Speaking at the RCB<\/a> Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit, Kohli stressed that fitness should simply be part of the job rather than something extraordinary. \u201cI know people sometimes look at fitness as something extraordinary, but for me, it is what the job demands. It should be the norm, not something celebrated as special,\u201d Kohli said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n DISCLAIMER: This article is based on information from the public domain and\/or the experts we spoke to. Always consult your health practitioner before starting any routine.<\/p>\n He also pointed to how cricket often dominates public attention, which can overshadow the demands of other sports. \u201cCricket is in such prime focus in our country that we often overlook other sports. If I am being honest, we aren\u2019t even 15% of the fitness of an Indian hockey player. If the hockey players watch our training sessions, they would laugh because their sport demands far more,\u201d Kohli added.<\/p>\n His comments sparked appreciation from the hockey community. According to Hockey India, vice-captain Hardik Singh added, \u201cThe man who redefined fitness is acknowledging our standards, which sends a message that the fitness of the hockey players should not be underestimated.\u201d Indian captain Harmanpreet Singh also highlighted hockey\u2019s intense pace, saying, \u201cIt is great to have our fitness level in front of the world as hockey is one of the fastest games.\u201d<\/p>\n So, from a sports science perspective, what different types of fitness are being tested in cricket versus hockey?<\/p>\n Dr Vajjala Shravani, MPT (Cardiovascular) and Founder Tone 30 Pilates, tells indianexpress.com, \u201cCricket is fundamentally an intermittent, skill-dominant sport characterised by short, explosive bursts of maximal effort punctuated by prolonged periods of low intensity or rest. A batsman or fielder might execute a maximal 20-meter sprint requiring immediate ATP-PC (adenosine triphosphate-phosphocreatine) energy system output, but they are generally afforded recovery windows between deliveries or overs. Fast bowlers experience immense eccentric structural stress\u2014loading several times their body weight onto their front foot during landing \u2014 which demands highly specialised core, spinal, and relative force strength. However, their sustained cardiovascular engine<\/a> <\/strong>is rarely pushed to its limits during a standard match.\u201d<\/p>\n She continues, \u201cField hockey, conversely, is an anaerobic-aerobic hybrid sport. Played across four quarters, totalling 60 minutes on a massive pitch, it forces athletes into high-intensity intermittent work with tight recovery windows. Players accumulate massive distances, frequently sprinting while bent over, placing a continuous isometric workload on the lower back, glutes, and quadriceps.\u201d The aerobic system must be highly developed to quickly clear metabolic byproducts like lactic acid during brief rolling substitutions, while the anaerobic glycolytic system is repeatedly stressed by fast breaks and defensive transitions.<\/p>\n Story continues below this ad<\/p>\n How would the nutritional needs differ in terms of calories?<\/p>\n Sadhna Singh, Food Science and Nutrition Expert, Gangtok, Sikkim, states, \u201cHockey and cricket require very different nutrition strategies. Hockey\u2019s high-intensity play rapidly depletes glycogen, demanding high carbohydrate intake, quick hydration, and fast post-match recovery. Cricket relies on steady energy release, targeted protein for muscle repair, prolonged hydration under heat, and anti-inflammatory foods to aid recovery after extended play.\u201d<\/p>\n DISCLAIMER: This article is based on information from the public domain and\/or the experts we spoke to. Always consult your health practitioner before starting any routine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"5 min readNew DelhiUpdated: May 22, 2026 11:56 AM IST Fitness conversations in India often revolve around cricket,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":978202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4322],"tags":[272283,1406,272282,30112,1630,131759,124019,105,15868,272281,272285,272284,272280,121979,16,15,4221,263528,132160],"class_list":["post-978201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-athletic-fitness","tag-cricket","tag-cricket-vs-hockey-fitness","tag-endurance","tag-fitness","tag-fitness-levels","tag-functional-fitness","tag-health","tag-hockey","tag-hockey-player-fitness","tag-physical-performance","tag-sports-conditioning","tag-sports-fitness","tag-stamina","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-virat-kohli","tag-virat-kohli-fitness","tag-yo-yo-test"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116619401117823047","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=978201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/978202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=978201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=978201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=978201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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