DFC manager Adrian Pennock’s new-look squad meets today for the start of what is certain to be a ‘testing’ time for the players.
The team will be put through their pre-season paces from the very first day as Ady looks to ensure they are in the best shape possible.
Timed running sets, alongside a number of physical assessments and gym work are scheduled, followed by hill runs in Epping Forest at the end of the week.
For Ady, it’s a vital period to not only get the team hitting their peak at the right time, but for team bonding.
He said: “There’s a purpose to everything we do in pre-season. It’s not running for the sake of running, or testing for the sake of testing. Injury prevention is the biggest reason. But it’s also for fitness and organisation off the pitch as well as on it.
“My pre-season will be tough. I used to hate pre-season as a player. But even though we are a non-league team, I want us to be as professional as we can be and the season starts here.”
Fitness and strengthening coach Neil Withington will be devising the players’ fitness training programmes under the close supervision of the manager.
Joining Ady at DFC in March, he has worked with him at a number of clubs after originally pairing up towards the end of his playing career.
Neil has two Masters – one in sports and rehab and the other, strength and conditioning – owns a fitness club and supports a number of professional footballers in the Premiership, Championship and League One, on a one-to-one basis. He also works with a World Champion snooker player!
Later today he will monitor the players during a series of tests to determine their fitness levels, repeating the process midway through pre-season and at the end of pre-season to measure progress.
Urine tests will be conducted to ensure players are hydrating properly, with dehydration a common cause of muscle injury, while body fat will be measured.
Neil will also run aerobic capacity tests, acceleration and deceleration tests and power tests. From these scores, the players will be set runs and individual programmes. They will be given individual weight programmes for pre-season and beyond.
Neil said: “The players are obviously part-time with full-time jobs, but it doesn’t matter whether you are a professional sportsman or semi-pro, you need benchmarks to work off and you go from there.
“You get very different players who fatigue in different ways and if you don’t individualise their training sessions you run the risk of overloading their bodies.
“You also have to take into account the age of players, as the youngsters will have quicker recovery times, while those over 30 will recover more slowly.
“You want a good foundation to give you a high peak. As pre-season progresses, you shorten the runs, but intensity increases.”
On Saturday the squad will travel to Epping Forest for a series of gruelling hill runs.
Neil continued: “We look at inclines of around 20 per cent to 40 per cent. Hill runs ensure the players don’t over-stride, meaning when they drive up a hill they lessen the risk of injury. It’s a good session they have to do as a team – they run up and walk back down – and it will go on as long as Ady wants it to!
“Hill runs were really popular for a bit, went out of fashion, but are now back in favour as it’s all concentric actions on the muscles, so they don’t get too sore. A lot of the Premier League boys do hill runs now.
“We like to pride ourselves on not having many injuries. There will be contact injuries, but if they have a good base, they are less likely to get muscle injuries, so fingers crossed that continues.”
We’ll be bringing lots more insights from Ade and the team in the coming weeks and going forward, so keep an eye out!
