Southampton goalkeeper Alex McCarthy's latest Daily Echo column

I will admit, even now, I am still very much getting to use to this new routine at home and being away from the training ground but the club are in constant contact, making sure it’s as close to life at Staplewood Campus as possible.

8:00-9:00 – Keeping to a routine is the most important thing you can do during times like these. I am still making sure that I am getting up at the time I normally would if I was heading to the training ground. One thing that I have really enjoyed these last few weeks is spending breakfast with my partner, Rach, and my two little ones – I’m probably not alone in that department, as this period has definitely brought so many families together.

I’ll aim to make my breakfast almost parallel to what I would have at Staplewood – so a good, strong cup of coffee to get me functioning, followed by an omelette. We try to make sure there’s lots of fruit around the house, so I’ll finish off breakfast with a banana and a homemade smoothie.

9:30 – Breakfast all done, and kitchen cleaned, I’ll then start to get ready for some stretching and scaled-down pre-activation, which I’ll do in my living room – the kids will always want to join in! We sometimes do this in small groups on a call via Zoom, with the sports science guys leading it, which is always nice as you get to hear and see some of the boys.

10:00-12.00 – This period will be individual training – so I’ll look to mix things up, depending on the different activities I get sent over by the club. I’ll start off with a bit of cardio work on the treadmill or on the bike, doing some different speed intervals. The club can monitor my level of training as we wear smartwatches throughout the day.

That will be followed by some weight training, so I will look at a series of leg workout sessions, such as weighted squats and lunges. The weight training will normally be finished off with some upper body exercises, with bench and push press being the main ones I’ll focus on to help build and maintain strength. 

I’ll then head outdoors for the final part of training and look to do some ball work in the garden. So, this will be a bit of reflex and catching exercises (whilst trying not to take lumps out of our turf!) -  luckily, I’ve managed to get my hands on a really cool piece of equipment, which is almost like a ball catapult, where you put the ball in, and it fires out at you at speed.

You may have seen on my Instagram page, my little girl, Baylie, has been on catapult duty helping load the footballs into the machine and firing them at me, which has kept her very entertained!

13:00-14:00 – Most definitely time for some food after training – again, I’ll look to stick to what I would normally have at Staplewood. So, a bit of couscous, roasted vegetables and some pesto to accompany it.

15:00-16:00 – We have a darts board in the training ground dressing room, which gets very competitive after lunch when we do mini championships. Me and Jack Stephens don’t want to be rusty for when we return, so I’ll have a mini game against Jack, via FaceTime after lunch – I won’t say who normally wins…

16:00-17:00 - This is normally our daily walk slot, where, as a family, we will all go for a stroll somewhere nice and relaxing within our local area. For me, it’s some quality time with the family too, the kids love being outdoors and it gives you an opportunity to switch off from everything that’s going on right now.

17:00 – Dinner preparations will be well under away at this point, I will try to get involved with the cooking, but sometimes that isn’t the wisest idea! I like to make my evenings nice and chilled out by unwinding with a few Netflix series or films while spending some quality time with the family in the process.

For a temporary routine away from the training ground, it’s one that I’m slowly coming around to – though, one thing that is for sure is that I’ll never take the training ground for granted ever again!

Macca