Head coach Darren Edwards has been putting his men through their paces with a mixture of physically demanding exercises and technically challenging sessions as the Dragons look to improve upon last term’s ninth place finish in the RaboDirect PRO12.
The squad were pushed to the limit in their quest for improvement over the first phase of their summer schedule and only now are they enjoying some R and R ahead of the start of phase two next week.
It’s an approach that head of conditioning Alex Lawson believes will pay dividends, especially as he has been delighted with the hard graft and commitment shown by his players.
“It was a tough first block for the boys but they have been superb,” Lawson, who led the squad on a number of tough sessions on the sand dunes of Merthyr Mawr, told the South Wales Argus.
“We’ve worked five days in a row for five weeks. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays were really hard while Tuesdays and Thursdays were technical with plenty of content in the sessions but not quite so physically demanding on the players.
“This first block was all about voluminous training – getting all of the hard, mentally-challenging work done – all the ugly stuff.
“The boys have been working unbelievably hard. They have been really committed and have dug deep. The dunes are key because they work some endurance into the muscle and tolerance to work capacity.
“The sessions have left them mentally and physically drained but once they have the dunes out of the way they can switch off ready to come back fresh on the Monday and go again.
“The final dunes session marked the end of the block and the squad will come back refreshed for the next stage, which will be getting back to high anaerobic work with a massive emphasis on speed and power gains.”
