“They Are Rubbish”: Brett Lee On Why Icebaths Are “Over-rated” And Don’t Help Injury Prevention

Team India were given a major jolt ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup as ace speedster Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the marquee event due to an injury. Former Australia pacer Brett Lee has now released a video, talking about how to avoid injuries as a bowler, and he also talked about how there is no scientific proof that ice-baths work. He termed ice-baths as “over-rated”.

“When it comes to icebaths, they are over-rated. There is no scientific evidence in my opinion to prove that they work. They are great here in India, or subcontinent, to drop your core temperature, but if someone out there wants me to show a paper on icebaths if they can prove it they can flush out nitric acid, bring it on. I reckon they are rubbish,” Lee said on his YouTube channel.

Further advising the young pacers on how to avoid injuries, Lee said: “We see lots of bowlers lifting heavy weights like squats, leg press, body weights, bench press, bicep-curls, those type of things. I want to make it clear gym work is important but if you want to bowl over 150ks, lean-muscle mass is definitely the key.”

“Don’t be lifting heavy weight it’s slow arm action. You need fast-twitch muscles for fast bowling. You got to be able to run, you have to be able to sprint,” he added.

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Talking about his routines, Lee said: “I would do a lot of soft-sand running; it would take impact off my ankle, my knees and my back. I then supplement it by running on the grass and you feel like you are running super quick. Do the hard work on sand and then run on grass.”

“Once you are not too bulky, because you have to think too every kilogram you carry extra is the force going through your front foot. When bowlers bowl, they are like two times their body weight. If you weight 90kilos, it’s like 180 kilos going through their front ankle, I was sixteen times my body weight and that is why I had six ankle operations,” he added.