Iron manager Russ Wilcox has stated that the players undertook a tough first pre-season training session on Thursday morning and that he was pleased with how things went.
The squad came back in for pre-season testing last Tuesday but now the real work starts with just over a month until the beginning of the 2014-15 League One season.
And Wilcox was happy that the opening session went as expected but stressed the importance of gradually easing the players back in.
“I was really pleased with how the first day of pre-season training went, everything was as expected,” he told the Iron Player.
“We did the testing day nine days ago so I think that was more important as that gave us an indication of where the lads were and we know what they can do now.
“We’ve pushed them a little bit today and the feedback that we’ve had is that it was a tough session which is good but it’s not about where you start, it’s about where you finish.
“We’ve got to make sure that we gradually ease them in, making sure we’re right.
“The important part of it is making sure we’re injury free, that’s the key. The worst thing you can do is pick injuries up in the first couple of days but we’ll continue to work hard.”
The squad are back in again tomorrow for another training session before a boxing exercise later in the afternoon.
That’s something that the players did a lot during training last season and Wilcox believes it is important to mix things up.
He continued: “There will be some ball work involved but it’s about getting miles in the legs really.
“It’s not an enjoyable time but it’s a lot more structured nowadays and there’s a lot more ball work with it.
“Then we’ll do a boxing session tomorrow afternoon, which we did a lot last season and it worked really well.
“It’s something different and the lads enjoyed that so we’ll do a couple of boxing sessions in the next few weeks just to mix things up.”
After more training next week, the squad will then travel down to Champneys Spa Resort in order to aid their pre-season preparations and bed some of the new players into the team.
Wilcox is looking forward to the trip and hopes that the players will benefit from a few days away with each other.
“It’ll be good to get away and good for the new players to be around everyone else’s company, 24 hours a day,” Wilcox added.
“It will give the players the chance to work with the others a little bit more as they’re going to be there for three days solid.
“There will be a chance to get two or three sessions in a day and there’s a nice pitch there as well which gives us chance to work on a little bit of team shape so we’re looking forward to it.”