Tuesday 25^th May - Day 2

The second day begins with the usual weigh-in and then a walk down to the track for a morning run. This morning follows a similar structure to yesterday's, with the warm-up prior to the session and some light stretching at the end, but the main content today is very different and instead of the pursuit run the boxers do a series of sprints over a variety of different distances.

The rest of the day follows the same pattern as Monday, with an 8am breakfast and 10.30am/11.15am strength and conditioning sessions; followed by lunch and a restful afternoon.

The first open spar session of the week starts at 3pm and runs right through to 6pm. All boxers complete four rounds against a variety of opponents - not always in the same weight category due to numbers. This provides some really tough bouts, but all boxers acquit themselves well and the coaches are very pleased with performances.

In the evening the usual regeneration and physio sessions are available for anyone who needs them, followed by dinner and then entertainment via Facebook, DVDs and general banter.

Wednesday 26^th May - Day 3

It's a standard start to the third day of camp - weigh-in, morning run and then breakfast. The morning run is a mixed session lasting about 30 minutes - this includes some pretty intense efforts lasting 30-40 seconds and some steady running in between for recovery.

Due to the gym booking schedule there is no S&C scheduled in, so the group go to the boxing gym and do a 45 minute session including pad, bag and shadow work - really focusing on quality and speed of shot. This session finishes with an abs/core conditioning circuit.

After lunch the afternoon session is another technical spar with the same structure and style as the Monday session, and regeneration in the ice baths and swimming pool, followed by dinner and a team meeting. There is much delight in the news that the boys will be getting a Thursday morning lie-in (well, most of them...read on!). Andrew Selby and Iain Weaver find some time for some much needed driving theory revision... good lads!

Thursday 27^th May - Day 4

The majority of the boxers are given a morning off running as they have all worked hard this week, but a few members of 'fat club' are out on the track in the rain at a slightly later time of 7.30am! The group get together for a team breakfast at 8am, where the jokes are on the few that missed the lie-in.

A very light S&C session is followed by a light lunch and afternoon rest before the open spar. The sparring gets underway at 3pm and doesn't finish until 7pm - a long afternoon for the coaches and support staff. I'm assigned to capture footage of potential opponents for the European Championships so unfortunately don't get the chance to watch our boys sparring that much, but by all reports the boxers gave a very good account of themselves.

The evening was filled with the usual activities and a camp review meeting, finishing off with a full team photo.

Friday 28^th May - Day 5

Last day of camp and the boys are looking forward to returning home to see families and loved ones before heading out to Moscow early next week.  

The morning run is followed by a final S&C session, involving some good solid strength training to make sure that the boxers don't 'de-train' too much next week during their final preparations for the competition. To finish off the boxers form groups of five to compete against each other - with the winners having the opportunity to gloat and generally abuse the losing team - I wish we'd filmed it...hilarious.

The final session of the camp for all boxers is a technique session with pads, bags and some shadow boxing. The boxers are in groups of four to ensure that each boxer gets the required coaching time - much greater quality and intensity of session is created this way - four boxers and three coaches compared to twenty boxers and three coaches.

The usual evening meal, a bit of packing, an end-of-camp team meeting and the usual night time activities keep everyone occupied till bed time.

Saturday 29^th May - travel home

End of a great preparation camp. The group as a whole have worked very hard this week, with tough sparring, hard runs and four good S&C sessions, with all the boys hitting their weight targets. A great effort by all. It's been a pleasure to be away working with lads this week, they are definitely in the best shape I've seen them in since I started working with the programme 18 months ago. In addition to this the team spirit and general banter has been fantastic all week - I don't think I have ever laughed this much in a week in all my life.

Finally, I've learned a lot about them both as a group and as individuals - in some places probably too much! One thing for sure is that this is a very motivated and talented group of lads who just want to win. All that's left to say was summed up by GB boxer Khalid Yafai - 'It's time to handle business!'

Good luck to the boys in the European Championships, and thanks for reading.

Ian Pyper