THE TRAINING...

MATTHEW BEFORE MATTHEW AFTER

I’ve never been one for working out early in the morning. But on day one, I banged 300mg of caffeine – in the form of PAS’ Game Ready – down my throat at 5.15am.

In preparation for this training, I’d started going to the gym five times a week (up from my usual three) but now I was about to up it to 11 sessions a week.

For my own safety, I couldn’t take part in the contact sessions that rugby players go through. And there was no game for me on a weekend. But otherwise, Robin made damn sure I wasn’t missing out by altering my schedule while following the same principles that he uses at the Blues.

Heavy lifting sessions came at the start of the week, Wednesdays were a day off for mobility. But while, for players Fridays would be lighter days (if the game was on Saturday) I ploughed on through morning conditioning sessions and evening upper body workouts.

I’m comfortable lifting weights but I wasn’t ready for the off-feet conditioning sessions in the evening. Nowhere near ready. My fitness watch had my heart rate peaking in the 190s during one session.

On Monday and Friday mornings I went to ION Strength and Conditioning in Cardiff – a gym owned by Robin – for the beastly Assault Concept class, a 50-minute high intensity interval training session.

Saturday was a “game replacement” session, used for members of the squad who aren’t involved in the matches that weekend. I thought this would be a leisurely run – how wrong I was. It actually simulates the kind of sprints players will do during games, of varied intensities and distances – demanding on the lungs and challenging my capacity to maintain power output throughout.

After the first week of training, pain returned in a shoulder that had required surgery three years ago, my lower back was adjusting to the increased workload, my calves begged for mercy and for the first time ever I had pain in my hips.

I’d been stretching before and after every session but it was clear that what I was doing wasn’t enough or wasn’t correct. I also started weekly sports massages which