Lee Fearn and Charlie Wyke on the road back to fitness
We spoke to Strength and Conditioning coach Lee Fearn last week about the road back to full training for centre forward Charlie Wyke.
“Basically we’ve been working with Charlie for a couple of weeks now to get him back to the stage where he can be out on the pitch and moving again,” he said. “It’s been a long process and we needed to get a thumbs up last Wednesday just to make us feel totally comfortable that we would crack on.
“He’s been reassured by a specialist that nothing untoward is going on so his hard work continues. Up to now he’s been maintaining his fitness levels and his weight management because it’s clear that when you have an injury like this one it means your activity profile changes.
“The player doesn’t get to train for two or three hours every day but they still eat the same type of food as if they were doing those exercises. That’s something else we work on to make sure he stays in the best condition possible.”
“The process now is to ease him back into things because there’s no point in hitting him with a full work load on day one. That just puts you at risk of causing other injuries, particularly when you’re following a period of relative inactivity.
“He’s been on the bike and he’s done other bits and pieces, but it’s gone up a gear this last three or four days. We’re hoping to see him back in action sooner rather than later.”
On making sure the player stays positive through the rehab process, he said: “You have to find different ways of stimulating them to keep them mentally focused. Some lads react to it better than others. Charlie had to accept quite quickly that it was a nasty injury and it was going to take him a bit of time to recover.
“What we try to do is stress to players that they can see it as a bit of an opportunity. It gives them the chance to work on other areas in the gym and we can teach them a bit about diet and nutrition.”
And for the Charlie Wyke, he admitted that it was just good back to field-based training activities.
“It’s good to be training on grass again,” he said. “It’s been a frustrating few weeks but hopefully things will progress quickly and I’ll be back to full training soon.
“I’ve been in this position before so it is something I’m used to. I know you’ve got to be patient and do the work the medical staff tell you to do. You can’t rush things because of the risk of other injuries, so it’s a case of taking your time and getting it right.
“The good thing is that the club is a nice place to be at the moment. Everyone is happy because of the results so it’ll be up to me to try to get back in the team to help us to get more wins. To do that I need to be bright in training so I can remind the manager what I can do. That’s what I’m working towards now.”
Followers of United on Periscope saw this interview first. Download the Periscope App and search for officialcufc to see more live interviews from the training ground and on match days.
