Back up and running

“That is what I find some people struggle with when they come back for pre-season that they’ve only done the one kind of run, they’ve only worked one energy system. They think they’ve done loads, maybe run loads of 5ks, but as soon as they try to change direction or run at high speed they really, really struggle physically. So we have tried to give them a wide variety of stuff they can pick from so it gives them a wee dose of everything so that when they come back they should be in decent condition.”

On their return to training, the temptation to go hell for leather with the football will be at its peak, especially firing those Hollywood crossfield passes or shooting practice. However, contact with the ball will have to be managed. Having not kicked a ball in anger for a few months or changing direction at high intensity, missing out on those 2 Motherwell striker Tony Watt and goalkeeper Trevor Carson pictured training at Dalziel Park in March after Scottish football was suspended due to the cornonavirus pandemic. Right, manager Stephen Robinson who has assembled one of the fittest squads in Scotland. Below, Allan Campbell, centre, and his Fir Park teammates could return to pre-season training in mid-june.

“Because the players have been off for so long you don’t want to put anyone maximally through anything in the first couple of days because the risk of injury is high”

ANDY BOLES

repetitive actions on a daily basis, they are more susceptible to injuries.

Boles explained the processes which he will be putting in place to ease players back into action, boosted by the coaches’ willingness to embrace the progressive load on players rather than “beast” them in the first week which used to be the done thing. “We won’t do a lot of ball striking really early on [in pre-season],” he said. “We’ll do some small passing drills but we won’t do any 50-yard strikes of the ball because their hip flexors and groins won’t have done much of that for the past four weeks. But now we’re looking at that being 12 weeks or maybe longer, so, obviously, we are going to have to be really mindful [that] when we get back we’re going to have to watch what we’re doing.

“We will try to implement a tactical element into a lot of our conditioning work as well, so, as the players are getting fitter physiologically, they are having to make decisions. That’s going to be a challenge as we are only going to be able to work in groups of four or five.

“We will be looking to do a couple of lower key sessions to start with before we do any maximal testing. Because the players have been off for so long you don’t want to put anyone maximally through anything in the first couple of days because the risk of injury is high. So we will do a few lighter conditioning sessions to break it in and see where the boys are at.

“People can go do drills themselves and cover a certain amount of distance, we can look at GPS data and highintensity distance, but as soon as people start training in a group there is a higher cognitive load as well which you can’t really measure but you’ve got to be aware of.

“In general, they are probably at a higher risk of all injuries, anything from muscle injuries, overloading those muscles, to ankle injuries because they have not moved the same way in a while.”

● Andy Boles is head of sports science at Motherwell and creator of Match Ready Fitness.