STEVIE AITKEN hopes a rigorous summer schedule will have his Dumbarton squad in prime shape for the new SPFL Championship campaign.

The Sons boss put his players through their paces for the first time at the weekend as preparations continued for the big kick-off.

Summer signings Mark Brown, Darren Barr, Gregor Buchanan, Mark Docherty, Grant Gallagher, Willie Gibson, Darren Miller, Kevin Cawley and Gordon Smith were all involved as Dumbarton started their summer schedule.

Aitken has enlisted the help of personal trainer Michelle Anderson to help get his squad fighting fit for the new campaign.

The first session lasted four hours as the Sons’ summer break came to an end on Saturday, and boss Aitken is confident the hours of hard graft will prove worth it this term.

He said: “The pre-seasons I look for are very different from the days when I played, which was just running the players.

"They are not different just to be different. Football has moved on and these sessions work in terms of building fitness and getting the squad gelling together.

“Grant was the only player who has done a pre-season with me before, so he knew what was coming but the rest of them got a bit of a shock.

"To be fair, they got on with things and put in several hours of hard work. Michelle is a friend of mine and did some work with me at Stranraer.

"She is excellent at what she does and will be working with the boys a further four times before the season starts.

"She talks about making them react to things that happen on the pitch due to their muscles exploding into action. That is what we are looking to put into place.”