Nuneaton Town's Mark Noon has said that pre-season has changed over the years.
Boro report back to the training today and speaking to the Nuneaton Town website, Noon said: "Pre-Season has really changed in the past 15 years. When I first started as an apprentice at Coventry City I remember long cross country runs and hill running in various country parks around Warwickshire. I don't think I saw a ball for the first 2 weeks!
"It was very tough and very few players managed to get through it without an injury. My ability to run a marathon might have improved however, my ability to sprint repeatedly for 90 minutes was not optimised.
"Over the past 15 years the application of science to football has really changed. Our pre-season this year will take a more scientific approach than the one I was subjected to 15 years ago. A lot of current research shows the benefits of injury prevention and football specific conditioning. Various strength exercises will be the focus of warm ups to reduce common muscle injuries such as hamstring strains, quad strains, knee injuries and ankle injuries. High intensity conditioning games where player numbers and the changes in the rules are manipulated to create an overload and improve endurance will be used.
"In addition, repeated sprints and speed work will be focused on throughout the 6 week pre-season we have. The aim of the pre- season programme is to build on the 5 week off-season programme the players undertook. This involved 3 high intensity repeated sprint sessions per week and 3 strength sessions per week. This will give the players a base to build from and reduce injury risk when we start today.
"The players have had a right go at the programme (there has also been the odd moan saying how hard it is!). The key to the whole process throughout the off-season and pre-season is progressive overload. Therefore the sessions will get slightly harder as pre-season progresses.
"As we hit the ground running going into the season, our key focus is then to maintain the fitness levels we have developed. We will monitor these fitness levels periodically throughout the season using a battery of physiological tests, allowing us to identify each individual's training needs.
"It has been really enjoyable developing the programme with the gaffer who has a very forward thinking approach to the conditioning. Also, the expertise of physio Paul Egan and fitness coach John Warren have helped develop a holistic approach to reduce injury risk and maximise performance to allow us to build successfully for next season."