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Most of the players, when they came here, they probably though they were fit enough.
But maybe they thought that being fit was just surviving a 45-50 minute gym workout.
But obviously that's not the kind of fitness you have to have to play a football game.
In France, I only had 3 training sessions a week, sometimes 4.
Here I train every day, 2-3 times a day.
Sure, it's more intense and tougher, but it's more varied.
Preparation is key, especially for these players.
They have to be on top condition, top performance every single time they cross that line.
2 days before the game and the day before the game, you'd have 2 fistful size portions of carbohydrates
with 1 fistful size portion of protein. On the day of the game, you'd have a pre-match breakfast
which is one fistful portion of carbohydrates. Going into the game you it's important that you get that high carb load in,
so it maintains that slow release of energy throughout the day.
And there's whey protein for protein synthesis and recovery of muscle.
We try to make sure that we prepare right for the game
but we also make sure that we recover after the game properly by doing certain work.
Recovery after the game is one of the most important aspects of staying injury free
and maintaining performance throughout the season.
You need to be thinking about the next game as soon as the final whistle goes:
Doing the adequate cool-down, making sure we get out the waste products from the muscles.
After our highest intensity day, we'll get them into the recovery suite
so they'll do a lot of hydrotherapy work with contrast. We go cold baths into warm, into cold, into warm.
Then we foam roll and stretch, emphasising the recovery, speeding up the blood flow into the tissue
and helping muscle repair. By doing that we allow a speedy recovery so we can get back into training 2 days later.
The recovery process becomes even more important after pre-season. You ensure that they're in the freshest state.
It's about preparing these players to go into a professional environment
and they need to know that every day is hard work. Every day they need to be on top form.
Yes, it is an intense environment but these players need to be able to cope under pressure
and that's what the professional environment is all about.