MensHealth
  • News
  • Health
  • Fitness
  • Sex
  • Nutrition
  • Style
  • Weight Loss
  • Life
  • Podcasts
  • Subscribe
  • Motoring
  • Video
MensHealth
  • News
  • Health
  • Fitness
  • Sex
  • Nutrition
  • Style
  • Weight Loss
  • Life
  • Podcasts
  • Subscribe
  • Motoring
  • Video
Bjornsson Deadlifted 1,026 pounds On The Elephant Bar To Win 2020 Arnold Classic
Watch 0:10

Bjornsson Deadlifted 1,026 pounds On The Elephant Bar To Win 2020 Arnold Classic

{headline}

{headline}

How Pat Cummins Turned A Breakdown-Prone Body Into An Impregnable Force

How Pat Cummins Turned A Breakdown-Prone Body Into An Impregnable Force

Top 5 Sporting Scandals That Shocked The World

Top 5 Sporting Scandals That Shocked The World

Twitter Is Debating The Greatest Athlete Of All Time After The Super Bowl

Twitter Is Debating The Greatest Athlete Of All Time After The Super Bowl

Call Your Mates: The 2021 World Series Of Darts Tournament Is Coming To Australia

Call Your Mates: The 2021 World Series Of Darts Tournament Is Coming To Australia

{headline}

{headline}

Here Are The Rules NRL Stars Must Adhere To For League To Restart

Here Are The Rules NRL Stars Must Adhere To For League To Restart

What NRL Players Eat To Fuel Performance

What NRL Players Eat To Fuel Performance

Robert Whittaker Pulled Out Of UFC 248 For His Sick Daughter

Robert Whittaker Pulled Out Of UFC 248 For His Sick Daughter

{headline}

{headline}

Roger Federer And Rafael Nadal Headline Bushfire Relief Fundraiser

Roger Federer And Rafael Nadal Headline Bushfire Relief Fundraiser

Ice Hockey Fan Fakes Proposal In Cruel 'Kiss Cam' Prank

Ice Hockey Fan Fakes Proposal In Cruel 'Kiss Cam' Prank

These Are The Highest Paid Athletes From The Past 30 Years

These Are The Highest Paid Athletes From The Past 30 Years

How Joe Ingles Became One Of Australia's Biggest NBA Stars

How Joe Ingles Became One Of Australia's Biggest NBA Stars

Ash Barty Is The 2019 Sportswoman Of The Year

Ash Barty Is The 2019 Sportswoman Of The Year

MH Tech Review: NBA 2K20

MH Tech Review: NBA 2K20

Former Wallaby James Horwill Fronts New Suicide Prevention Campaign #ManOfMoreWords

Former Wallaby James Horwill Fronts New Suicide Prevention Campaign #ManOfMoreWords

In Partnership With Toyota HiLux
  1. Home
  2. Sport

Glenn McGrath's New Spin On Life

From feared fast bowler to charitable crusader, Glenn McGrath’s reflections on a life well played are your cue to make strength of character your defining trait - by Dan Williams
  • 09 Jul 2018

Call it the authority of youth. Or maybe just crazy-brave. It was certainly vintage Glenn McGrath. New to the Australian side at a time when the West Indies ruled cricket, McGrath used a seemingly unwinnable series in the Caribbean to bombard the opposition with bouncers. And not just the batsmen. The brazen quick directed most of his firepower at their quartet of menacing and volatile fast bowlers.

Glen McGrath
Giles Park

Retaliatory concerns barely entered his mind. “I always suspected I was going to cop a couple, but I felt if I watched the ball I could get out of the way so I was more than willing to give it to them,” recalls McGrath, who’s equally happy to send down a few seamers for old time’s sake in a Sydney laneway. “It was an opportunity for me to lead the attack and show them what I was made of.” In the decades since McGrath has proven many times over that what he’s made of is rugged stuff.

INDESTRUCTIBLE

He returned from the West Indies a hero, though a troubled one. His series-deciding efforts had stripped seven kilograms from his already slender frame. If he wanted to stick around at the top, he would need to rebuild himself. He tracked down a trainer, Kev Chevell. “The first question he asked me was, ‘What are you prepared to do?’,” recalls McGrath. “And I said, ‘Whatever it takes’.” Right answer. “Kev’s philosophy was to train me harder than anything I’d experience in the middle. He’d say to me, ‘You won’t be training for fast bowling – you’ll be training your body to be unbreakable’.”

It was mission accomplished. Compared to today’s quicks, who seem to spend more time on the physio’s table than in the nets, McGrath was as resilient as a rod of iron. The secret: targeted workouts: “I didn’t care about beach muscles. It was about strong legs, strong glutes, strong core.” He’d been 77 kilograms when he linked with Chevell. When the next summer rolled around he was a rudely fit 98kg, and he stayed around 94 till the end. Ever wondered how McGrath performed with such precision in long spells? There’s your answer. The same pluck that allowed him to pepper West Indian helmets gave him the confidence on the eve of big series to nominate, publicly, the opposition batsman he would be targeting. Used by a weaker soul it’s a tactic that could have backfired horribly. But it never did for McGrath. “I figured if they were good enough to beat me at my own game I could live with that,” he says, “but I always had the self-belief I was good enough.”

DEFEND AND PROTECT

Listen up, says McGrath: life can hit much harder than Test cricket. In 2008 his first wife, Jane, died of breast cancer. “Easily the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do is tell my children that their mum was going to pass away a few days before she actually did.” We all have our battles, McGrath says. The key is picking yourself up. He remarried – to Sara – and they’ve had a daughter, Madison, “who’s brought the family even closer”. McGrath feels lucky. And wiser: “Most of the things we worry about,” he says, “just aren’t important.”

This story is brought to you by the performance of the New Toyota HiLux Rugged.

  • Cricket Training
  • Sport
Dan Williams
Dan Williams
Dan Williams, Men’s Health’s Associate Editor, is the magazine’s most experienced presence. While his body protests more than it used to, he still insists it honour the MH way, with regular dawn workouts mingled with punishing sessions on the tennis court – all against a backdrop of abstemiousness: he turns into a pumpkin at 10pm.

Subscribe Now-

Subscribe Now
Subscribe Now

Subscribe Now-

Subscribe Now
Subscribe Now

Recommended to you

Bjornsson Deadlifted 1,026 pounds On The Elephant Bar To Win 2020 Arnold Classic
Watch 0:10

Bjornsson Deadlifted 1,026 pounds On The Elephant Bar To Win 2020 Arnold Classic

{headline}

{headline}

How Pat Cummins Turned A Breakdown-Prone Body Into An Impregnable Force

How Pat Cummins Turned A Breakdown-Prone Body Into An Impregnable Force

Top 5 Sporting Scandals That Shocked The World

Top 5 Sporting Scandals That Shocked The World

Twitter Is Debating The Greatest Athlete Of All Time After The Super Bowl

Twitter Is Debating The Greatest Athlete Of All Time After The Super Bowl

Call Your Mates: The 2021 World Series Of Darts Tournament Is Coming To Australia

Call Your Mates: The 2021 World Series Of Darts Tournament Is Coming To Australia

{headline}

{headline}

Here Are The Rules NRL Stars Must Adhere To For League To Restart

Here Are The Rules NRL Stars Must Adhere To For League To Restart

What NRL Players Eat To Fuel Performance

What NRL Players Eat To Fuel Performance

Robert Whittaker Pulled Out Of UFC 248 For His Sick Daughter

Robert Whittaker Pulled Out Of UFC 248 For His Sick Daughter

{headline}

{headline}

Roger Federer And Rafael Nadal Headline Bushfire Relief Fundraiser

Roger Federer And Rafael Nadal Headline Bushfire Relief Fundraiser

Ice Hockey Fan Fakes Proposal In Cruel 'Kiss Cam' Prank

Ice Hockey Fan Fakes Proposal In Cruel 'Kiss Cam' Prank

These Are The Highest Paid Athletes From The Past 30 Years

These Are The Highest Paid Athletes From The Past 30 Years

How Joe Ingles Became One Of Australia's Biggest NBA Stars

How Joe Ingles Became One Of Australia's Biggest NBA Stars

Ash Barty Is The 2019 Sportswoman Of The Year

Ash Barty Is The 2019 Sportswoman Of The Year

MH Tech Review: NBA 2K20

MH Tech Review: NBA 2K20

Former Wallaby James Horwill Fronts New Suicide Prevention Campaign #ManOfMoreWords

Former Wallaby James Horwill Fronts New Suicide Prevention Campaign #ManOfMoreWords

MensHealth
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Chris Hemsworth Hugo Boss
  • Terms
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Statement
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Chris Hemsworth Hugo Boss
  • Terms
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Statement

Brands

  • Women's Health

Our Network

  • Paragon Media Pty Ltd
© 2021 Are Media PTY LTD
Get more from Men's Health

Magazine Subscription Offer

Subscribe Now-

Shop This Offer
Subscribe Now