Stronger, faster and fitter players
Tuesday, 15th Mar 2016Gary McColl is Dunfermline Athletic's full time Sports Scientist. He spoke to the website about his job.
"Initially when the manager got the job here he was looking for a sports scientist to come in. Through mutual contacts and my work previously at the Hearts Academy the person in charge there had previously worked with the manager at Kilmarnock and at Queen of the South. He recommended me.
"Before pre season me and the manager had a catch up and discussed what he was looking for and how I could help. I came on board initially part time just focussing on the strength aspect. That has progressed and now I am full time.
"Being in full time allows me to use the GPS and the heart rate monitors. I then do all the analysis."
How did you come about being a sports scientist?
"I am just a failed footballer to be honest. I played in the States for a number of years on a scholarship and played full time but when I reached my mid twenties I had a succession of knee injuries and had to stop playing.
"When I came back home I decided I still wanted to be involved in football. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go down the coaching side or sports scientist side. I went back to university and got my masters degree in Strength and Conditioning. I had been working alongside the Academy at Hearts and Hearts Ladies so it was just a great way to stay involved in football."
What can you do for players?
"I am trying to make them stronger, more powerful which gets them faster. The work before training - pre habilitation work - tries to prevent injuries. There is a large emphasis on warming up right every day; activating and making the joints nice and mobile before training."
Have you noticed a difference in the players since you came in?
"There is a plan for the season and we always log the load that every player lifts at every gym session, so that we are able to track how every player is doing. By monitoring their loads we can see just how much stronger the players are getting. We have certainly progressed on that aspect although during the season there is not as much emphasis in trying to gain strength, we do the bulk of that in pre season.
"We try to make sure that in every match we perform to our peak. There certainly has been an improvement across a whole spectrum of speed and strength."
As well as doing the warm up before the game you are also out at half time. What is your objective here?
"It is just to make sure that they are doing something to activate muscles and get the joints moving and warmed up. If you left the players to their own devices you would see them just kicking balls about over the width of the park. If they have not warmed up it could just be an injury waiting to happen.
"We try to get the ball involved as well because the players would much rather be working with balls so we do a warm up routine on the ball too. It is just to make sure that if they are called upon to come on as a sub that there is a limited chance of them getting injured."
Where do you do the gym work?
"We use Pitreavie on a Tuesday because they have a strength and conditioning suite. On a Thursday we use a bit of equipment in the undercroft here at East End Park because we don't have access to Pitreavie at a time that we might like. If we had access to our own gym we could get everything in there that we need and it would be a massive benefit in terms of planning."
Have the players bought into the type of work that you are giving them to do?
"I like to think so. We have to have a plan in place to progress so we change things up every couple of weeks. We report back to them how they have progressed and when they see the results that they are actually getting stronger that is when you get the buy in from them. It is just a matter of giving constant feedback to the players that it is having a benefit and once you do that they enjoy it.
"Most are young professionals who are looking to try and improve. We are quite fortunate that they are a good group of players and we have been able to get them to buy in to what we are doing in terms of gym work."
How is the strength and conditioning personalised?
"As we have gone through the season we have been able to incorporate individual exercises, whether that is for individual players or for individual playing positions. The main work is done by the entire squad, we then splinter off into separate groups to target things like rehab for players coming back from injury.
"Everyone is different sizes and shapes, strengths and abilities even on the pitch and in the gym. We need to incorporate that so that everyone is getting out of the sessions what they need to get out of it.
"Every day the players wear their heart rate and GPS monitors so we are able to establish their workload in every training session. We track their gym work loads as well so we are able to see every day whether they have done too much, not enough or even within a group where everyone has achieved their targets for that day there could be one or two that haven't done enough. We can incorporate that information into their next training session so that everyone is getting what they need out of training."
Do the players wear these monitors in first team matches?
"No we don't, we wear them for the 20s games. As of this season we are allowed to wear GPS systems during matches but the system we use is a belt with a monitor round the front. It is not ideal, there are other systems that are vests with a lump on the back of the neck. They are much easier to wear and the unit just slips into a harness on the vest.
"The system we use have the potential for them to come off on the pitch. So in terms of convenience and what the players prefer we do not tend to use them in first team games. In the majority of the 20s games we have been able to track distances they cover, intensities, how many sprints and a whole load of different data that we can use to analyse. We have a good idea of what players are doing in matches.
"Our system is really good and was expensive but the systems that some of the teams in the Premiership in Scotland are using is a lot more expensive. It does give more detailed information but ours gives us all the information that we need. It does work."
How do you work with Kenny Murray the physio?
"The best examples are Ryan Williamson and Callum Fordyce, Kenny has done a lot of work with them. Ryan is back in full training now so that is great to see. I sat down with Kenny to discuss what Ryan needed out of the gym work to complete his rehab.
"For me the goal is having players fit for a Saturday. Given the demands of football it is difficult to achieve that but it is something that we try to do. Apart from the two huge injuries that we had at the start of the season, we have done not bad.
"The injuries that I am trying to prevent are the soft tissue injuries - hamstrings, pulls and muscle strains. Touch wood these have not been too bad this season. That has been a success and obviously on the pitch they have been playing well and all the aspects that come into fitness, speed and strength seem to be performing really well. Hopefully by the end of the season the work that has been done has contributed to success.
Andy Geggan gave his thoughts on the effects of giving sports science such importance:-
"It just makes you look after your body a bit more. Gary speaks to you about what you should be doing in the morning before training and what you should be doing in the gym. It is weird because it is different techniques and weights to get you sharper and quicker for games. It is a big improvement.
"Gary takes care of you and makes sure that you are ready for the games on a Saturday. Even his warm ups are totally different. Bringing in TRX has made a big difference and never before have I had a heart monitor."
Shaun Byrne was equally enthusiastic:-
"From the start of the season my body fat has gone down and I have got higher scores in the 'yoyo' by doing a lot of what Gary says. We have been doing things that I have never really done before, learning techniques it benefits you a lot. I have definitely got better and the weights I am lifting now are much greater.
"Even after the games we are told what to drink. He tells us what is best for recovering, ice baths after games and training if you feeling tight."
Views : 5,860
