler, Dale Steyn, says budding pacemen must train their bodies for endurance, not bursts of power, to avoid becoming plagued by injuries. Four Australian representative pacemen from the past year, Ryan Harris, Clint McKay, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, are now sidelined with long-term injuries. All but Starc are confirmed to miss the rest of the Australian season. South African Steyn's status as the world's No.1 Test bowler comes despite a lithe frame that does not look obviously suited to express-pace bowling. The 27-year-old mocked his lack of upper-body muscle - ''look at me, I don't have big muscles … I'm terrible'' - but then insisted that was secondary to having a body equipped to the rigours of sustained bowling spells, especially in Tests. ''When I was in high school I just ran in and bowled,'' he said after winning two Test bowling gongs at the ESPNcricinfo's annual awards ceremony in Bangalore this week. ''I never had coaching and the great facilities. My childhood and then school-age days was probably not the perfect way of going about things but once I got pulled under the wing of certain guys that's when things got better.'' Steyn said it was futile - and also implied it was counterproductive - for fast-bowlers to spend much of their training time striving to achieve an overtly muscled upper body. ''Your gym work has got to be worthy. You don't need to look like Tarzan if you bowl like Jane. What bowlers should be doing is making sure they can train their muscles for taking part in battle for a long period. You want your quick bowlers bowling at 140km/h at the start of the day and just as quick in the late afternoon.'' While Australian captain Ricky Ponting said last week injuries to fast bowlers were an inevitable part of having such a packed cricket calendar, Steyn believed teams' medical and fitness personnel should be shielding pacemen from injury. ''There's good enough coaches and medicines out there … they should be able to look after guys.'' Steyn achieved a formidable feat at this week's ESPNcricinfo awards by winning both Test bowling awards for 2010: the statistics-based award for best Test bowler and the expert-voted award for the best Test bowling performance for the year, for his seven-wicket innings haul on a drab pitch in Nagpur. In the statistics-based categories, Steyn's South African teammate AB de Villiers won overall batsman of the year - he was also the premier ODI batsman - and England's Graeme Swann the overall bowler of the year. Injured Australian seamer Ryan Harris was named best ODI bowler for his 38 wickets at an average of 14.92. Australia's only other winner was in the judge-voted awards. Mike Hussey won Twenty20 International batting performance of the year for his stirring 60 not out from 24 deliveries that dragged Australia to an incredible semi-final victory over Pakistan in the Twenty20 World Cup. For all the centuries and double centuries scored last year - and also Chris Gayle's 333 against Sri Lanka - the award for the premier Test batting performance for the year was awarded to Indian V.V.S. Laxman for his 96 in the second innings of a Test against South Africa in Durban, primarily because conditions were so difficult that no other batsman in the match scored above 39. It complemented Laxman's receiving the statistically-based award for most consistent Test batsman, for reaching 50 in half of his 18 innings and only four times falling for a single-figure score. ------------------------------------------------------------- I've posted this article for many pace obsessed ICFers who think that well built body will give you pace and often complain about the lean body many seamers in India saying that it was the frail body that was not letting them gain pace and they should be spending time in gym putting on muscled etc. Now what do you have to say here?

[zaheer]

Quote of the Day

"You don't need to look like Tarzan if you bowl like Jane."

[Sir_Afridi]

Akhtar says hi to Steyn.

[Roshanrocks]

"Your gym work has got to be worthy. You don't need to look like Tarzan if you bowl like Jane."

:cantstop:

[pensionplan]

I've posted this article for many pace obsessed ICFers who think that well built body will give you pace and often complain about the lean body many seamers in India saying that it was the frail body that was not letting them gain pace and they should be spending time in gym putting on muscled etc. Now what do you have to say here?

Look no further than Hadlee and his wily frame. Fast bowling partly is about heart and the will to succeed at all costs. Getting back to Steyn the man gets it. He has it in him to being considered the best 2-3 pacers of all time should he continue in this vein for the next 5-6 years. Given his age, action and regimen I will be hugely surprised if he falls apart.

[Serani]

His body isnt suited to express pace.....well he isnt an express pacer anyway so it doesnt matter For pure pace muscle is very important but lets be honest pace is not everything for a fast bowler

[f.b.m]

Yeh, he's just the number one fast bowler in the world so why take him seriously?

[Sir_Afridi]

Without pace even guys like Steyn struggle on dead pitches as Pakistan proved in UAE series where he averages 40+.

[Sachinism]

Wasn't that what Ponting said about Tait He's built like Tarzan, but bowls like Jane

[Serani]

Yeh' date=' he's just the number one fast bowler in the world so why take him seriously?[/quote'] Well personally I think quicks should build stamina and durability as well as muscles. Cant be too much to ask for professional athletes. Although clearly Shoaib has struggled on the old stamina bit.

[kabira]

Exactly, thats what Kapil has been saying. Build your Legs, as your entire body weight will be on them. His advice was to run, run and run

[pensionplan]

Exactly' date=' thats what Kapil has been saying. Build your Legs, as your entire body weight will be on them. His advice was to run, run and run[/quote']Then you will like this. An interesting snippet about Marshall in Michael Holding's autobiography, 'No Holding Back'. -- "We were sitting down playing cards and his long pants had ridden up to his calves and I spotted he had weights strapped to his ankle. 'What are they for?' I asked him. He told me he wore them ll the time when he wasn't playing, to build up the muscles in his legs. It didn't matter whether he was relaxing in the hotel or shopping, Maco would have those weights strapped to his legs. 'When you take them off for a match, Mikey,' he said, 'You feel like you can run all day.' I was astonished, but here was a young man thinking and doing that little bit extra that would enhance his career. If you watched Maco bowl, he would sprint to the crease, really pound in so his legs would get through a lot of work. But he had put in the work, his legs were so strong."

[vvvslaxman]

Well personally I think quicks should build stamina and durability as well as muscles. Cant be too much to ask for professional athletes. Although clearly Shoaib has struggled on the old stamina bit.

He is probably the only active sportsman that i know of have had liposuction :cantstop:

[Late Cut]

Can't recall any great fast bowlers who were overly muscled..lilllee, Marshall, Holding, Akram. Garner etc. all have normal frames; stamina and lower body strength seems key...thinking of it, a massive upper body probably adds a lot of strain on your legs and back when bowling.

[vaibhav_delhi]

His body isnt suited to express pace.....well he isnt an express pacer anyway so it doesnt matter For pure pace muscle is very important but lets be honest pace is not everything for a fast bowler

For pace, evrything is needed in a right mix: muscle, explosiveness, ability to run fast, stamina. Steyn IS an express fast bowler. Try to copy everything tht steyn does, you will be a very good fast bowler. The Run up, the delivery stride n jump, closeness to the umpire, wrist work, position of non-bowling arm, follow through, attitude(aggression), thinking a batsman out, everything. He is like a perfect coaching manual. I personally try to think of his bowling when I am bowling.

[Sir_Afridi]

For pace, evrything is needed in a right mix: muscle, explosiveness, ability to run fast, stamina. Steyn IS an express fast bowler. Try to copy everything tht steyn does, you will be a very good fast bowler. The Run up, the delivery stride n jump, closeness to the umpire, wrist work, position of non-bowling arm, follow through, attitude(aggression), thinking a batsman out, everything. He is like a perfect coaching manual. I personally try to think of his bowling when I am bowling.

Steyn, express fast bowler :haha:... Express fast bowlers are only Lee & Akhtar. Steyn doesnt even bowl consistently 90mph. He usually bowls in high 80s mph. Steyn lack of speed is the reason he doesnt bowl reverse swing and hence struggles on dead tracks. Steyn averages 36 in SL and 33 against Pakistan outside SA .

[vaibhav_delhi]

Steyn, express fast bowler :haha:... Express fast bowlers are only Lee & Akhtar. Steyn doesnt even bowl consistently 90mph. He usually bowls in high 80s mph. Steyn lack of speed is the reason he doesnt bowl reverse swing and hence struggles on dead tracks. Steyn averages 36 in SL and 33 against Pakistan outside SA .

c r a p post, if steyn focuses only on pace, he can touch 90mph every ball. His aim is to be THE MOST SUCCESSFUL fast bowler that he possibly can, not to be the fastest bowler that he can. And Steyn IS an express fast bowler. His avg speed is arnd 140kph.

[yoda]

For pace, evrything is needed in a right mix: muscle, explosiveness, ability to run fast, stamina. Steyn IS an express fast bowler. Try to copy everything tht steyn does, you will be a very good fast bowler. The Run up, the delivery stride n jump, closeness to the umpire, wrist work, position of non-bowling arm, follow through, attitude(aggression), thinking a batsman out, everything. He is like a perfect coaching manual.

+++

[achilles]

While Steyn seems to have sacrificed a bit of his speed, Lee and Akhtar are bowling 90mph quite regularly. Since he's not been injured as much as Lee, Akhtar and maybe Tait, I think he's the wisest of the lot.

[ravishingravi]

It is not unusual. Lillee also talked about excessive focus on working out. If I am not mistaken Trueman used to ball close to 800 overs in county season. And he never was injured the way modern fast bowlers are.