Fitness testing at Staplewood

[Giordano]

As someone who has worked in the Health and Fitness industry for nearly twenty years i have more than a passing interest in the news that NA is going to conduct various types of fitness tests at Staplewood after tomorrows game.

 

It makes absolute sense. He needs to know what the raw material hes got to work with is capable of. An objective battery of tests will give him a scientific answer with no bull****. He will know who is capable of running for faster for longer, who is stronger who can jump higher who has fastest recovery time who has optimal body mass index what the respective VO2 max's are etc etc. It will include diet and out of club refuelling habits too.

 

Note that this is nothing to do with tactics at this point or formations and so on. Its basic basic stuff. Its what the smart guy would do and build it up from there. If what im hearing is correct and that the physical conditioning of our players is not up to last year then NA WILL know immediatly how to put that right and can and should insist on it being rectified asap. WHEN the players are fit, THEN they can do what you say regarding tactics formations etc. If they are not fit then forget it. Once they are objectively fit- well if they do not or cannot perform then it is either a competency issue ( they are not good enough) or a management issue ( his tactics and man management dont work) or both.

 

Id say the first port of call once they fit and if they not performing would be the player competency issue. I'd give it two/three weeks tops. After that they should all be at optimal levels, they cannot be that far behind. If they not improving performance expect player turnover...

 

If anyone has any information regarding the type of tests Nigel will be using later this then please let me know. I could just try calling him up and asking if he could tell me himself - may well do anyway, but if there is anyone itk out there ( pilchards?) please pm me..Ta.

[AK]

As someone who has worked in the Health and Fitness industry for nearly twenty years i have more than a passing interest in the news that NA is going to conduct various types of fitness tests at Staplewood after tomorrows game.

 

 

Can you point me in the direction of this story i seemed to have missed it.

 

Thanks.

[doddisalegend]

As someone who has worked in the Health and Fitness industry for nearly twenty years i have more than a passing interest in the news that NA is going to conduct various types of fitness tests at Staplewood after tomorrows game.

 

It makes absolute sense. He needs to know what the raw material hes got to work with is capable of. An objective battery of tests will give him a scientific answer with no bull****. He will know who is capable of running for faster for longer, who is stronger who can jump higher who has fastest recovery time who has optimal body mass index what the respective VO2 max's are etc etc. It will include diet and out of club refuelling habits too.

 

Note that this is nothing to do with tactics at this point or formations and so on. Its basic basic stuff. Its what the smart guy would do and build it up from there. If what im hearing is correct and that the physical conditioning of our players is not up to last year then NA WILL know immediatly how to put that right and can and should insist on it being rectified asap. WHEN the players are fit, THEN they can do what you say regarding tactics formations etc. If they are not fit then forget it. Once they are objectively fit- well if they do not or cannot perform then it is either a competency issue ( they are not good enough) or a management issue ( his tactics and man management dont work) or both.

 

Id say the first port of call once they fit and if they not performing would be the player competency issue. I'd give it two/three weeks tops. After that they should all be at optimal levels, they cannot be that far behind. If they not improving performance expect player turnover...

 

If anyone has any information regarding the type of tests Nigel will be using later this then please let me know. I could just try calling him up and asking if he could tell me himself - may well do anyway, but if there is anyone itk out there ( pilchards?) please pm me..Ta.

 

What straight after? thats going to be a long evening for the players.

[Giordano]

A 606 blogger with direct access to a player has posted that this is going to happen- bbc 606....it seems bona fide ...link is posted elsewhere on the forum...

Can you point me in the direction of this story i seemed to have missed it.

 

Thanks.

[Turkish]

get um on the good old beep test, that'll seperate the men from the boys.

[a1ex2001]

Don't think this will happen! He's not going to ask players to work like hell for 90 minutes then bus them two hours back to staplewood to work even more. Think of the injury risks and what littl he will learn about the players given there mental and physical state after a match and coach ride. If he does this and fonte or similar gets injured it would be unthinkable!

[Essruu]

They do heart rate and other tests when they get back to Staplewood after away matches already.

[Pancake]

bbc 606....it seems bona fide

 

That's up there with "dr who ... he's a real doctor you know" and "it's in The Sun ... it must be true"

[DT]

In other news, Pope announces he is Catholic and bears go to the woods for poo poo.

[CanadaSaint]

Forget the timing. I think this, as Giordano says, makes absolute sense - all the more so for the fact that A) we seem to dominate early and lose relatively late, and B) we don't seem able to find a second gear when we need to save a game.

 

In fact, the hoofing that seems to appear after half time may also be more a product of lacking fitness rather than tactical stupidity. If players aren't running off the ball as much and creating pass options, the only choice is to hoof.

 

Higher fitness levels, for me, is almost priority one. Until this side gets fitter we'll continue to get turned over by teams that don't have our skill levels.

 

And when the results of the fitness testing come out, I wouldn't be surprised to hear a few more Cortese shots at Pardew for his lacking pre-season preparation.

[doddisalegend]

They do heart rate and other tests when they get back to Staplewood after away matches already.

 

What even evening games? what about trips to Carlisle or Oldham? I mean after Bournemouth fair enough but MK is two hours away they won't get back until after mid-night. Fair play if it's true maybe there not as pampered as I thought.

[The9]

Makes sense to get some accurate measures of the type that the new manager wants, maybe the ones who undoubtedly already have from pre-season don't meet his requirements.

 

Or maybe he's just trying to scare the sh111t out of the players so they try a bit harder.

[Saint_clark]

get um on the good old beep test, that'll seperate the men from the boys.

 

People are saying these things like they weren't already happening, but they did bleep tests at regular points in pre-season as a basic indicator of fitness levels.

If I remember correctly Harding and Connolly lasted the longest.

[Ian the Red]

Heard that NA was not impressed with the levels of fitness of at least 5 senior players @ training yesterday, so this would make sense. Lets face, Lambert, Puncheon, Hammond, Jaidi all look unfit so who else??

[The Kraken]

Heard that NA was not impressed with the levels of fitness of at least 5 senior players @ training yesterday, so this would make sense. Lets face, Lambert, Puncheon, Hammond, Jaidi all look unfit so who else??

 

Seaborne has hardly featured so maybe him too. Lee Holmes is always unfit so throw him in. Wouldn't be surprised if Connolly is being nursed with minimal training so maybe off the pace. It's too long a list at 5, to be fair.

[Tokyo-Saint]

Part of me thinks it is all propaganda. This always happens when a new manager starts. I remember Pardew wanted to get the team fit as the Wotte only did ball work etc. If we are unfit now but much fitter than before then just how unfit where we before??

 

I don’t buy it, Lambert has lost loads of weight since working with Pardew and has said a number of times that nutrition etc has been pointed out to him.

 

Also, I remember Pardew saying how much he was improving the scouting network as we didn’t have one before due to finances. What is the next ‘leak’ that Adkins is now implementing a scouting network?

 

Not that I believe either story just don’t like being sold propaganda and that is what I think this might be.

[Lord Duckhunter]

I dont know if its true or not, but from my untrained eye the players dont look as fit as the opposition this season.

[The9]

Part of me thinks it is all propaganda. This always happens when a new manager starts. I remember Pardew wanted to get the team fit as the Wotte only did ball work etc. If we are unfit now but much fitter than before then just how unfit where we before??

 

I don’t buy it, Lambert has lost loads of weight since working with Pardew and has said a number of times that nutrition etc has been pointed out to him.

 

Also, I remember Pardew saying how much he was improving the scouting network as we didn’t have one before due to finances. What is the next ‘leak’ that Adkins is now implementing a scouting network?

 

Not that I believe either story just don’t like being sold propaganda and that is what I think this might be.

 

Lambert for one is tangibly not as slim as he was at the end of last season, and in his first league game was barely moving off the ball and was obviously not fit.

 

I had it down to the slimming effect of stripes for about 10 minutes, then he just didn't bother running and most notably failed to get himself out wide into the positions I think he shouldn't be in anyway (when he invariably crosses it to our shorter other striker), so I figured he had to be unfit.

[doddisalegend]

I dont know if its true or not, but from my untrained eye the players dont look as fit as the opposition this season.

 

I'm not sure if its fitness or mental TBH they didn't have any trouble when they were putting brizzile to the sword. They just seem to deflate mentally when they go behind this season. Last season they just kept going even when they went a goal behind. Even Lambert looked more like he was struggling mentally than fitness wise to me against Rochdale.

[simo]

I think with any job if the boss or an authority figure isn't about people ease back and chill out

[Tokyo-Saint]

I know the players seem unfit compared to last year, Lambert looked like he was running in slow motion when he was put through against Leyton Orient. My point is, did Pardew and the whole medical and fitness staff just stop all the good work from last year? On the last game of the season everyone looked on top of their game. We would often finish the stronger and many of our goals came in the 2nd half.

 

I heard Pardew was having them in for a fitness test half way through the break to ensure nobody let themselves go too badly and the next thing we hear is that everyone was unfit like some kind of pub team, the morning after a lock in.

 

I think several players picked up injuries in preseason, we didn’t play enough games, nowhere near enough competitive games (except Pulis who should be on top form).

 

I really believe much of it must be in their minds, can’t be arsed etc. Hopefully a good kick up the arse and a new boss will do the job.

 

I am not buying the whole ‘this is a new idea’ fitness thing, more like this is a new boss now get motivated. Either that or Pardew took his eye off the ball? Seems unlikely as he knew his neck and reputation was on the line this season.

[CanadaSaint]

We could find out tomorrow night whether it's "can't be fit" or "can't be arsed".

 

If we see a team that keeps up the tempo, creates space with off-the-ball running, maintains its width into the final third, doesn't resort to hoofing, and can find another gear if we're chasing the game (or chasing a win), then we might have our answer.

 

It may well be a bit of both, along with a need to respond to timely tactical adjustments from the bench.

 

But if it waddles like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. I still think fitness is a problem.

[up and away]

I know the players seem unfit compared to last year, Lambert looked like he was running in slow motion when he was put through against Leyton Orient. My point is, did Pardew and the whole medical and fitness staff just stop all the good work from last year? On the last game of the season everyone looked on top of their game. We would often finish the stronger and many of our goals came in the 2nd half.

 

I heard Pardew was having them in for a fitness test half way through the break to ensure nobody let themselves go too badly and the next thing we hear is that everyone was unfit like some kind of pub team, the morning after a lock in.

 

I think several players picked up injuries in preseason, we didn’t play enough games, nowhere near enough competitive games (except Pulis who should be on top form).

 

I really believe much of it must be in their minds, can’t be arsed etc. Hopefully a good kick up the arse and a new boss will do the job.

 

I am not buying the whole ‘this is a new idea’ fitness thing, more like this is a new boss now get motivated. Either that or Pardew took his eye off the ball? Seems unlikely as he knew his neck and reputation was on the line this season.

 

Were we ever that fit under Pardew? We certainly had some superb performances, but that was always sandwiched in with non efforts that cost us any chance of the play off's.

[Channon's Sideburns]

Told you this before, Pardew was Burley Mk2.

[1976_Child]

Told you this before' date=' Pardew was Burley Mk2.[/quote']

 

well after Burley left the fitness as improved massively by one Nigel, so here's hoping that another Nigel will improve the fitness as well. Got to say that they haven't looked that fit so far this season.

[eelpie]

I dont know if its true or not, but from my untrained eye the players dont look as fit as the opposition this season.

 

Not only that but they look too scared to tackle in case they get thumped.

[Wade Garrett]

You don't need a Sports Science degree to notice that Lambert is a lardarse at the moment.

[Turkish]

Were we ever that fit under Pardew? We certainly had some superb performances, but that was always sandwiched in with non efforts that cost us any chance of the play off's.

 

I do remember the 'reason' given for a couple of poor results were that the players were jaded after the previous game, seemed that some couldn't play properly for two games a week.

[dubai_phil]

You don't need a Sports Science degree to notice that Lambert is a lardarse at the moment.

 

About 3 weeks back there was a pic of him on the OS. I commented at the time that it seemed he had a beer gut. Does this make me ITK finally?

[moon monkey]

If it turns out the players fitness are not to an acceptable level by Adkins standard then surely Nick Harvey should be out the door. He is one of the few remaining from the old regime and perhaps his position should be closely monitored.

[Stud mark of doom]

Part of me thinks it is all propaganda. This always happens when a new manager starts.

 

Not quite. Pretty sure Luggy didn't make this point when he took over from WGS.

[Dalek2003]

Both Hoddle and WGS had the players super fit. We won games in the last 25, but since that clown Luggy, we have had a habit of losing in the last 15

[tobes8]

Both Hoddle and WGS had the players super fit. We won games in the last 25, but since that clown Luggy, we have had a habit of losing in the last 15

 

Under WGS the players were extremely fit. I actually took the first team for spin classes to build fitness and endurance during pre season. I actually offered again at the beginning of this season and did not even get a reply!! it was obvious the team were not fit from the first match of the season!

[suewhistle]

I thought we had a whole training set-up with staff dedicated to conditioning: I find it difficult to believe that it's purely a matter of basic fitness. I'd imagine there'd be testing all the time: raw speed (they know how fast OC is, for example, compared with Theo), bleep tests, body fat index, pulmonary capacity etc. To give Lambert his due he admitted in a recent interview that he wasn't fit after returning from injury but last season was complimenting the staff for the improvement in his fitness.

 

So although there is room for improvement from what I've seen (only Plymouth and Os) I don't see the situation being anything like it was under Burley.

[Marsdinho]

Maybe some of them need to go on the Adkins diet....

[SaintRichmond]

Part of me thinks it is all propaganda. This always happens when a new manager starts. I remember Pardew wanted to get the team fit as the Wotte only did ball work etc. If we are unfit now but much fitter than before then just how unfit where we before??

 

I don’t buy it, Lambert has lost loads of weight since working with Pardew and has said a number of times that nutrition etc has been pointed out to him.

 

Also, I remember Pardew saying how much he was improving the scouting network as we didn’t have one before due to finances. What is the next ‘leak’ that Adkins is now implementing a scouting network?

 

Not that I believe either story just don’t like being sold propaganda and that is what I think this might be.

 

Propaganda ?????

 

Have you BEEN to any matches this season ???

 

They are very very unfit compared to last year, and you don't need a Degree to come to that conclusion, just average eyesight

[Tokyo-Saint]

Propaganda ?????

 

Have you BEEN to any matches this season ???

 

They are very very unfit compared to last year, and you don't need a Degree to come to that conclusion, just average eyesight

 

Well we have been sold propaganda at some point along.

 

It was either when everyday of the preseason was on the official site, spin classes, intensive training, the danger of over training etc.

 

Or the new manager has suddenly invented getting fit as being part of the need for a professional sportman. One or the other was BS! They can’t both be true.

 

If it is that the team didn’t really have such a hard preseason as the official site made out at the time then why? They said when Pardew took over that he was focusing on fitness as an area we could improve. The preseason under Wotte was mainly ball work, so we needed to catch up on that. So why this season did Pardew not work on fitness? Did he just stop caring?

 

FYI I have been to most games this season. The players who look unfit seem to be Puncheon, Lambert and Lallana (all injured or coming back from injuries) & Jaidi and Connelly (both over the hill).

 

The others seem to be more or less the same as last year. Hammond seems less interested but I can’t be sure this is down to fitness.

 

I am not making a judgement, just asking if a) it is true (injuries aside) 2) If yes why? Did Pardew stop caring? Is this the reason he was sacked?

 

We looked pretty fit against Bristol Rovers. Does the result have an influence on people’s opinion on fitness?

[moon monkey]

Jan Molby, Micky Quinn, Thomas Brolin are set to coming to add some extra weight to the fitness staff.

[Foxstone]

Jan Molby, Micky Quinn, Thomas Brolin are set to coming to add some extra weight to the fitness staff.

 

Great - Lets really roll back the years and sign Fattie Foulkes as our new goalkeeper.

[SaintRichmond]

Well we have been sold propaganda at some point along.

 

It was either when everyday of the preseason was on the official site, spin classes, intensive training, the danger of over training etc.

 

Or the new manager has suddenly invented getting fit as being part of the need for a professional sportman. One or the other was BS! They can’t both be true.

 

If it is that the team didn’t really have such a hard preseason as the official site made out at the time then why? They said when Pardew took over that he was focusing on fitness as an area we could improve. The preseason under Wotte was mainly ball work, so we needed to catch up on that. So why this season did Pardew not work on fitness? Did he just stop caring?

 

FYI I have been to most games this season. The players who look unfit seem to be Puncheon, Lambert and Lallana (all injured or coming back from injuries) & Jaidi and Connelly (both over the hill).

 

The others seem to be more or less the same as last year. Hammond seems less interested but I can’t be sure this is down to fitness.

 

I am not making a judgement, just asking if a) it is true (injuries aside) 2) If yes why? Did Pardew stop caring? Is this the reason he was sacked?

 

We looked pretty fit against Bristol Rovers. Does the result have an influence on people’s opinion on fitness?

 

IMHO It seems it can be covered by one word, APATHY

 

As you acknowledge, some players ARE unfit, and some ARE over the hill

 

Interesting that you hint at Pardew "not caring", because I thought that since his "tiff" with Nicola re "why JPT over the League" he certainly was NOT 100% with SAints. Perhaps he just got "stale"

 

Whatever it was, it certainly DID affect our performances on the pitch IMHO

 

They do say a new broom sweeps clean, but I think that Adkins may only require to dust lightly to get the spark back into what IS, on paper, a very good Squad

[the wedge]

Sorry if this has already been covered somewhere.. But does anyone know if Dean Wilkins has been around for training this week since NA came in?

[RonManager]

Sorry if this has already been covered somewhere.. But does anyone know if Dean Wilkins has been around for training this week since NA came in?

 

He can be seen on the training ground during the background filming which accompanies Adkins interviews on SaintsPlayer yesterday.

[View From The Top]

I dont know if its true or not, but from my untrained eye the players dont look as fit as the opposition this season.

 

You are not alone in that.

[Bucks Saint]

If it turns out the players fitness are not to an acceptable level by Adkins standard then surely Nick Harvey should be out the door. He is one of the few remaining from the old regime and perhaps his position should be closely monitored.

 

That might be harsh - depends how much of a free hand he had under AP or whether he could only do as he was directed

[Cricketphilly]

Heard that NA was not impressed with the levels of fitness of at least 5 senior players @ training yesterday, so this would make sense. Lets face, Lambert, Puncheon, Hammond, Jaidi all look unfit so who else??

 

Me i'm afraid

[suewhistle]

FYI I have been to most games this season. The players who look unfit seem to be Puncheon, Lambert and Lallana (all injured or coming back from injuries) & Jaidi and Connelly (both over the hill).

 

The others seem to be more or less the same as last year. Hammond seems less interested but I can’t be sure this is down to fitness.

 

This ties in with my post above. Even if Pardew wasn't making a noise about it I can't see the conditioning staff letting up. They'd have all the figures from last season and know what they want to achieve. Having seen Jaidi in switzerland for example I'd agree he's over the hill but they still had him out on the pitch after the friendly doing sprints.

 

Either way, fitness or desire, it'll be interesting to see how the team respond.