SIMON Francis might still have pre-season hurdles to overcome but he is grateful that they are no longer the literal kind.

As a youngster at Sheffield United, Francis and his team-mates were put through extensive running drills by then-Blades boss Neil Warnock during the summer.

And the full-back insists that his pre-season obligations at Cherries are a world away from those which he had fulfilled during his two-year spell at Bramall Lane in the mid-noughties.

He told the Daily Echo: “At Sheffield United, the approach was fairly old school. We used to do 400m hurdles around the training ground and if you didn’t finish within the allotted time then you had to go again.

“That was quite strange because if you didn’t make it the first time there was pretty much no chance you would do it the second!

“If you didn’t make it again then you had to come back for another go in the afternoon, so it was pretty strenuous.

“I was alright at the hurdles as I have always been fairly fit and back then I was younger, so it was a little bit easier.

“Since then, the game has changed a lot. At Bournemouth it’s completely different and that’s down to the manager, who knows it’s not about running until you can’t run any more. There has been a lot of football-based stuff from day one.

“Nowadays, it’s more of a mental test. You have to think about executing tasks rather than just the physical aspect of training.

“It is tough but it’s like that at a lot of clubs now and the manager is pretty modern with his approach.

“I think the science aspect of it has come into play in recent years and we’re quite big on that. We have a big team of analysts and they and the fitness coaches take care of that side of things pretty thoroughly.

“We look at all kinds of testing, not just running, but things like weight testing and exercises as well.”

Francis is one of the squad’s older members having turned 30 in February and admits he has to work harder to keep himself in shape than earlier in his career.

But the former Charlton and Southend man insists he finds training anything but a hard slog with the top flight’s opening day looming large.

He added: “Now that I’m older, I have to take care of myself a little bit more.

“You want to be in the best shape possible and not in the position where you are playing catch-up with everybody else.

“But I don’t think anyone dreads pre-season training, especially not at a club like this. I certainly don’t, especially as we have so much to look forward to.”