Adam Reach reveals Sheffield Wednesday’s lockdown regime

While many Premier League clubs had fancy training equipment delivered to their homes before they were confined to them, Reach’s daily fitness regime cannot stretch much beyond runs around his neighbourhood.

The Owls, though, are doing what they can to make training in isolation as competitive as possible, and making sure the players not only hear from one another, but see their mates too.

Lots of people have it so much worse than Championship footballers, but that does not mean Reach and co have it easy. Still, he accepts it is just something he has to deal with, and thinks two or three weeks’ training should be enough to get up to speed once society is allowed to emerge from its coronavirus hibernations.

“We’ve been off now for two weeks and it’s difficult to keep your fitness levels up on your own,” admits the winger.

“I haven’t got any gym equipment so it’s basically going out on runs. You can’t recreate anything you would do in a game. It’s difficult, but it is what it is.

“I think the first week off, it was a bit of a novelty and you were getting loads done in the house but now it looks like it’s going to keep going for a while. It’s getting a bit frustrating because you don’t know when it’s going to be (that football resumes).

“Everyone’s in the same boat, though, it’s not just footballers. Unfortunately they’re the drastic measures we have to take but it’s nice to spend time with my girlfriend and do some jobs around the house.”

At least it has happened in an era where technology makes it so much easier to stay in touch. Wednesday appreciate that contact needs to be visual too.

“We’ve got WhatsApp groups and the club are doing video conference calls, more than anything to keep reminding people we’ve got friendly faces to help us through,” comments Reach, who joined from first club Middlesbrough four years ago. “Some people are living on their own so the club are trying to keep everyone within their wits.

“We’ve all got personal schedules to keep to, hitting so many K a week or whatever, but I think they’ve been smart enough to know everyone’s got access to different things, some have got treadmills or bikes, I don’t. They’ve given us a wide range of things we can do and they trust us as professional athletes.

“I don’t think we will need as long as we’re used to to get back up to speed. Usually you might be looking at seven or eight weeks off in the summer, and this break could end up being there or thereabouts but we’re probably going to have to get our fitness in within two or three weeks.

“That will be an issue for clubs and medical departments and it’s going to be interesting to see how they deal with it, but everyone will be in the same boat.”