Julian Wood is the current batting coach of England. He is also the brains behind Power Hitting Systems, a unique and highly advanced Cricket Training Methodology that is sweeping the world. He is highly sought after and his resume includes conducting Power Hitting Seminars in a wide and diverse range of environments. These include the England National Squads, The Sydney Thunder T-20 squad, the Dolphins T-20 squad, the Karnataka Institute of Cricket in India and many more.
A few years ago Julian stepped outside the mainstream square when he decided to study coaching methods in other sports. Notably he spent time working with Major League Baseball teams in the USA. Through this he was able to develop a more scientific overview for cricket training programs and the development of cricketers. Through baseball he also developed an appreciation for overweight-underweight workouts and concluded that this form of training would be highly beneficial in the development of players for the faster style T-20 game that requires players to have a broader Power Hitting Skill-Set and a “higher degree” of Strength and Fitness.
Technique development in unison with muscle conditioning and strength building is the step up that Julian’s programs offer. From a batsman’s perspective Power Hitting is about hitting harder and hitting harder for longer. T-20 cricket is fast paced and physically intense. To perform well players need to be able to perform in short sharp bursts then they need to be fit enough to recover and repeat.
Training for this type of cricket needs to be in a format that hones in on physical improvement, fitness improvement, and power generation improvement; as well as the technique refinement. In order to develop fitness, strength and to condition the right muscle groups a player needs to use specialized equipment. In this regard Julian Wood turned to the gear developed by Force Train Better.
Based in Perth Western Australia Force Train Better is a business set up by cricketers. The idea for the business was to design and develop a range of training aids that would help players to develop their power game and to make them fitter, stronger and to integrate a higher level of “endurance” into a players game. The short forms of the game, T-20 and One-Day, require a power game but Test Cricket requires players to be able to bat for long periods of time and to be able to concentrate for long periods of time. You cannot concentrate for long periods of time if you are physically worn.
Julian Wood uses the Force Train Better Range of Gear in all of his training programs. he endorses the gear and he urges all his players to have them in their kit bag. These products are designed to improve a players game. Strength building, muscle conditioning, endurance development are all reliant on working the body and muscle groups against resistance. A cricket shot or the release of a cricket ball from the hand both rely on a specific or unique group of muscles. The muscle mechanics of hitting and bowling a cricket ball are not natural muscle mechanics. They are unusual and they are unique. Therefore resistance in motion exercising is not easily provided for in a gym or in any resistance training weight sets. Weighted bats and balls provide such resistance and they do so exactly where the resistance is needed.
Baseball players have been using weighted bats and balls for over sixty years. Like cricketers they use a specific set of muscle groups and like cricket baseball motion movement is not a natural movement.
Cricket is changing and cricket coaches and coaching methods need to change with it. Rocking up to the nets for a bat or a bowl has been the norm for generations but with the dawning of new formats it is time to think outside of the square and be different.
Train Better – Play Better