Aside from the gruelling training schedule, which begins with a daily 6am wakeup call, Aaron and his teammates have been eating, sleeping and living side by side for the past 12 days.
To break up the daily rigours of the two week high performance pre-season camp, the players were treated to an afternoon 4WD desert trip to the Inland Sea.
How different has this training camp been to anything you have ever done with Carlton?
The heat and the humidity would have to be the biggest difference. Being a Tassie boy, I don't think it got over 25 degrees down there, so training at an average of around 35 degrees each day in Doha has been the toughest thing to get used to over here.
How have you and the boys adjusted to the heat and intensity of training?
The intensity would probably be a little bit less than an average training session to eliminate the slight chance of injury, but training in the heat makes up for all of that. A week in, the boys had slowly adjusted and our heart rates are a lot lower after our routine warm up than what they were on the first day. That is a good moral booster for us, so we can see improvement from training in the heat.
How does your body feel?
The body at the moment is holding up. Everyday so far the exercise that we have been doing would be the equivalent of about three or four quarters of a football match - minus the bumps and bruises. It is taking its toll, but at the end of the day you feel good about doing it.
Explain the yo-yo test? How did you go on it?
The yo-yo test is a 20m shuttle/sprint test, a bit like the beep test, but a lot quicker! We all did this test the 2nd day on arrival and I got 21.2, however we did the same test 5 days later and i got 21.8 which is another 110m further. I think the whole group improved by at least 25% which is a good sign. The standouts were David Ellard and Andrew Collins.
Aaron Joseph trains in Doha
Tell us about the trip to the inland sea?
We were all expecting a bus to rock up and collect us but about 10 4WD arrived instead, so that was a good surprise. The trip out was amazing, doing 80km through sand dunes was a highlight, and a halfway stop to ride camels for the first time was a good experience also. The ocean water we swam in after a Doha BBQ in the dunes was the same temperature as a local swimming pool, and to get the chance to take our tops off for the first time in the sun was a massive moral booster for the boys (especially Kane Lucas).
Has this trip helped boost team moral?
I think with all away trips, it is a really good way to get to know each other off the training track. You get to learn about each other and really get to know what makes each other tick. When you’re training, running, and doing everything to the max with your team mates, you appreciate and trust each other more knowing that everyone is giving 100%. We are all doing it for one reason only and that is to taste premiership success. When you go through all of that together there's no doubt it builds moral and trust within the group.
The Carlton boys training at the ASPIRE Academy for Sports Excellence
Do you think this trip was a benefit for your preparation for Season 2012?
Massively. Personally, eight weeks off in the post season is too long to mentally get yourself up every morning and train by yourself, so to be able to do training in the off season with 20 of your mates who push you to get the best out of yourself and to travel and see other parts of the world at the same time is amazing and a once in a lifetime experience.
