Hearts run boot camp to prepare for Celtic clash

Robbie Neilson has revealed he’s running a boot camp at Hearts in a bid to lead the club back to the top flight.

The brutal Tynecastle training regime forces first-team players to complete double and treble sessions and youth players don’t even get a day off.

But Neilson insists his players aren’t complaining about the extra workload as they are already seeing the benefits.

“On a Tuesday and a Thursday we do three sessions,” said the Hearts gaffer. “We train in the morning, we go to the gym and then we train again in the afternoon.

“We do a double on a Wednesday and then a single session on the Friday. So there are a lot of sessions and we come in on a Sunday after a game and train that morning.

“So we are doing 10 sessions a week as opposed to four, which is what it was when I was coming through as a player.

“When I played it was a single session on a Monday, Tuesday, off Wednesday and then back in Thursday and Friday before the game on the Saturday.

“But things have changed and teams down south are doing it this way as well. I think it’s important. We want to try to break the mould a wee bit.”

Hearts travel to Celtic Park on Wednesday night to take on Ronny Deila’s side in the League Cup.

Their priority remains to secure automatic promotion back to the Premier League, and Neilson believes the 90 minutes will give answers to whether or not his team are already good enough to complete at that level.

He said: “The players want to go and show people what they can do. We want to go and push Celtic, and we don’t want to be of Championship standard.

“We want everyone here to be of Premiership standard and this is a chance for them to go and see where they are with that.

“It will give them a good idea of what level they are at because they will be playing against the best team in Scotland. If they can go out there and give a good showing, that will give them confidence and let them know where they need to get to.”