This is an old article I wrote for another website that is now no longer online. The points are still valid so I have added some youtube video's to help with the exercises and reposted it here for your reading pleasure. Please feel free to leave feedback on this workout in the comments section.

I'm often asked what is the single best piece of equipment a cricketer can buy to increase fitness. The simple answer is you don't need to buy anything!

Your body is an incredibly powerful tool to make you a fitter and stronger player and is available to you for free all the time. In one workout 2-3 times a week you can build strength, endurance and mobility.

You can also customise your workout to fit in with any room or equipment you do have. Your body beats any space age gym running machine hands down.

And don't underestimate how good a workout you can get either. If you think it's easy you haven't tried it! In fact, Sport conditioning Guru Michael Boyle recommends 2-3 bodyweight workouts a week for recreational cricketers with little time to spare.

There is no need to get complex either. Focus on the basics of compound exercises with good form. Compound exercises work more than one joint at a time giving you more bang for your buck. Take a balanced approach of trying to exercise each muscle group every workout and you can be done in less than 30 minutes.

The payoff on the pitch is better performance. Less injuries, more power, better coordination and enough endurance to hitting the winning runs of the last ball.

The workout is split into warm up, circuit and cool down. Each aspect has an important role to play so don't skip it. Unless you are dawdling you can get it all done in half an hour.

Begin slowly and build up the pace of this section as you feel yourself getting warm. This part is about preparing your body for the full workout as well as training important but often ignored balance skills and  joint range of motion.

By the end you should be warm and slightly out of breath but not gasping for air. If you have the space you can finish the warm up by marking out 10 yards and doing 5 sprints in a row with a walk back to recover.

Do each of these exercises in a circuit style. That means doing the exercise, resting for 30 seconds then moving onto the next one. Do the entire circuit twice with a 2 minute rest between circuits. The tempo is as fast as you can do it without losing technique as is the number of reps per exercise.

1. Cook Hip Lift

Lie face up with your legs bent. Place one foot flat on the floor and draw the other leg up against your torso, holding it in place with pressure from your hands. It helps you to focus if you put a cricket ball at the base of your ribs which you must hole in place with your thigh. Push down with your grounded leg to lift your bum off the floor (it will only move 2-3 inches). Hold this position for five seconds and relax.

2. Oblique Bridge

Lie on your side with your ankles together and your torso propped up by your elbow. Lift your hips up until your body forms a diagonal plank from ankles to neck. Hold this position for as long as possible.

3. Squat Jump

Stand with your feet slightly more than shoulder-width apart.. Bend at the knees to lower yourself then jump up as high as you can and land as softly as you can. You can progress this by not pausing between jumps.

4. Press Up

Place your hands underneath your shoulders with your arms extended and your fingers facing forward. Bend your arms at your elbows, lowering your chest until it is almost touching the floor and your elbows reach 90 degrees. Raise yourself back up again. Keep your back straight throughout the movement. You can clap at the top to turn this into a power exercise.

5. Single Leg Squat

Stand facing away from a chair or bench. Extend your leg back and place top of foot on bench. Squat down by flexing knee and hip of front leg until knee of rear leg is almost in contact with floor. Return to the original standing position by extending the hip and knee of the forward leg.

6. Chin Up

Grab a chin up bar with an underhand grip, arms around shoulder width apart. Pull your body up until the chin is just above the bar then Lower yourself until your arms and shoulders are fully extended.

If you find the workout becoming too easy then you can progress it by increasing the number of reps (up to 12) or decreasing the rest time.

This isn't school PE so your aim should be to feel happy and exhilarated after a workout. The better you can feel about training the more you will do and the better you perform on match day!