Fitness Coach devises programmes for close season
It may now be the close season, but AFC Wimbledon’s players have been handed a thorough fitness programme to follow during the summer break.
(pictured above winning the AFC Wimbledon Minithon in September), met with players today at the training ground to provide individual plans for them to follow.Jason MoriartyWimbledon’s fitness coach
, Jason said: “We held a meeting today after the end of the season with the manager talking about various things and I also spoke to the boys about what we require from them during the off season. I do not like to refer to it as an ‘off season’ because it is a transition between seasons. The players have a few weeks now when they can relax physically and mentally after a hard season. Then we will look to develop a good aerobic base and their strength. They will then come back into training and not be fatigued because they have maintained the work in their legs.Dons PlayerSpeaking to Rob Cornell on
“We do not want them to come back ultra-fit – that is one thing that the manager said to me when I was devising their training programmes. Neal spoke to me about the previous close seasons he has completed and we want them to come back at a level where they can progress through the pre-season and reduce the risk of injury. We want to create robustness within the squad that will get us through the season. When they come back for pre-season they will do a yo-yo intermittent recovery test, which is similar to the bleep test, but they get a period of rest. That will measure the amount of intense intervals that the players can do which will transfer onto the pitch.”
Jason, who has just completed his first full-time season as Wimbledon’s Fitness Coach after joining the club in 2008, added that he has really enjoyed working with the current management team because they have embraced sports science.
“It has been difficult, but certainly enjoyable,” Jason added. “If you look at the form table since January the team would probably be around eighth in the division and that is a massive turnaround from the first-half of this season. In terms of Sports Science Neal Ardley has wanted to use that knowledge to advance what we do, which is brilliant for me.
“We monitor heart rates a lot and look at the amount of time that they train and training load, which is a combination of intensity and duration. We look at the time that they spend above 80 per cent and the time that they spend above 90 per cent purely because during a game the majority of the time will be spent in those two heart rate zones. There is a significantly higher proportion of players performing above 80 per cent of their maximum heart rates. Certainly, the way that Neal does training there are more players above 90 per cent of their maximum heart rates than before and that is a great thing to be able to say.”
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