Home showers, regular tests and occupying one quarter of the pitch with one team-mate.
Welcome to pre-season training, coronavirus style.
The new normal for players is going to take some getting used to but Aberdeen defender Ash Taylor believes the Dons sport science department have left no stone unturned in ensuring manager Derek McInnes and his coaching staff can put the players through their paces safely and with optimum efficiency.
He said: “The sports scientists, coaching staff and physios have put stuff in place so we’re ready to train at a proper intensity.
“They’re easing us into it at the minute. It’s not proper, full on intensity. We’ve been off for 13 weeks so you don’t want to come back and start getting niggles and injuries.
“Thirteen weeks off from football is a long time, normally we just get four weeks. Monday was about getting ourselves going, getting the legs going and getting into a routine again.
“Tuesday was a bit more of that. It’s gradual but the intensity is still there. It’s about getting our movements with the ball.”
The players will undertake the longest pre-season of their careers at Cormack Park with a seven week block of preparation planned out in preparation of an August 1 return to Premiership duty.
Rigorous checks and balances will also be the order of the day as the Dons work on keeping all their player healthy as well as fit.
Taylor was happy to go through what a typical day of training will be due to the pandemic.
He said: “We were tested on Sunday and got the results and everybody was fine which was good.
“It’s been alright. They put one down your throat and two up your nostrils, then away you go and you wait to see your results.
“It’s been pretty straightforward and the club have done a good job of putting things in place for us. It’s been a smooth process for us.
“Training is socially distanced in twos in a quarter of the pitch. That’s the guidelines we’ve been given. You’re in twos all around the pitch.
“You’re never close to anyone really. You’ve got to shout to one another. The training has been good in terms of keeping boys away from one another but in a distance where you can communicate with things that you need to.”
Social distancing is at the forefront of the training programme the players are following but so too is working in as sterile an environment as possible.
Taylor explained: “We’re not allowed to use the indoor area. That’s what it was on Sunday when we got the test. We picked up our kit and whatever we needed at that time to start on Monday.
“We just pull up in our cars, wait until we get our temperature checked and if that’s all clear, you go to the car park and you wait until you’re called over by one of the coaching staff.
“You head over, sterilise yourself before you head in then start your training. You exit through a different gate then sterilise yourself on the way out.
“Then you’re straight in the car and away home. They’ve put things in place in terms of protein shakes and a protein bar for something straight after to help with the travel back home to get your lunch and shower and that.
“I’d say it’ll be a couple of weeks before we can start progressing again.”
