Monday 22nd June 2015
DUMBARTON players got a tough introduction from new manager Stephen Aitken yesterday as they were put their paces in a gruelling 4 hour training session designed to make them explosive.
The Sons boss brought in Personal Trainer, Michelle Anderson, to work with his squad as they were pushed through 2 hours of circuit training that involved boxing, kettlebells, ropes and medicine balls before undertaking an intense spin-fit session on static bikes.
New boys Mark Brown, Darren Barr, Gregor Buchanan, Mark Docherty, Grant Gallagher, Willie Gibson, Darren Miller, Kevin Cawley and Gordon Smith were all involved with only Gallagher aware of what was in store beforehand.
Aitken said: “The pre-season’s I look for are very different from the days when I played which was just running the players.
“They are not different just to be different as football has moved on and because they work in terms of building fitness and getting the squad gelling.
“Grant was the only player who has done a pre-season with me before so he knew what was coming but the rest of them got a bit of a shock.
“To be fair they got on with things and put in several hours of hard work.”
“Michelle is a friend of mine and done some work with me at Stranraer.
“She is excellent at what she does and will be working with the boys a further four times before the season starts.
“She talks about making them react to things that happen on the pitch due to their muscles exploding into action. That is what we are looking to put into place.”
Anderson is looking to make Dumbarton dynamic in the Championship this season and she said: “It is a mixture of Plyometrics, functional training and hip work designed to raise the heart rate and develop the explosive muscles that footballers use in their legs.
“They need to use those explosive muscles a lot in a game so I am looking to get that established as core strength.
“I worked with Stranraer last season and I sensed that the players were not too keen when I started however they got used to it.
“It is a bit different for a club to bring in a Personal Trainer to do this but I am sure they will benefit from it.”
Anderson joked: “That was probably an 8 out of 10 session and the next few ones will be a bit harder.”
Craig P Stewart