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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: * HTML is OFF * Forum Code is ON Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by Mexxx[/i] [br][img]http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Photo/competitions/UCL/56669_400X600.jpg[/img] No pain, no gain Monday, 28 July 2003 By Berend Scholten For AFC Ajax, the first important task this season is to be prepared for the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, in which the Amsterdam club will play against Albania's KS Tirana or Grazer AK of Austria. Season’s goals Coach Ronald Koeman and his team began preparations for the new season on 7 July. For Koeman, the goals for the campaign are clear: "We have to play for all prizes, national and international. That is something that goes together with this club, just as we are synonymous with attacking and attractive football." Success ingredients While Koeman and his assistant, Ruud Krol, take care of the football part of preparations, the coach also knows that [b]good physical condition is one of the ingredients for success.[/b] For that, Koeman relies on the Ajax fitness trainer, René Wormhoudt, who takes care of the 'blood, sweat and tears' on the training ground. Three stages The first week of Ajax's pre-season was spent training twice a day at the club's own ArenA complex, with the second week spent at the 'De Lutte' training camp – a tradition going back 30 years. For the third week the squad travelled to England, to play their first serious preparation matches. [b]Fitness measured The players' physical condition is tested by the fitness trainer. On the second day of training, Wormhoudt first gave the players a shuttle-run test, in which their physical condition was measured. The fat percentage of the players was also measured, allowing the coaches to know how well the players had maintained their fitness during the holidays. [/b] Match training As the first week progressed, the players began to do more ball work. In the second week, the aim was to improve their overall physical condition even further. [b]Due to the blistering heat, however, the training programme had to be rescheduled. Most walking and running exercises were held in the morning, while afternoon sessions focused on training exercises.[/b] Liquid needed About 70 litres of water were consumed in each training session, along with special sports drinks - in the summer heat players lose about three litres of moisture per session. [b]Physiotherapist Frank van Deurs, meanwhile, addressed players' complaints about painful muscles. [i]"That is normal at this stage of the preparations," he said. [u]"When you do not feel anything by now, you have not worked hard enough,"[/i][/u] Five aspects[b] For fitness trainer Wormhoudt, the physical condition of the players is built up out of [u][i]five main aspects - strength, speed, stamina, suppleness and co-ordination.[/u][/i] "A lot of people see physical condition as stamina," he explained. "But these five aspect are very closely related to each other. To give one example, <b>for starting speed you need strength." [/b] Cross-country runs [b]Consequently, Wormhoudt does not believe too much in long runs. "In a match, a player never runs 30 minutes at the same tempo," he said. "That is why instead of long runs, I prefer to have the player do a cross-country run with hills in it." [/b] Heart-pulse metre Every player is tested once with a heart-pulse metre, which is later repeated in a friendly match against amateur opposition. This way, the intensity of both training and matches is tested. And after close deliberation with the technical and medical staff, training sessions can be adjusted. Power training [b]Wormhoudt also believes in regular power training. "I work a lot on trunk power. For a lot of players, it can prevent groin or back injuries if they have strong stomach muscles. During the season I now want to continue this, because it is strange to build up your muscles in six weeks, and then do nothing with them any more."[/b] [/quote]   Check here to include your profile signature.