Aberdeen FC players ready for tough training schedule
Stuart Duff is raring to go
Published:
STUART Duff insisted the Aberdeen FC players were ready for anything Mark McGhee was going to throw at them today.
New Aberdeen FC manager McGhee was set to take training for the first time, on his first official day in charge at Pittodrie.
McGhee previously vowed to put the squad through a tough training regime to get them ready for the big kick-off.
But Duff was sure all of the players worked over-time in their summer holidays to keep fit.
He said: “We have been working on a training schedule for the last two weeks.
“The gaffer said that pre-season training will be hard, and I wouldn’t have expected anything less.
“In the schedule there are a lot of 800 and 1000 metre runs, along with varied exercises such as sit-ups and press-ups.
“Pre-season is probably the most important time of the year, as we need to get our fitness up for the rest of the season.
“Training is always difficult, but if you come back with a good level of fitness you shouldn’t go too far wrong.
“Some managers I’ve played under get the footballs out quite early, but I would expect the first couple of weeks will be running based.
“It’s entirely up to the manager though, so we will just have to wait and see what he does.”
Every Dons player was issued with a series of exercises before McGhee was even appointed manager.
Duff is confident all of his team-mates will have done the routine at the bare minimum and be ready to build up their fitness levels even further.
“You can obviously stick to it or do other things as well, such as cycling,” said Duff.
“It’s beneficial if you do it as it’s a hard time of year and you can lose a lot of fitness.
“It’s important to keep on top of it.
“Pre-season training is always difficult.
“The boys won’t have done much in the first couple of weeks they were off because you always need a rest.
“I would imagine most of the players would have stuck to something along the lines of the schedule.
“I’ve mixed it up by doing a bit of cycling and swimming as well.
“It’s just something different as I don’t want to do constant running.”
Duff has worked on his own in pre-season.
The 27-year-old spent most of his time in Dundee, as well as going on a Mediterranean cruise.
He came back to Aberdeen last week ahead of new manger McGhee’s first day in charge.
Upon his return Duff wasted no time in getting on his bike, to make sure he was not left lagging behind when the hard work started today.
He said: “I’m sure some of the boys have met up and maybe gone to Balgownie.
“But I’ve been down to Dundee over the summer and I’ve just come up to Aberdeen in the last week.
“I’ve been doing a bit of work up here in the last couple of days.
“I was out to Banchory and back on the bike, which wasn’t too bad.”
One type of training Duff avoided was running on hard surfaces.
The former Dundee United player underwent double knee surgery last season.
With McGhee giving all the players a clean slate and the chance to make an impression from today, the last thing Duff wanted was to be sidelined.
He said: “Running on hard surfaces is not too good for my knees. I prefer to run on grass.
“I haven’t been doing too much road running, just a little bit, because I don’t want my knees to flare up again.
“Swimming is really good for me and it’s quite relaxing.”
