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Bowlers require an adequate level of body strength for carrying the ball, and upper body power is important in the bowling delivery. It is advantageous to have more strength (to a degree) as being able to bowl heavier balls often translates to better performance. Body strength is also required to hold body positions to correctly execute the skill of bowling.

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How to improve strength and power

Resistance exercises can help develop your strength. You should focus on upper and lower body strength, as well as core body strength. Power can be developed through improvements in strength gained through resistance exercises, in combination with power exercises such as medicine ball throwing.

It is important to work on areas that you are weak and that you are injury prone, and also to use all of your muscle groups. If strength training is new to you, you should gradually build up your workloads. Make sure you are using correct techniques to reduce the chance of injury and to maximize your strength gains.

There are several principles of training that should be followed. One is the principle of specificity. This means that improvements in strength (and other aspects of fitness too) are specific to the area that is trained. It is therefore important to target the areas that you want to improve. This may mean training the leg muscles for improving balance, the torso area to improve stability, and the upper body region for strength, power and accuracy.

Another training principle is progressive overload. Improvements in strength are gained as the body adapts to the higher demands (the overload) placed on it during strength training. If you always exercise at the same level, the body will adapt to this new level and you will stop improving. To ensure that you are constantly improving, you need to progressively increase you training (either increase the time spent exercising or the intensity) as you adapt.

To achieve good gains in strength, you should build up to 2-3 workouts per week. If you are new to strength training, it may involve just body weight exercises until you achieve a good baseline strength.

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Related Pages

• Fitness for Bowling
• Book: Ultimate Guide to Weight Training for Bowling
• Bowling Warm Up
• Bowling Index