Kaizer Chiefs veteran striker Shaun Bartlett has revealed to kaizerchiefs.com that he has had to put in extra hours training on his own in order to get back into shape, after he missed out on Chiefs return to training in early January. As he had Bronchitis he was also unable to participate in The Amakhosi’s January training camp in the Western Cape, and on the 18th January was hospitalized, as the Bronchitis was not clearing.

Once he had been given the all clear to resume normal training activities, Bartlett has not held back in his quest to regain his form and fitness. He immediately enlisted the services of a personal trainer who has been helping him in this regard; the former Bafana Bafana captain in his quest to start playing again has been training up to three times a day.

Wise old head

Given the fact that Bartlett is the oldest member of the Chiefs squad he took the decision that as he is no longer in the youthful years and his body would take longer to recover, which would have meant that he would have been way behind the rest of his teammates in terms of his readiness to begin playing again.

As he explains “I realized that I am older now and that if I wanted to get back to playing again I needed to work extra hard, so I doubled my efforts in order to work my way back to fitness. Given that I am older my body would react differently to me being out of action for such a long time and it was always going to take extra effort on my side to ensure that when I come back I do so fully fit and ready”.

Tough Regime

It has though been a trying time for Bartlett but such has been his determination not to miss many gamest that he has put himself through a rigorous training programme, of which he says.

“I have been working with a personal trainer in addition to the training I do with the team, my day starts very early as I am working out before training starts and I believe that the fitness programme that I have undertaken in the past few weeks has been of great benefit to me”.

Physically fit

Bartlett believes that the additional work he has put in has already paid dividends although it is uncertain whether he will play on Sunday when Chiefs travel to Orkney to face Jomo Cosmos. Bartlett though is pleased with effects the extra work has had on helping the physical side of his game and said.

“I can see the difference that the extra training has made I feel really good physically, and even in the team training sessions I feel that I have been doing really well. I have spoken to the coach and he too has commented that he is happy with my overall work rate in the training sessions, I am just looking forward to playing again”.