You’ve had your fun over the summer, now it’s the time to sweat out all the booze and junk food.
But rather than undergoing a Ricky Hatton style transformation you need to condition your body for a punishing pre-season.
Turn up with a muffin top and bingo wings and you’ll be playing catch up, warns Mo Gimpel, Southampton's sports medicine and science manager.
To help you prepare your body for the hard yards hit play and let Gimpel explain.
Mo Gimpel was speaking at the Science + Football Conference. This year's conference is on Wednesday, April 30 at the London Soccer Dome. For more information visitwww.scienceandfootball.com
For more fitness tips see:
Forge football fitness
How to structure a training session
Get faster for football
Improve your speed, stamina and strength
Run faster, boost endurance
Build endurance and a rock solid core
Run harder, react quicker
