Steffan Jones on Speed, Power and Stiffness in Cricket Bowling

(https://robertsontrainingsystems.com/blog/steffan-jones-podcast/)

Steffan Jones is a former professional fast bowler for Somerset, Northamptonshire, Kent, and Derbyshire County Cricket Clubs.

As a graduate of Sports Science at Loughborough University, Steffan has always been driven to take ownership of improving his physical capabilities. This led him to do his own research on human performance, coaching himself to be the best athlete he can be and even building a career upon his knowledge of human performance.

Today, Steffan is a mentor and coach who specializes in cricket bowling and is the mastermind behind the Pacelab (http://www.pacelab.co.uk/) , an academy for fast bowling.

Steffan joins me today to share his wisdom on building speed and power in cricket bowling, shares an overview of what cricket is and illustrates its similarities to baseball.

He describes the biomechanics involved in cricket and fast bowling, and reveals the traits a player must have to succeed in the sport.

And last but not least, we discuss how he evaluates his players for cricket bowling, how he designs training programs, and how he incorporates isometric training into his programs.

 

Speed wins sports. Part of speed is built in the gym, but not all of it. – Steffan Jones

 

This week on the Physical Preparation Podcast:

• Steffan’s background and how he became interested in the world of physical preparation

• Steffan’s career as an athlete, and transition into his role as a mentor and fast bowling coach

• A brief overview of cricket’s rules and gameplay

• The similarities and differences between cricket, baseball, and javelin throwing

• The biomechanics of fast bowling in cricket and the reason Steffan doesn’t train his athletes in Olympic lifting

• How Steffan evaluates his athletes

• How backfoot mechanics have become a prevalent issue in the game and how strength development impacts coordination and speed

• Why Steffan is a big fan of isometric training and how he uses it in his programs

• How the skill stability model fits Steffan’s programming approach

• Steffan’s advice for newer cricket coaches

 

Connect with Steffan Jones:

• Pacelab (http://www.pacelab.co.uk/)

• Cricket Strength (https://www.cricketstrength.com/)

• Steffan Jones on Twitter (https://twitter.com/SteffanJones105)

• Steffan Jones on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/steffanjones105/)

• Email: info@pacelab.co.uk

 

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The post Steffan Jones on Speed, Power and Stiffness in Cricket Bowling (https://robertsontrainingsystems.com/blog/steffan-jones-podcast/) appeared first on Robertson Trainin…

Hello and welcome to the physical preparation podcast I’m your host Mike Robertson and I’ll be joined on the line later today by stepan Jones now before we jump into this week’s episode give you a quick recap cap of the week that was all kinds of fun stuff going on

Starting with getting out of the quarantine for a little bit took the family to beautiful myy Indiana and if you know nothing about Indiana geography myy is a little city it’s about 45 minutes to an hour Northeast of Indianapolis and it’s actually where I grew up so my parents still own our

Horse farm up there even though they are no longer living there they are still in ownership of the place and they working on fixing it up so they can eventually sell it so we went up there and took the kids on a little trip down memory lane

Showed them the little house that I grew up in which you know as Jess and I were looking at it I realized that’s probably the size of our basement now um so very humble beginnings looking at that house and just all the memories that come from

Living somewhere for 18 years so saw the old house saw the Old Farm got to show them all of the horse stalls and all the work that we had to do when we were growing up as kids I mean I was joking around but not really I mean I was

Basically shoveling horse poo when I was 5 years old I was bailing hay when I was 10 so just trying to give my kids some perspective on how I grew up how much different it was 30 some years ago when I was a kid growing up and uh so I think

It was a lot of fun they enjoyed that took another 45 minutes to an hour showed them Ball State which is where obviously Jess and I both went to school that’s where we met so it was a really really fun day I think they enjoyed it and uh you know something I’d continue

To do you know over the years I’d love to continue to take them back and just show them like look this is where Jess and I you know Mom and I came from uh give you a little bit of insight Jess is obviously she’s from a little bit

Further away but neither here nor there just to give them insight as to the way that we grew up and they they’ve got a lot of privileges they’ve got a lot of advantages that Jess and I didn’t have growing up so it was fun and definitely

Going to do that again in the future had an awesome Mother’s Day pretty low-key really can’t go out to brunch and that sort of thing so we made a nice brunch here for Jess and then in the evening kenel and I made an apple crisp which was fantastic just found this like paleo

Apple crisp recipe that was amazing no extra sugar or anything it was just you know like cinnamon and some maple syrup and oh it was awesome so we had that and then I put all of my culinary skills to use made some bacon wrapped fillets diced up some sweet potatoes roasted

Those roasted some veggies just an awesome meal and then you throw in the apple crisp with a little little bit of vanilla ice cream at the end of the night it was pretty fire so appreciate her we would not be functioning as a family unit especially right now if it

Wasn’t for her so definitely love and appreciate her and she is the rock for team Robertson so with that being said the cooking game has really been cranking up here lately tomorrow kenel and I are doing our cooking night so every Tuesday we cook and tomorrow night

We are doing chicken parm which we’ve made before but it is fire so we’re going to make some chicken Palm little bit of pasta and then she’s into pesto bread so we went out to uh the grocery store today got some pesto so excited to cook with her she’s loving that Home Gym

Training this has been an absolute godsend and I know a lot of you listening in are kind of moving in that direction cuz I’ve gotten a lot of emails a lot of DMS people that are kind of going away from the gym and just trying to have some stuff to use at home

And man it’s such a lifesaver like I’ll talk more later about why I’m busy right now I’m not really comfortable talking about it just yet um but in a couple weeks I’ll tell you why things are so hectic right now but it’s been such a godsend to have that in the basement I

Can go down and I don’t have a ton of stuff right I mean I’ve got a rack I’ve got like two kettle bells I mean it’s pretty Spartan but when you have the basic stuff and you get creative like you can do a ton and I think at some

Point I’ll kind of Chronicle some of the things that I’m doing because I feel like I’m getting great workouts even though I have a barbell I’m not doing a ton of barbell based stuff maybe a main or two here and there but that’s really it and it’s not traditional stuff like

Like squatting or deadlifting like my main the other day was that glute Bridge floor press just using a barbell so it kind of ties the whole body together makes you feel like you’re almost doing a decline but with everything working as a unit so you know just loving that and

Something I’m going to definitely be exploring more uh over the coming weeks and months as my schedule cranks back up I know I mentioned this a while back but I’m excited here hopefully in the next couple weeks get my guy Paul ruton in I got a breathing video and I know it

Sounds basic I mean I was talking to a parent today who wants to bring their child in to ey fast when we reopen and just talking to them about breathing and why it’s important but I just man the more I’m on the internets and the more

I’m on the gram and YouTube people just don’t get it when it comes to breathing they’re either making it way too hard or we’re still talking about like belly breathing in the sense of just make a big Buddha belly it’s like man this is what I was saying like seven eight years

Ago and I don’t claim to be like The all- Knowing at in any way shape or form when it comes to breathing but I’d like to thank I know a thing or two and a lot of it’s by the mistakes that I’ve made over the years a lot of it’s by humbling

Myself and continuing to learn about it so if you’re on the newsletter list don’t worry you will already get it if you are not on the newsletter list come on son what are you doing get signed up and if you’re really just going to wait eventually it’ll be part of like a new

Autoresponder series so if you sign up for the Robertson Training Systems newsletter then you’ll get access to this video but excited to bring Paul in I’ve got it kind of sketched out I’ve been using either you know if I have downtime in the morning before the

Children wake up I’ve been trying to do it then uh if not trying to take fin on some longer walks gives me some time to kind of process and get my mind right so excited to put that out there so stay tuned for that and then last but not

Least doing some work on complete coach really excited about some additions that I’m going to make if you’re already in the group it sounds like a like a cult or something but if you’ve already purchased I have a Facebook grou group and I’ve already kind of alluded to what

I’m going to be adding CU I like to either add or like renovate stuff each and every time so really excited about some of the changes that are going on there so first off I got just a fire web designer the guy that created the ifast website the guy that created the RTS

Website Andrew palter is helping me with this because look it’s it’s an expensive product right like let’s not mince words here it’s not like it’s $50 ebook when I relaunch here in a couple months it’s going to be 800 on the Insiders list or it’s going to be just under a th000 for

You know people that aren’t on the Insiders list so it’s an investment and I get that but before it’s not that the website looked bad but it just didn’t look reflective of the quality of the product the quality of the content so really excited to have a website that

Kind of matches the look and feel of the course materials of the content I mean I still get DMS and emails almost every day from people that are like oh you you know I wasn’t sure I didn’t think this would be worth it and they’re like I’m

Blown away or I had one guy the other day that said he’s bought so many courses so many shts and he said this was the first thing that blew him away so that makes me feel good makes me feel like you know people are getting value

Out of that course and that’s what it’s all about I mean if you’ve followed my stuff for a day a month a year 10 years hopefully you realize I’m in this for the long game and I’m in it to make people better so really excited about

Where that’s going uh stay tuned as they say stay tuned for more information but really excited about where the complete Cod stuff is going so okay we’re like 8 and 1/2 minutes in I’m going to stop rambling quick break and then we are going to get into this amazing podcast I

Was really blown away by this guy but really really solid podcast with my guy Stephan Jones one thing Bill Hartman and I have talked about for years now is the power of mentorship early on I didn’t have a mentor to shape or guide me or most importantly helped me find the blind

Spots in my own training and coaching but luckily after many years of trial and error I found bill and my professional success exploded as a result but the downside to the mentorship process at least professionally is that it can be pricey for private mentees that I work with it

Cost anywhere from $3.99 to $5.99 per month to work together and while I know the results go far beyond that price the fact of the matter is that just won’t work for a lot of folks so when Bill and I sat down a while back we asked ourselves a really tough question how

Can we help shape the future of the industry and truly make it great and beyond that how can we create amazing content yet make it affordable to virtually every trainer or coach out there and the answer for us was simple restart ifast University here’s what you’ll get when you become a member of

Ifast University One update each month from myself and Bill this could cover anything from improving exercise technique to writing better programs and everything in between twice per month q&a’s where Bill and I will personally answer your questions to help you become better at training coaching or even running your Fitness business a Facebook

Group where you’ll be surrounded by like-minded trainers and coaches who are serious about getting better and access to the ifast you archives where you’ll be able to watch literally hundreds of pieces of content from the ifast team over the years this blend of content and Q&A is specifically designed to help

Make you the best trainer or coach possible if you’re interested in learning more head on over to ifast university.com to get signed on we’d love to have you on board Stephan Jones is a former professional cricketer who played for Somerset northamptonshire and Derbyshire county cricket clubs but nowadays he’s

Serious about sports performance and working in physical preparation to make some of the fastest Bowlers on the planet now before I say anymore let me say this Stefan is a a brilliant guy and this is one hell of a show so even if you know absolutely nothing about

Cricket you’re going to want to check this episode out in this show Stephan and I talk by talking about how Cricket is played in case you’re not familiar with the sport but from there we break down the biomechanics of bowling and talk about how you build a better bowler

Most importantly we talk a lot about strength and why too much strength may actually limit performance in cricket as well as other sports like I said before this is a really awesome episode and I think you’re going to love it but enough for me let’s do This stepan man thank you so much for coming on the show here today really excited to chat with you could you start by just telling us a little bit about yourself yeah my name’s Stefan Jones so I’m an ex rugby player an ex cricketer so I’m the last dual professional to

Play in the UK I think not the world yeah Dion Saunders used to do that as well didn’t he and now I’m currently a director of sport in a in a school in Somerset England and I’m also a fast bowling specialist coach so I travel the world coaching fast Bowlers teaching a

Lot about speed really and I’m with rajastan Royals in the IPL which is I think the third biggest sporting event in the calendar behind the World Cup football and Olympics so yeah Cricket in India is incredible and I’m fortunate to be head of fast bowling development for

A a very good franchise the Rajasthan Royal so it’s a busy time combining my school director role here and travel in the world but I wouldn’t want it any other way really I love it man that’s awesome what originally LED you to the world of physical preparation was it

Just prepping for your sport or what got you into this side of it well I was always s I’m a sports science graduate as well I went to lur University and Cambridge University so I’m I’ve always I’ve always studied Human Performance cuz I’m very much of the mindset that I

Want to be in control of my destiny so I wanted to uh coach myself to improve I wanted ownership of what I do if I failed it was my fault so and that’s not to undermine my coaches or my snc’s but I needed to actually question them is

Actually right for me and I needed the knowledge then I can decide then whether to go oh yeah great great and not do it I’ll go right right on so I went down the RO of coaching myself so when I played early on in rugby actually I trained a

Lot I did a lot of running and the thing with rugby it’s a mass is important absolutely it’s like like American football but in cricket it’s not and that in I’m sure is going to come up in conversation so I didn’t do strength training as such because I didn’t want

To get bulky and stiff for for throwing which is bowling y but then for rugby they said you need to put Mass on so I was caught caught in a tight space really so I went away researched it and then I become really a student of the

Game student of human performance and I coached myself then others would come in for help and then as I retired then 2010 I believe I became snc year so I’m qualified accredited so it was all started with me wanting to be the best athlete out there best cricketer I now

It’s to do with me wanting to be the best preparation coach in the world for my sport I love it I love it so tell us a little bit about your career path obviously you were super successful as an athlete talk to me about that transition from athlete to coach and

Then kind of your career path and where you’re at now okay so athlete to coach was was okay really because I became towards the end of my career I became more of a mentor and because my knowledge in in fast bowling and speed in particular was pretty good that

People would come and ask me questions and stuff so I transitioned into a a player coach role y as a cricket and then I wasn’t really happy with that so here’s a thing for you I’m not sure if it’s like that in any other sport but

I’d imagine it is most coaches okay are ex-professional players so and they spout off the same stuff as their previous coach Y and their previous coach’s knowledge is based on a coach education certificate platform that’s been designed by X players so so I was there at the end of my career going

Actually I’m not going to be one of them so I came out of the game so I came out of professional Cricket to go on this journey on this quest to fight the find the right answer what does it take to bowl faster based on Sport Science Based

On data based on facts based on a sport like Athletics which is very data driven if you don’t run sub 10 you don’t have a career it’s as simple as that dealing numbers so I came out and by coming out I’m able now to experiment because I’m

In a school talented children I’ve got a 108d I’ve got four STS I’ve got contact grids so I can experiment yeah and then what has happened then I’ve built my business pay laab up and people from around to different sports actually I’ve got good contacts in baseball sprinting

Have come in now because my knowledge is based on playing experience coach education as such sports science degree and actually getting down and dirty and trying things for myself so it’s a you know I’m a big James Smith fan you know governing dynamics of coaching we we get

On well he loses me a few times yes but we get on really well because that’s it it’s all Inc compassing you know we’re a complex biological system and to just think that it’s about technique or it’s about strength a gym work whiteboard syndrome and nothing else then we we’re mistaken

Man what works for one it might not work for the other and I needed to know what the answer was I love it I love it so let’s start at the because I guarantee a lot of people in the US don’t understand the sport of cricket or they’ve never

Seen it played before so really quickly could you just give us a brief overview of the sport how it’s played basic rules Etc okay so you’ve got in a nutshell it’s it’s like baseball with a mix of javelin in there yeah so in terms of fast bowling itself

Is very much like a javing throw but you don’t have to stop you can go over a line so it’s you can slow yourself down that’s why there’s not so as much force on the front foot contact but you have to do that six times in a row and you’re

Bowling so which is a bowling which is a throwing in baseball pitching yeah at batter but it has to bounce and then you do that six times which is one over from from my end yeah then you go and have a rest and field yeah and your mate the

Other end does the same to this end and that goes on like that for and they’ve got to hit some runs the batter have got to get runs you get them out by hitting the stumps or they hit and get caught so a game can last three hours it’s called

A T20 which is the IPL and there’s a few franchises in America I think or you can do a test match which lasts five days Y and at the end of those five days you might not get a result I know that blows the mind of Americans yeah it’s like but

To be honest it’s a bit messed up for me as well to be honest yeah but you play for five days from 11:00 in the morning to 6 o00 at night doing the same thing you know in a T20 game you cover sixks man in the game but 5Ks of that is 20

Kilometers per hour it’s very slow jogging so that’s you know based on catapult based on GPS state there was a real eye opener for me in this tournament because it’d be surprising what we actually do it’s it’s there’s no lactic acid involved in cricket right you know let’s not chase the burn you

Know just because you’re you’re working hard sweat then doesn’t mean you benefit in cricket yeah it’s it’s that’s fascinating I remember so I went to Australia twice 2009 2010 and I got to watch you know literally different matches different teams and I was blown away because the guy that brought me

Over was a former Cricket bowler and so he would he taught me the game a little bit again this was 10 years ago but I was just blown away to know that these test matches go 5 days I was like man that’s crazy I couldn’t imagine doing

Anything for 5 days straight let alone playing a competitive match that lasts that long that there there that’s the thing for you why why the sport itself is a very unique thing it’s so explosive you know you have when you bowl because you run you sprint in from about 30 m

There’s four times your body weight of force on back foot when it lands and 10 times on your front foot okay so that is a lot of force but you do that after a 30 second break you do that six times then you do 2

Minutes and you might do a 30 reps but then you might not do anything else for four hours yeah but but you’re staying on the field walking around getting cold and then the captain might turn to you you’re bowling next ball you have no time for a warm-up you’ve just got to do

It yeah and it’s it’s like it’s an amazing amazing thing when you actually break it down to its simple view of it really it’s that’s why I I love the thing man it’s it’s it’s brilliant and because the knowledge in my eyes is not

Quite up to the level that I would SP I would expect for professional sport then yeah it’s it’s a good place to be me really yeah absolutely absolutely you found a great Niche so so let’s talk about bowling specifically cuz I know that’s what you’re most interested in

And I think that would be a great place to start explain to me in a little bit of depth and you have already but I’d like a little bit more just kind of nuance here when somebody is bowling what are the biomechanical positions or the biomechanical traits that they need

To be successful what kind of range of emotion do they need to have available to them give us a little understanding of that cuz like you said it is a lot like Javelin it may seem familiar in the states as somebody that pitches but I’d love to hear your perspective and your

Rundown of it okay so it’s I’ve gone down the route of classifying my Bowlers as well and it’s great that Javelin and baseball pitching and sprinting and such has adopted it so I classify my Bowlers as hip and knee dominant okay so and then it’s new it’s new in the world of

Cricket and that will dictate how you train so a hip dominant bowler more often than not is very tendon driven very fascia very connective tissue driven so does need strength yeah and but the other guys the big bulky guys like myself needs more range needs more

Movement very strong on two legs y okay and needs time so needs to match their technique up to their fiber type their neurotype and the way they’ve built you know the fascia and the the Davis law you know lines of stress and the more you do it as a youngster the more the

More this those stress lines become fixed and it’s hard then to change technique as you get older so bowling is very very specific because it’s so stressful it’s very neural driven it’s about 80% tendon 20% muscle ground contact times or sprinting so it’s a Sprint but not not the quality of a

Sprinter although that is my aim it’s a Sprint in with the right techniques and I got seven key attractors that I look for you know the France B terminology but it’s it’s then careful separation between style and technique there’s lots of different styles out there and they’re the fluctuators but

There’s key seven key techniques attractors that the very best do and you know I I profile over 400 Bowers you know yeah so the ground contact time is normal Sprint but probably a bit more with with fast B looks not as good so not10 not one two and then it’s about

Changing that so horizontal Vector to slightly vertical with your center of mass jumping up off an Impulse stride which is a bit heavier contact jumping up so it’s very much like a triple jump okay yeah so that’s my way of thinking about it that’s a way we have to train

And to be honest like most sports out there people believe you you you’re built in the gym you know an athlete is built in the gym for me we’ve gone down the wrong route there badly it’s especially and it’s rifing Cricket but then the ground contact time on on back

Foot cuz it’s about maintaining the momentum of center of mass into front foot block and the front foot being a brace front leg then CER puls you over yeah so but you back foot contact is about .10 seconds and front foot contact is about .5 seconds so in effect front

Foot contact is more about muscle fibers back foot contact is more about tendon stiffness and and connected tissue and fascia so it’s about because what is it it’s the am the coupling time of a of a good athlete is about 0.10 second that’s a good athlete well actually that’s the

Ground contact time on back foot contact when you bowl so it’s like so it’s about thinking just correctly by mechanically about the sequence of fast bowling but there are key attractors to it like there are sprinters brace front leg hip shoulder separation you know take off uh just under your Center Mass

Not in front so if you take off slightly in front because you’re a knee dominant bowler who’s over squatted is really strong concentrically is really strong with a counter movement jump so you want your front foot to go in front of you to give you time to jump up so more time

More time you spend in the air the less time you can put Force into the ground so it’s about running through the crease and it’s there’s nuances to it there’s careful manipulation but it’s it’s a great skill because it’s it’s you can do it from a very very young age you know my

Daughter’s 10 she’s bowling but there’s a great example of a long-term athlete Development I’ve not coached her I’ve not coached her to bowl she’s just come down here watched watched me coach looked at a bowling sequence and gone okay let’s try that out and she that she’s worked it out herself in the

Meantime I coach her as an athlete you know depth jumps I get them depth jumps medicine ball Sprint they’ve been on 1080 funly enough she’s playing uh age group County state in in America three years young you know I and it’s it’s not about that but it’s but just shows how

The brain works the intention action model give them a picture let them work it out for themselves develop them as an athlete let the structure sort of support the framework the style that they develop themselves I love it I love it so that’s a great breakdown of like

The lower half the difference at least from my understanding they cannot bend the elbow right when they bow straight arm the whole time is that correct yeah okay so so the arm speed so rotational speed it’s very much not quite as explosive a As baseball because they

Tend to be pitching they tend to be stronger I believe most of them are actually knee dominant because of amount of strength work they do but I know certain franchises have contacted me and going through down this route as well because ultimately it has to transfer

Yeah you know whatever we do have to transfer and and the cricet ball weighs 156 G rotational speeds trunk rotation about 1,000 RPM arm speed about 700 RPM which is which is what a medicine ball throw what’s that so that is equivalent to 30 m per sec second a good medicine

Ball throw is what 78 a power clean is what two or three so that’s why I don’t I don’t Olympic lift my athletes it serves no purpose for me yeah no that’s great so so let’s deconstruct things a little bit let’s say you’re evaluating an athlete and let’s not even talk about

The strength issue yet let’s just talk about like basic ranges of motion a requisite Mobility flexibility what do you do with an athlete that just physically can’t hit the positions that you want where do you start with them so the first I do a 10o profiling P

Profiling it’s it’s quite it’s got a good repetition now because I’ve got the all the equipment so I work the DSi out so the dynamic strength index on the on the force decks so two legs one leg mid thigh pull so I work that out to start

With so whether they high percentage or low percentage most fast Bowlers if I’m honest are low percentage you know they don’t use hardly any of the strength that they have yeah because we’ve got a culture of lots of strength training actually you know you’ve got you’ve got

A long way to go to get to your your strength ceiling you’re only at about 50% of your capacity at the minute so that’s what I found out from there then obviously this outlays as well from there I work the jump profile so the RSI the reactive strength index can they

Utilize the energy the Ecentric forces and the in the stretch shortening cycle and then I put them on a 1080 Sprint and then I I I have a 1 kgam a 3 kgam a 6 kgam Lord on the Bowling sequence and I can work out the coordination the

Pattern the forces the speed the power because ultimately what I’m looking for is running speed so running speed so ball velocity is 20% comes 20% of it comes from the running speed so if you want to bowl faster unlike pitching which that why in pitching they have a

Slight Flex extend to get a bit more momentum but in Bowling you’re actually momentum is huge is massive so I want them to run in at about 7 to8 meters per second which for a sprinter is probably Tempo running but for bowling it’s that’s all

We can cope with yeah you know I’ve had an 8 MERS per second bowler hitting front foot contact hard and that’s all I think I think the front foot can cope with 8 m/ second that that’s it so I work that out then I have a a heavy ball

A light ball I work out the discrepancies there there should be a 10% difference from a light ball and a heavy ball if it if it differs a certain direction there’s a reason for it if the light ball isn’t bowled faster at least four or five miles per hour faster than

The cricket ball it tells me that There’s a constraint somewhere in the action where whether it might be a technical flaw or might be the they need to desensitize the Golgi tendon in the posterior chain e centrically very poor or actually now I’m beginning to understand I’m going down the fascia

Route at the minute I Tru I truly believe this is the future of sport sport but there’s people out there probably going I’ve been doing that for years mate but I I do think that’s where like something like a Thro in or a Sprint in the posterior an I bleach

Ching the fascia that’s where we’re at at an tendon so it’s it’s all about using your body as a tool to bowl but then so this is after I see them Bowl obviously first thing I do is watch them Bowl so I look at them Bowl then I do a

Keno sequence with them and and I have seven points so very much like Altis D Stewart McMillan we have seven points a Kino sequence and then they hit the ships best Bowlers hit the right ships it is extraordinary from the kids of my school to jof Ros the best in the world

At the minute bows 90 miles per hour consistently they hit the the correct ships with more front side mechanics instead of rear side on the on the impulse stride small things like that and then I look at it and go why are they not hitting attractor point1 or two

Then we test and and then I go actually he just got no ability to utilize the stretch shortening cycle he’s not no Force management capacity he has isometrically eccentrically very weak because in my eyes concentric training for sport irrelevant irrelevant it does what sport happens too quickly for concentric to

Have an impact it’s concentric is a consequence of putting more energy in yeah stabiliz stabilizing it with an isometric contraction and then momentum that’s it that and especially fast bowling which happens so quickly and then identify then if they’re not hitting the attractors is it a motor

Learning issue is it Hardware is it in the brain or is it software issue so that’s when skill stability the technical intervention model comes in but it’s a it’s a layer appro approach people come in at different layers But ultimately technique underpins everything you cannot run away from poor

Technique if you want to change if you want to change the appearance of a door without changing that hinge the door will always break at that hinge doesn’t matter how fancy the door is and it’s that’s the same with fast bowling you know you can put all the fancy muscles

On if you want to but if you technique if you keep lateral flexion if you cross ing over the base which cause lateral flexion and your back is going to get hammered so it’s so it’s a full proof intertwined what do what is the limiting factor of this person in front of me

Then I come up with an intervention plan A lot of it is based on stiffness that’s a big thing for me at the minute is kids actually kids are professional athletes they lack attendance stiffness they they because of of there’s no physical education in schools there’s no repetition there’s no tendon tuning

There’s no tendon training everything is sacked but then we think as strength and condition coaches we’re building athletes but what we’re doing is just building more of a knee dominant pattern we squat we cycle we sit at school that they so if so on back foot contact when

You land in bowling so if it bends a lot same as pitching if it bends a lot that means you’re spending a long time on back foot contact so your back foot contact is going to be up towards the 0.20 seconds but in the same time my

Front leg is going that way because of momentum so you need to be able to spin in what is it I think it’s about 0.5 0.3 seconds and face forward cuz that’s the correct alignment so if you bend too much it doesn’t happen it allows an hip

Internal rotation but it’s too long you can have the strongest hip internal rotation in the world but if if your tendons are like Pistons it’s just too long on rear side mechanics and the back foot contact when you bowling is is a pivot business end is at the front yeah

It’s a pivot but because of poor training and poor technical intervention the back foot the rear side mechanics has become an issue that’s prevalent in the game I believe but then you know it can be sorted if you match technique with anthropometry yeah so if you if

You’re long on backfoot Conta it’s the same with javelin if you’re long with backfoot Conta then you need to create more time upper body yeah so it becomes a long arm pull then it syns it synchronized up but because that’s seen as non-traditional Bowl in action like a

A a sling in Javin it’s not really coach so one side is coaching KN dominant time and the other side is coaching you to get release the the release the ball quicker with a faster arm speed so it’s just governing dynamics of coaching yeah so I’m interested do you think part of

That is just due to the the overemphasis on strength development right now it’s slowing things down and it’s affecting coordination in a negative way definitely okay I I I don’t think I can’t believe you know I’m an snc myself and I’m also a coach so I’ve got two

Hats on that I think that’s what makes me unique in that I can see both sides so if I’m an snc and I’ve got a head coach who’s going to judge me on how much my cricketer is squatting how much he’s improved that’s my kpi yeah we both

Know it’s not hard to make anyone stronger right it’s it’s not hard at all but what’s hard is making the transfer to onfield Performance that’s hard and that is when little small techniques come into it and that’s you know it’s difficult to do but then in performance on field performance

There’s too many variables that can happen for it to actually positively reflect on your impact as an snc you know you might have developed them awesome as an athlete but when they go out they bottle it yeah you know they’re they’re neurotype three as tibo does in neurotype three and internalize

Everything and just freeze so that’s so it’s but I see s’s I’m going to improve the deadlift their bench their squat look Boss look what I’ve done so it’s a Max the gym white board syndrome that but I it’s slowly turning I think they slowly people like you know Joel Smith

Alex NATA McMillan you know these guys Jon the do these guys now are beginning to get actually it’s about speed speed wins Sport and speed is not built speed is not built in the gym part of speed is but not all of it I love it so talk to me this is a

Great transition point because I know you’re a big proponent and you’re a big believer in isometric training so why are you a fan of isos and how do you use them in your programs okay so I I came up with a system based on Alex natera’s running specific isos I think he calls

It so I have three stages and I’ll always credit him he gave me the the the oh hang on that that looks awesome so I got three stages so that is an ISO hold which is a yielding isometric which is an ISO extreme five minute holes yeah on

Two key attractors back foot contact front foot contact so we we fix the position okay and then we do go through the stages ISO hold then you can add variability to it you can hold it for longer you can add weight to it to make

It harder to time and the tension all of that then we go to isop push which is an overcoming isometric and then this is when it becomes a bit harder on your skill as a coach because you know as human beings as athletes we want a

Knowledge of result we want to know that what we’re doing is making me a better fast bowler it’s like hey Steph what you doing I’m standing here in this position pushing against the pin what’s this doing to me how do you know I’m getting stronger yeah but then you put a picture

Of a bowler hitting front fo Conta and it’s that position that we’ve locked down y from ISO push then so we do it on four Stacks yeah or we or I I use a crane or G strength with exos so or a crane is Affordable one so it’s always a

Number we’re trying to beat yeah whe you know what whatever it is from there we’ve had a bit of dynamic component to it so it’s an isod dnamic then we go to ISO catch an Ecentric component to it then we go to isore react where we use the full stretch shortness cycle so

There’s a five layer approach for two key NES of the bowling action and so an isometric works because you’re 10% stronger in an isometric contraction and you activate 5% more muscle fibers so when you’re doing when you’re doing grooving so it’s strengthening specific strength you know special strength all

This Bond check I do it all so it would sit in Sp SD depending on what stage you are so for me there’s seven ways I use seven ways to stabilize technique so I stabilize the attractors I create the feeli I overload it so I use Exogen wearable it’s very good like wearable

Training then manipulate the time and the tension actually create a feed the mistake so actually making making the body correct itself you know if you have when you squat if your knees come in okay you put bands on to bring you in to make it worse but actually you know

That’s not right the brain knows that not right so it actually corrects itself and pulls itself out the same with with the Exogen with bowling you know when they Bowl they my lateral Flex so what I do i l this side to take them further with weights the body doesn’t want the

Body doesn’t like pain it’ll correct itself especially especially if you slow it down then I add variability you know I’m a big on second gen contrast training complex training all that you know where you’re contrasting and that would be stage four actually of the complex skill so skill to change

Technique you need to be as close for to the full sequence as possible so I supet so I superet the skill stability with full bowling okay that that that is how I can create change you know to to have a technical session just do it that is

Mot to learning but to get Motor Performance you know you need transfer and the smaller we can keep that window that transfer window the more chance it is of grooving a new pattern or a new motor engram but actually if it’s just about small stabilizing then it’ll get

In there easier because you know I’m sure you’ve seen it as well when you get coaches doing like Tech body weight technical work and it’s not going to work you have to you to develop a new pattern a new motor engram it has to be

Different yes it has to be harder it has to be variable you know all these stuff create the field and overload it for you to develop a new snow track in that field CU if you keep doing the same same thing it’s just going to go actually

That’s no different to what I’m doing now so I’m going to go that way actually right I’m not changing my technique so it’s it’s a careful that’s why my stuff work because it’s a Synergy synergistic partnership between snc and motor learning technical put them together

Come up look at a part of the action that doesn’t work and then go how can I do that with my SN C head on can I get a cable there can I put a weighted vest on there or can I hop there or can I hold that

Isometrically and then you with time going through those four stages of learning you’re going to make it unconscious skilled with purposeful repetition I love it I love it so one other thing that I know you’ve talked about a couple times before as well as in this show is the skill stability

Model so could you just tell us a little bit that about that as a whole and how that fits into your overall programming approach so the skill stability as as as I just covered here now is just it’s about identifying it’s about isolating constraining overloading and repeating

Parts of the action okay that that is the model and then you fix the positions you create the field you create overload on those two positions and then you go through the stages but the key point is you you need to start on ISO hold you

Need time and detention you need to hold FR foot contact for five minutes so it’s like 500 reps I don’t know I’ve got data to show it but it’s just holding it isometrically is grooving that pattern but then you need to put some Force into there with some Isa push through a pin

Yeah that need to create you need to make it a bit more specific bit of concentric so we I have a lunge variation then it’s a so an ISO catch from foot contact so imagine a pitcher who’s on front foot contact so you isolate that position and then you drop

Yourself down off a box so I came up with that so it’s like an altitude drop with in a specific skill position position and then from there then it can be a depth jump so it’s an ISO react so you drop and you explode up y so that is

The skill stability and it’s being used in baseball Javelin now which is awesome love it love it okay big question time my friend if you could alter the SpaceTime Continuum and give young stepan Jones one piece of advice about training Andor life what would it be you

Know what it’s I’m happy where I am at the minute yeah I’m H I’m happy in life I’m seen as that Maverick that that guy who’s looking outside the box but actually I keep I people keep looking over to see you he’s talking sense here sense so for me trust my instinct yes

You know trust my instinct and go with it I’ve listened to a lot of opinions in the past and actually the only opinion that matters is my own you know and and now you know as my profile increases around the world people have their opin

Op on me is that funny enough I’m either an snc for some or I’m either a two science geeky technical driven for others right what it’s like but that’s an opinion and people are entitled to their opinion at the end of the day it’s just words I have facts I have data I

Know exactly the numbers that the very fastest Bowlers in the world do and compare it with my 10-year-old kids here I know what the attract are for fast bowling so I deal in a big thing for me is a sess don’t guess so I know so trust

My instinct you know trust my instinct surround myself with radiators you know not drains you know you want surround yourself with people who inspire me and actually a big thing for me if I’m the most knowledgeable person in the room I’m in the wrong room yes that’s how I

Go about things you know I have an in an snc here was my was a poop at school he’s incredibly intelligent now but he’s 23 years of age I do stuff and I his name is James key I do stuff and I listen he listens to me

And then he questions me and I’m going hang on who are you to question me you know but then thinking it I’m going actually he’s right he’s making sense so it’s always surrounding yourself with people who inspire people who offer you something and people who make you better

That that’s that’s a big advice I would give myself if I was starting out again I love it I love it okay my friend last but not least we’ve got our lightning round so for Fairly short questions your answer can be as long or short as you’d

Like all right yep number one what’s your career highlight so far as a coach coaching the rajastan Royals in the IPL love it that yeah you can’t for me that is that as you know you get international cricket but the IPL is the best inter international cricket

Cricketers playing in a team so for me it’s above international cricket I love it number two what was your career highlight as an athlete in 2001 the whole season actually and the whole season was a great lesson for me how to train you know I did Bill Phillips Body

For Life oh I caught really low body F 9% I run a lot you know what I did a lot of aerobic training I didn’t do any hard hardly any weight training it was very basic I threw medicine balls weighted balls I pull 90 miles per hour I got 100

Wickets that year and the Lord’s final 2001 I helped my team Somerset win the win the cup and it’s but then going back to your previous question I then began to listen to other people instead of going actually 100 wickets the season is okay let’s do it again next year instead

Of going let’s get 102 wickets so it’s but that was my highlight Lord’s final 2001 for Somerset against leersia I love it number three if you could give one piece of advice to an upand cominging Cricket coach right somebody that wants to work with other cricket players what

Would that be become an Ence C learn how the human body works and learn how the brain works that is a big thing It ultimately starts with the brain the central nervous system the brain telling me to move my legs and move my arms but not enough coaches understand about

Neurotransmitters you know neurotyping with Tib and how actually neurotransmitters affect how we how we perform you know as a child if you keep doing stuff for for your baby they’ll never develop that dopamine system they’ll never become dopamine sensitive for that REM reward mechanism and that correlates with actually not being very

Explosive and fast as you grow up there’s a direct correlation there so that that is I would understand how we work man it’s not about it’s not about the the Tactical aspect of it there’s a reason why you can’t do what you want to do and it’s either mental or it’s either

Physiological so we need that knowledge to ultimately underpin tactical skill yep I love it okay last but not least number four what’s next for stepan Jones what are you working on what are you excited about anything I’m going to continue on my on my journey I’m going

To continue to try and learn something every day big thing now is fascia for me and I’m going to I want to then coaching for me is not about sort of watching my my players play on the field and watching it and as the game goes on that’s not coaching you know that’s

Experience playing I’ve done that done it for 20 years it’s behind it’s it’s developing systems it’s developing Pathways I want to lead organizations that ultimately control the future of fast Bowlers whether that is in a certain country so then that’s about leaving the Legacy having an impact that

I know will you know put them on a good journey and good pathway in their life that’s where I want to go coach education let’s it’s hard for me you know I did a webinar yesterday there was 80 800 people listening it was so that’s

800 so then those 800 can go away and Coach the other 800 yeah so if I arm a few coaches with a correct knowledge they can then spread the word so it’s about Coach education in the pace lab system way of coaching fast Bowlers I love it man well Stephan you’ve been

Amazing to chat with today where can my listeners find out more about you and everything you’re doing oh so this I got my new website coming up but so p laab is my company I’m heavily into to social media Instagram piss laab but that’s Stefan Jones 105 and Twitter and I also

Do Cricket strength.com with a friend of mine Ross duer so there’s lots out there I’m I’m happy to share knowledge you know it’s I’m happy to share knowledge when people then acknowledge where it’s come from I don’t like I don’t like copers but that that that’s where it is

Stefan Jones 105 on Instagram and Twitter I love it well I’ll make sure we get those in the show notes and again Stefan thank you so much for your time man I truly appreciate it pleasure nice to talk to You all right my friends that does it for this week’s episode of the physical preparation podcast hope you enjoyed it Stefan is an awesome guy we had some issues kind of getting this coordinated you know I don’t know if it’s was cancelling or he was cancelling but I

Mean we’ve had this on the books off and on for like three or four months so really excited to get him on I thought it was an awesome show like I don’t know a ton about Cricket but I feel like I took a ton of good stuff away from the

Episode and I hope you did as well now as you know my big Focus for the next month or two is trying to break the 30k downloads per month now you break that down it’s about 1,000 downloads a day consistently I’m around 8850 love to get

It to a th000 because that means the show is getting exposed to more and more great trainers and coaches such as yourself so if you could help me out in any way shape or form whether it’s sending this episode to a friend via email posting it on social whatever you

Can do to help spread the word would be greatly appreciated because again I want more people to be exposed to people like Stefan to be people like Alex that we had on the show last week so anything you can do to help greatly greatly appreciate it so I am rambling I’m going

To cut it off here my friend as always thank you so much for your support love and appreciate you and we’ll be back soon with our next episode take Care A