In less than a fortnight, Steven Schumacher’s squad will return to Clayton Wood, Stoke City’s training facility. This is a hint that pre-season is approaching. Players’ social media posts are transitioning from pool and beach photos to footage of their own individual pre-season workouts, working with private trainers to impress Steven Schumacher when they return to Trent Vale on July 1.
Michael Rose has been training with personal trainer Kevin Kelly in Glasgow, for example, and completing the same type of exercises he did for more than a month last summer to ensure he was ready to go when he signed for Stoke as a free agent in mid-July. He revealed in a video for Kelly’s website how that type of treatment has helped him, for the most part, overcome groin issues that had disrupted his tenure at Coventry City.
“I started working with Kevin last summer when I was actually out of contract,” he told me. “My contract at Coventry had expired, and I was heading into the summer without a club. You know how it is in the off-season; you’re always doing solo running and basic stuff, but I expected to require a lot more. I observed Kevin did a lot of pitch and dribbling workouts, and at my former club, I was suffering a lot of groin injuries, so I felt I needed to follow a special schedule.
“It greatly benefited me. I was used to going to the gym, running on the treadmill, doing straight leg runs, and so on, but this was much more relevant to football and much better for getting your body ready. In my instance, I believe I’ve resolved the groin issue after playing a large number of games for Stoke. Everything appears to be fine.
“It resembled an in-season football schedule. When I signed with Stoke, my body was not an issue. At that point, I believe I had spent approximately five or six weeks with Kevin, and despite the fact that I was not in a football setting, I didn’t appear to miss anything. The pitch practices were strenuous, but if I felt sore on a particular day, I could reduce the intensity. If I needed to press harder, I could do so.The program I had been taking at the gym for my groins was quite dull; I was simply sitting there performing exercises. Kevin was perfect.
He did everything on schedule and with reps, and the days were long, but I thought it was amazing. It definitely benefited me throughout the season; I felt incredibly fit and strong. I didn’t think I needed a few weeks to get up to speed. “You can go away for the summer and switch off but when you do something like this it gets you into a routine instead of just doing your own thing, not knowing how much to do.” Andre Vidigal has released videos of his work in the gym in Portugal, and his teammates are also on starter duty for the big comeback. Thirteen days till testing, 53 days until the season begins.
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