Paul Phillips looks to strike the right balance in Buxton’s pre-season

The Bucks players are set to take on a circuit training session at a boxing gym as their preparations for the 2019/20 season continue.

Phillips is keen to strike a balance and variety in the squad’s fitness work this summer in the hope of reaping the rewards come August.

He said: “We’ve probably had three sessions now and we’re back in tonight (Tuesday).

“Some lads have just got back off holiday so we’ll probably have a full squad there tonight. It’ll be good to have everyone back together.

“We’ll train and do a circuit session at a boxing gym on Thursday to try and break things up.

“The boxing gym session will be a lot to do with core and physical strength and will be a good test for our players.

“Players can run and run and run but I’m mindful of players getting bored easily so we’ve booked in at the gym.

“We’ll do a very hard circuit. It’s a championship gym so they’ll be put through the wringer.”

Buxton kick-off their pre-season fixtures schedule on Saturday away at Cheadle Town.

Phillips said: “You can run and run but you can never match the intensity of a game.

“It’s important we get the balance right between how many games we play and how much we train.

“One of my friends runs the team at Cheadle and they’ve played Stockport and Curzon so it’s going to be a tough test.

“But it’s one in which we need to evaluate a few players and get some back up to speed.”

The Buxton boss has been impressed with some of the trialists and will continue to assess his squad options next week.

“I’ve told one or two of them it’s not going to be for them and there’s three or four still with us who we’ve taken forward,” said Phillips.

“They’re all experienced lads and lads who I think could probably offer something to the club.

“It’s a pressing matter because we have games Saturday and Tuesday and it’s up to myself and the staff to make decisions.

“We need to decide who we want to take forward and if we’ve got players on trial who are better than what we’ve already got.”

While a handful of players from the club’s academy have also taken part in pre-season training sessions.

“There have been four or five involved in training and it’s been a really good standard.

“It’s probably shocked them how hard it is but they’ve stood up to it and stood up to the test.

“There’s nothing better than to see these lads step up to the plate and hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.

“With the money that’s going into the academy, we’ve got to dip into that and create a base where we can take players from rather than getting players in from different environments. Hopefully these lads can be of a standard that the first team needs,” added Phillips.