Sheffield United defender George Baldock has spoken of manager Chris Wilder's 'terror Tuesdays'.
Wilder's unforgiving training sessions took the whole squad to new levels, according to wing back Baldock who has played in all of their 28 games and says every player has never been fitter.
Baldock said: “Terror Tuesdays, ooh, that's not nice. It's not nice.
"I think it's a really clever way to test the side's mental strength because the balls aren't there on that day.
"We trained in the morning with the balls, had a gym session and it doesn't give me a good feeling even talking about it!
“The whole week the manager would be talking about, walking past you in the breakfast room and saying: 'not long till Tuesday, get your running spikes on.'
“You're going out 25 degree heat, full size pitch, he puts you in groups and depending on pre-season testing he'll put you in groups, no shortcuts.
“So it's tight, competitive and the 11 a side pitch was split into six, a pole in each corner and you have to start with a jog, get to the pole and, it's hard to explain, then it was run as quick as you can for one minute, jog for five, run as quick as you can for two, jog for four, run as quick as you can for three, jog for three, all the way round the whole pitch.
“I remember doing it, everyone was on their knees and we did it and then he says: 'You've got to go do it again from one now.'
"Then you're doing it for six, running for five, then he's got us all to the halfway line. 'Right, you've got to run 1,200 metres as quick as you can.'
“Everyone lines up, splits into two, there's 12 of you, others are watching getting all anxious and he's shouting: 'Come on, you can overtake him.' When I look back, it was a clever way to test how mentally strong you are.
“He doesn't mind if you're not strong at running, he just wants to see you go to the absolute max.
"Everyone at the end just collapses and he said pre-season is over and welcome to the games.
“I've played every minute so far in the Premier League which is great. To miss a game, I'd have to have a serious problem.
"I just love being out there and to play in the Premier League, it's every young lad's dream, you don't want to give that up and let someone else have your shirt."
