The Bundesliga is on summer break. For most of the Borussia Dortmund players, however, the holidays are still a bit away.  For the period up until the start of pre-season training on 5 July, every squad member has been given a specifically tailored training programme.

The Dortmund squad can roughly be divided into “four groups“. The first one consists of the nine players, including new signing Adrian Ramos, who are on World Cup duty this summer. In the second group are the international players from countries that have not qualified for the tournament in Brazil, but that have to play friendlies in June. “Group 3” includes BVB’s few “non-internationals” like Sebastian Kehl, Oliver Kirch and Julian Schieber as well as players who are not on international duty this summer like Marvin Ducksch or Jonas Hofmann, while the fourth group consists of players returning from lengthy injury lay-offs.

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Dr. Andreas Schlumberger

“Each one of them has a very specific fitness plan, especially in the last group,” says BVB’s head fitness coach Dr. Andreas Schlumberger. Neven Subotic, for example, will be travelling to Los Angeles for a special two week rehabilitation programme following his cruciate ligament injury in November 2013, while Jakub Blaszczykowski’s treatment this summer will exclusively be taking place in Dortmund.

For this group of players, which also includes Ilkay Gündogan and Sven Bender, the holiday plans of the physios and rehab coaches had to be adapted and adjusted.

Told to rest completely before commencing their training, Sebastian Kehl and the other players from “Group 3” have been allowed to put their feet up for 10 to 14 days during their holidays. “Everyone has been given a running programme tailored to their needs,” says Dr. Schlumberger, Borussia Dortmund’s head fitness coach, with the fitness plan including stability and strengthening exercises.

The World Cup players will be having about three weeks of holidays after their team’s exit from the tournament before they join up with the rest of the squad. Upon their return, they will be following an individual training regime to get their fitness in line with their teammates.

The players taking part in friendlies in June for countries that have not qualified for the World Cup, for example Poland’s Lukasz Piszczek, represent the biggest challenge. “On the one hand we need to keep the tension high,” says Schlumberger. “On the other hand these players really need time to rest.” This also requires a great deal of knowledge and tact…