Carlisle United's first team squad are set to benefit from an excellent new partnership with the Everlast Fitness Club right here in Carlisle.
Strength and conditioning coach Greg Short met up with the Everlast staff recently and the use of the fully equipped gym, spinning suite, pool and changing facilities were offered for the squad, as part of an ongoing mutually benefical agreement.
"I used to work here before I started working at the club, so I’m quite familiar with a lot of the staff," Greg explained. "Luckily when they transitioned from DW to Everlast they kept most of the same staff and management team, which has meant I’ve been able to stay in touch.
“When Everlast reopened the opportunity came up for us to work together again, so it’s great that they can help us out, and we can help them out at the same time."
On what it adds to the recovery and rehab schedule, he commented: "It gives us a good option when we’ve got Saturday-Tuesday games, especially if the boys are feeling a bit leggy or the training pitch is heavy.
"It means we can come here and do a comprehensive recovery session. It isn’t just on a group basis, the lads have now got memberships and they can come along here whenever they want to.
"The gym at the ground is a fantastic facility, and we’ve been able to improve it over the last few years, but this provides a different enviornment and change of scenery, which can be important.
"There’s obviously a pool here as well, so it gives the lads another option. There's a spin studio which means we can do a full squad spin session, and they’ve got a range of machinery here which we can’t fit into the gym back at the stadium."
Having used the gym for the first time, keeper Mark Howard said: "The staff here at Everlast have been brilliant.
"As Greg says, it's sometimes good to be somewhere different to do a session, and this is an excellent facility. It has everything you could want, and I know we'll all look forward to it when we're told we'll be coming up."
For more information on Everlast Fitness Club Carlisle, click HERE.