Source: Team_Talk
TT meets Liverpool fitness guru: Pt 2
Read part two of Mark Holmes' interview with Liverpool's Head of Fitness Darren Burgess as he reveals who's hot and who's not in Reds training.[LNB] Darren Burgess has worked as Liverpool's Head of Fitness and Conditioning since 2010. In part one of his interview, he told us about some of the training methods he has used in his role and how data is collected to help Kenny Dalglish pick his team.[LNB]In part two, Darren tells us about his experiences of working for the Australian national team and how he now liases with national sides in as part of his job at Liverpool.[LNB]He also selects the players he feels put in the best and worst shifts on the Melwood training-ground pitches.[LNB]MH: Darren, you explained to us that training schedules are tailored specifically for individual players. How much say, therefore, do clubs have about the training their players do when on international duty?[LNB]DB: Obviously we can't decide what the national teams do, but you try to speak to the doctors and the fitness people involved and ask can they continue this particular work or fitness plan we've been working on with them.[LNB]Then you get feedback from both the players and the fitness staff as to how they've handled that work load. Everybody wants the same thing at the end of the day and that's for the players to be on the park performing at their best so if you can work together that makes the job a whole lot easier.[LNB]Two players that I know you kept in regular contact with over the summer were Luis Suarez and Lucas Leiva, who were at the Copa America. What sort of information were they feeding back to you exactly?[LNB]Their training sessions, their rating of their training sessions, how long they trained for, and both Uruguay and Brazil took blood from their players pretty regularly so we were able to find out their blood scores. Lucas was sending me back some heart-rate scores at different stages as well, in fact most days he would send that back. [LNB]The national organisations want the best out of their players, especially for a tournament like the Copa America, so they're using a lot of the technology that we're using here. [LNB]Certainly when I was involved with Australia we were only too happy to hand over all the information to the clubs and we've found that most national teams are the same so it's up to myself to use the information and relay that back to the coaches when they come back for training.[LNB]On the theme of nationalities, have you found at Liverpool that players from certain countries are more receptive to the type of work you do?[LNB]Not particularly. There are cultural differences and one of the challenges I've had coming here are the different languages and cultures involved, but most of the players - although you would have to ask them - have been pretty receptive to it all. [LNB]If you explain to them and educate them that it's for their benefit, you go a long way to getting them to wear the devices and to take blood and do all the other things that you might ask them to do. [LNB]There are certainly cultural differences in the way that they approach training but in terms of being receptive to what we're trying to do they've all been pretty good.[LNB]Having worked with a national side yourself, what is your opinion on why players seem to suffer injuries more often when away with on international duty?[LNB]Well first of all, there is obviously travel associated with playing for your national team. Also, sometimes the training intensities involved with national teams might be a factor because players are trying to get selected and are only in camp for a few days. The games often fall midweek too, which is not ideal at the end of two other fixtures.[LNB]Certainly at Australia, we had some serious issues because for a home game, players like Tim Cahill from Everton and Mark Schwarzer from Fulham would have to travel 25 hours on a plane and then get back for the weekend. They might not have necessarily got injured playing for Australia but in the next couple of weeks, you'd find that they might miss a game or two because of the impact of that trip to Australia.[LNB]Now, to finish, back to Liverpool. Who are the best and worst trainers at the club, who is the strongest player, and who is the quickest?[LNB]The quickest player is probably our new signing Stewart Downing, but there's a bit of competition from Glen Johnson and Martin Kelly. [LNB]There are different degrees of strength. People like Soto (Kyrgiakos) and Martin Skrtel are obviously very strong, but Fabio Aurelio for example is incredibly strong relatively per unit of body weight.[LNB]The worst training is probably Soto who is always inching forward in any drills that you do - and he knows it! I wouldn't say that he's a bad trainer but he's certainly looking to take short cuts when it comes to running drills or warm-up drills - but he's always doing it with a smile on his face so I let him get away with it![LNB]Best trainer is hard to say but both Stevie (Gerrard) and Jamie (Carragher) do absolutely everything, will take any supplement that you might give them and will look at all their results. Lucas is the same, but I wouldn't want to single any of them out. [LNB]I've been really happy and surprised. I'd heard rumours about players being on high money and not wanting to train or listen to fitness coaches but they've really been excellent; we've got a great group here.[LNB]That's great Darren - thanks for your time and good luck for the season.[LNB]Cheers!
