Fittest team in the land

Paolo Di Canio is completing a £30million summer “revolution” at Sunderland - with a vow that his players will be the fittest in the land.

Skipper John O’Shea has lifted the lid on the Italian coach’s “intense” summer of changes and promised the Black Cats will be a revitalised force next season.

A whirlwind pre-season has given a first taste of the maverick boss’s methods - and bid to create a “new identity” for the Wearsiders founded on hard-work, intensity, discipline and a more flowing passing game.

Di Canio admits he is driven by the fear he’ll only get one big chance at proving himself as a Premier League boss.

He has already signed 10 new players, most recently Czech defender Ondrej Celustka, who has arrived on a season-long loan from Trabzonspor, this summer, and hopes there will be more to come - Spurs midfielder Tom Huddlestone is the main target.

Surrounded by all those arrivals, Di Canio is determined that next week’s big kick-off against Fulham will prove a new dawn.

The last two months have certainly woken up Sunderland’s players.

Pre-season has been a 9am to 6pm job for them, including a double fitness session in the mornings, before lunch and rest at the training ground or hotel, then a football-based session at 4pm.

It all started with one vow from Di Canio: “You will see the fittest Sunderland team that has ever been. That has to be the base for a footballer.”

Players have been speaking of their being in their best shape ever, but are also wondering when the intensity level will drop.

Di Canio and his close-knit backroom staff hold the theory that if Sunderland can’t match the top five for quality, they’ll give them a run for their money - especially late in matches - with their physical powers.

Diets have been strictly controlled, with players now joking about having pasta and tomato sauce for every meal.

Even the menu of a recent plane journey was changed to remove more luxurious items.

Throwing so many new nationalities together, with some players not speaking English, posed a problem.

So Di Canio decided to make all players “twin up” on the training trips to Italy, Hong Kong and Denmark.

Room keys are now allocated by the boss, so one British or Irish player is paired with a foreign star to help break down the language barrier, and English is the required language on the training pitch.

Di Canio hasn’t stood back and watched his stars sweat and toil - he has led many of the running sessions, and got stuck into strength sessions too... the idea is to inspire the players to go the extra mile when they see the manager, aged 45, setting the pace.

Indeed, the question being asked behind the scenes at Sunderland is when Di Canio will ease off the relentless pace of his reforms.

As well as needing a good rollicking - John O’Shea calls Di Canio’s raised voice as “like a flamethrower” compared to Sir Alex Ferguson’s legendary hairdryer - players will also need more gentle encouragement.

O’Shea said: “It’s been intense. When we came back in for pre-season, the manager said, 'It’s a revolution.' Two sessions in the morning, and then plenty of rest and good food. Then we go again late in the afternoon.

“Lads were coming and going. Signing, leaving. The new lads were quite determined to prove themselves, it’s like a fresh start for everyone.

“Di Canio is very ambitious, very hungry. I’ve seen his appetite for the training sessions and the work he puts in and the detail he works to. He’s intense but I’ve never met a manager who isn’t. He wants to make a mark on his team. He’s got that passion, you see it on the sidelines and team talks.

“He’s been hands on - he doesn’t like to be called the manager, does he? He’s the coach - involved in everything, even strength sessions! He keeps himself in good nick.”

There will also be a change of style this season.

O’Shea added: “We’re wanting to play a lot more from the back.

“There’s lots more for the fans to enjoy this season. More fluid movement and interchanging with the wide players and attacking talent we have. Lots more to enjoy.

“It’s been bubbling under at this club since I came [from Manchester United two years ago] but it could still happen and we’ll be doing all we can to make [a finish in the] top 10 a reality.

“The Premier League is so unforgiving. Teams are spending incredible money just to stay in the league, so to be in the top half you face lots of competition but we’re determined to do it - the manager especially.”


A typical pre-season day for a Sunderland player

8am: Get up.

9am: Drive to training.

9.30am: Breakfast in canteen. Porridge, fruit - no bacon sandwiches allowed.

10.30am: Double training session starts. Running work, interval training, spinning classes. All distances and speeds recorded by GPS monitors.

11.45am: Short break.

Noon: Gym for strength training, stretching, pilates.

1pm: Shower and change.

1.30pm: Lunch - pasta, rice, chicken, tomato sauce.

2.30pm: Rest and relaxation at hotel or training ground. Sleep or games, including table tennis.

4pm: Training pitch for football session - ball work, tactics. Includes work on fluid passing and working the ball from defence to attack.

6pm: Shower and home.

8pm: Early night after evening in front of TV (or that's what they tell Di Canio!).

 

they call that work? it sounds like a great day off to me. up at 8! breakfast and lunch served and a nap afterwards before a kick about. ****s sakes!

 

I think I love that man!

 

I know of lads on the park at 6.15 AM four days a week before heading off to school & then back to the park afterwards.....bloody light weights

 

A lot harder than any other club though, I agree it's a doddle compared to most jobs like

 

This fitness lark could result in lots of late goals for us. Here's hoping.

 

I agree Nordic. It also makes me laugh when they talk about player been tired after a long flight. A long haul flight in 1st class really isn't the hardest thing in the world for these prima donna's I mean, they have a bed, drink, tv, blankets, cushions, meals and i'm sure the hostess's will offer some interesting alternative services as well if requested. Hardly a day at the coal face is it.

 

Fantastic to hear from all you experts on here, cannot believe you are not all in the game,please tell us all what you do, apart from advise pro trainers and managers

 

Well a day at work for me in 9-6, but I don't get to take a kip during the middle.

Really pleased the see the fitness levels up, a fit premiership team are always dangerous if the can run around just as well in the 90th minute as they can in the first. Late goals, pressuring defences into mistakes, giving everything they have. That's what I want to see from my team.

 

put all the hard work in pre season, top it up during season . Be super fit, so that when you actually play the game its a walk in the park .
Should be how it is anyway the slacker`s . Getting paid to be fit is a great way to earn a living I think they all know that .They all know what they are letting themselves in for and it sounds like the one`s already there , came in and on the way have got the gut`s to put the extra hard work in and reap the rewards .

 

? no-one, from what i can gather, is criticising the fact our players are being put through their paces to make them as fit as possible - and rightly so. but they should be as fit as possible, they're professional athletes ffs, and all for a measly 25 k+ per week.

for the majority of us who work in a 'normal job' (up at 6, home by 7 for me and i try to squeze in 2hrs sport/fitness per day) to describe the following day as 'high intensity' creases me up:

in for breakfast at 9:30 to start work at 10:30, a break for lunch and a nice afternoon nap or 'games' followed by a couple more hours playing with a ball, strategy and formations before home time at 6pm.

maybe it's high intensity for someone who sits around scratching their arse or playing with their knob all day. each to their own, i suppose.

 

Well said Nordic. Take a look at how the Brownlee brothers train.... 4,500 meters in the water before Sunderland's players get to work!

6.15am Rise and shine
6.30am Breakfast. A bowl of cereal such as Special K for Jonathan. Alistair goes for porridge with Nutella.
7-8.30am Four and a half kilometre swim. “We start with a 1km warm-up and then do some drills,” the brothers explain. Jonathan’s favourite is the single-arm drill, in which you swim for 25 metres with one arm straight out in front of you, performing a normal stroke with the other arm. “It’s great for working on your stroke technique, building the efficiency of your working arm,” he says. After finishing the drills, the brothers do some endurance swimming, before finishing the session with a series of 600m sprints.
Training tip Swimming is the most technical discipline of the triathlon, so it’s in the pool that you need to put the hours in perfecting your form. “Spend a lot of time working on your pull,” advises Alistair. Try back-touch drills: perform a normal stroke and, when pulling back, remove your hand from the water and touch the other side of your body. This ensures you pull back to the full extent of your stroke, getting you into good habits for competition.
8.30am Post-swim snack. The Brownlees head to a café for a toasted teacake or scone.
Training tip Opt for a raisin scone. A new study in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition found that eating raisins before a three mile run cut participants' time down by an average of one minute – exactly the same performance-boost enjoyed by runners who ate expensive sports nutrient bars.
9.30am Run. Start with some glutes stretches, then into drills, including leg pick-ups, high-knee runs and hamstring-flicks – all designed to improve foot speed and reduce contact time with the ground. For each drill on the running track, the Brownlees do 40 metres, walk back to the beginning, then do another 40m for a total of 10 sets.
Training tip Despite the vogue for interval training, it's crucial to put in the long and slow miles as well as your hard and fast sessions. "Only 10% of my running is speed work," says Alistair. "You have to get in the easy miles as well.”
11am Circuit training. Three times a week – on the days in which the morning swim session is skipped – the Brownlees head to the gym with coach Ian Piper. Their warm-up circuit includes skipping and calf-strength exercises such as toe walks (walking back and forth on your tip toes) and calf raises. Perform each exercise for 45 seconds with 15 seconds between moves.
Then it's on to the main circuit. Do four sets of four reps of the following three exercise.
Single-leg squats
Dumbbell lunges
Deadlifts
Training tip Hips and glutes are major injury areas for triathletes, so concentrate on strengthening them with dedicated moves. Try bolting on dumbbell squats, lying single-leg raises, hip raises, weighted press-ups or hip lifts to the end of your workout.
12.30pm Lunch. Ham and pepper omelette for Jonathan. Jacket potato or tuna pasta for Alistair.
1.30pm Bike ride for 3½ hours including a short café stop.
5.30pm Short run.
6pm Post-training snack. Gatorade. The sports drink contains calcium for your bones, protein for your muscles and electrolytes to aid recovery.
7.30pm Dinner. Fish pie or chilli for Jonathan. Red meat and vegetables for Alistair.
Training tip Carrying a little extra weight through the course? A new study in the journal Digestive Diseases and Sciences found the capsaicin found in chilli helps to significantly reduces abdominal 'visceral' fat. Make your pie scalding.
9.30pm Bedtime. Once a week the brothers see a physio for a sports massage in the evening before hitting the sack.

http://www.menshealth.co.uk/blogs/train-like-an-olympian/alistair-brownlee-jonathan-brownlee-training-and-nutrition

 

Nothing worse than long haul in pleb class though.