The focus is on physical conditioning
Friday, January 23, 2026
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Shakhtar defender Valerii Bondar shared his impressions from the first phase of the winter camp in Türkiye
– Valerii, nine days of the camp are behind you. Can you tell us how the training and testing went, and what the overall focus of the work was?
– We stick to the schedule set by the coaching staff. This camp is tough, but we already felt this intensity during the summer. There are sometimes three training sessions a day, we get up early, there’s a lot of running, but we also spend plenty of time on ball work. Right now, the focus is on physical conditioning.
– How are you feeling now and how would you assess your fitness levels?
– Of course, it’s tough, but I think the medical staff do a great job of helping us recover: they’re always with us, assisting with massages, treatments and every method that allows us to recover quickly, stay in top shape and be ready for every training session.
– What are Arda Turan’s and his coaching staff’s requirements during each training session?
– To be 100 percent focused, give 100 percent effort and do everything on and off the pitch in a way that benefits you and your body, and then keep working to become the best version of yourself.
– Several times during this camp, you’ve had three training sessions a day, with the first one starting almost in the dark. How does that feel?
– It’s unusual because during summer training it was already light at 6 a.m., but now you wake up, and it’s hard to open your eyes. But we understand that this is important work which will pay off in the future. Everything we do is for us and for our development.
– And what about three training sessions a day?
– Speaking for myself, after the first session we have breakfast and then I go back to sleep. After that, we work in the gym and I rest again afterwards. Basically, if you stick to a schedule like this, and all the players, I think, rest and recover between sessions, it’s tough, but necessary.
– The weather conditions in Türkiye are not very favourable at the moment – it has been raining for two days in a row. How does that affect training?
– Now is definitely not the time to complain because people in Ukraine don’t have electricity, heat or proper living conditions. Our soldiers are also defending the country, sitting in dugouts and trenches at minus 15°C. So we do our job and have no right to complain about the weather.
– What goals and tasks did the coaching staff set for you?
– The big goals, as at the start of the season, are to become champions and take it step by step in the European competitions. We also understand that we need to correct what went wrong last season, so right now we have to do a lot of work that maybe we don’t feel like doing, but that is necessary.
– What’s the most important thing during this preparation period for the second half of the season?
– You have to work on everything because there’s no limit to perfection. We need to raise our level and keep moving forward.
– We stick to the schedule set by the coaching staff. This camp is tough, but we already felt this intensity during the summer. There are sometimes three training sessions a day, we get up early, there’s a lot of running, but we also spend plenty of time on ball work. Right now, the focus is on physical conditioning.
– How are you feeling now and how would you assess your fitness levels?
– Of course, it’s tough, but I think the medical staff do a great job of helping us recover: they’re always with us, assisting with massages, treatments and every method that allows us to recover quickly, stay in top shape and be ready for every training session.
– What are Arda Turan’s and his coaching staff’s requirements during each training session?
– To be 100 percent focused, give 100 percent effort and do everything on and off the pitch in a way that benefits you and your body, and then keep working to become the best version of yourself.
– Several times during this camp, you’ve had three training sessions a day, with the first one starting almost in the dark. How does that feel?
– It’s unusual because during summer training it was already light at 6 a.m., but now you wake up, and it’s hard to open your eyes. But we understand that this is important work which will pay off in the future. Everything we do is for us and for our development.
– And what about three training sessions a day?
– Speaking for myself, after the first session we have breakfast and then I go back to sleep. After that, we work in the gym and I rest again afterwards. Basically, if you stick to a schedule like this, and all the players, I think, rest and recover between sessions, it’s tough, but necessary.
– The weather conditions in Türkiye are not very favourable at the moment – it has been raining for two days in a row. How does that affect training?
– Now is definitely not the time to complain because people in Ukraine don’t have electricity, heat or proper living conditions. Our soldiers are also defending the country, sitting in dugouts and trenches at minus 15°C. So we do our job and have no right to complain about the weather.
– What goals and tasks did the coaching staff set for you?
– The big goals, as at the start of the season, are to become champions and take it step by step in the European competitions. We also understand that we need to correct what went wrong last season, so right now we have to do a lot of work that maybe we don’t feel like doing, but that is necessary.
– What’s the most important thing during this preparation period for the second half of the season?
– You have to work on everything because there’s no limit to perfection. We need to raise our level and keep moving forward.