Inside Wales' savage Rugby World Cup training camps: The personal stories that reveal what happens

On Monday, Wales' Rugby World Cup training camp really begins.

All players, regardless of when their season finished, have been afforded four weeks off to totally switch off and relax ahead of an arduous summer.

Dragons and Cardiff Blues players have already punched in for mini camps, just to keep themselves ticking over at a certain level of fitness.

Next week, the Scarlets and Ospreys contingent arrive, bumping the numbers in training up to 37 out of the 42 named, with just the England-based players still on leave.

So what lies in store? First there is a block of training at the team's HQ in Hensol, then it's off to Switzerland for some altitude training, the same spot they utilised four years ago.

Players will sleep up the mountain and train lower down, meaning they'll be recovering with less oxygen. This makes their bodies more efficient at using it when more is available down towards sea level.

Then it'll be off to Turkey for a warm weather camp, where temperatures will be similar to what they'll experience in Japan later this year.

The next three months will involve some of the toughest training the players will ever do, with double sessions the norm.

Each block, trip and session is meticulously planned out by head of physical performance Paul Stridgeon and his team to ensure the players are pushed to the limit but not over it.

So what are the camps really like?

Here are some personal accounts from players past and present to give a further insight...

George North...

North is currently preparing for his third World Cup.

In 2011, he want to Spala in Poland for a camp and also went to Fiesch in Switzerland and Doha four years ago.

“With those camps, it’s a means to an end," he said.

“They’re not designed to be fun. You’re not going to enjoy yourself.

“You find some enjoyment in the weirdest things, like a personal best in the gym or in a fitness test. That’s about it!

“They’re designed to get you in the best shape you’ve been in.

“They’re horrible but it’s only eight or nine weeks so you just have to go at it.

“Come the warm-up games, you’re just chomping at the bit to get out and play and that’s the way it should be.

“You’re keen to get back into rugby because you don’t want to see another dumbbell for ages!

“Characters like Paul Stridgeon are worth their weight in gold.

“I think you have to have a mixture of energisers and enforcers and we have that.

“Bobby (Stridgeon) is incredible at what he does and he knows his stuff but he’s also a ball of energy.

“After two weeks in Switzerland, when you’ve got two days left, that’s when you need people like him bouncing around.

“It’s the tightest squad that I’ve been involved in. The players and the staff, it just feels like we’ve been together long enough now that we know each other inside out.

“It feels like we’re in a good place and I think we can use that as a foundation to push off and make huge gains.”

Leigh Halfpenny...

Like North, Halfpenny is about to embark on his third World Cup training camp.

However, having done all the hard work, his 2015 global tournament was cruelly torn away from him when he suffered an injury in the final warm-up match.

"They’re extremely tough," said Halfpenny on the camps.

"The planning that goes into it all is incredible. They look at the finest details and it all has a purpose.

"There is a science behind it, they research everything – the high altitude training, the heat training.

"They test you to your limits both physically and mentally. That’s the purpose of it, to really push us.

"Then when it comes to playing, you’ve been through the toughest and darkest places.

"There are times when you’re in such a tough spot, physically pushed to the max, that you’re relying on team-mates to pull you through.

"It just brings the squad tighter together, and this squad is already extremely tight. This is a special group of players.

"When you’re playing, it almost feels easier. We pride ourselves on how hard we work.

"We have fun along the way as well. It will be tough but we enjoy each other’s company."

Jamie Roberts...

Wales centre Roberts went to both the 2011 and 2015 World Cups.

He calls it the toughest training he's ever done.

"It's tough. Strength and conditioning wise, 2011 and 2015 is the hardest training I've done in my career.

"But ultimately, if you're going to win the World Cup, it has to be the toughest thing you've ever done.

"To reach the pinnacle, all the lads get together and understand 'right, unless we take our bodies to places we've never been before, we're not going to win the World Cup'.

"That's a mindset that Warren instills in the lads because that's what winning the World Cup is going to demand.

"You go off, enjoy your off-season, you come back in the first morning, flip the switch and then you've got a nice block to focus on. You've got two or three months to do everything in your power, all the one percenters, to go out and win the flagship tournament of world rugby.

"You're with your good mates, so everyone pushes each other and holds each other accountable.

"Wales will leave no stone unturned when it comes to preparation and that extended time together gives you an opportunity to get some real gains in your strength and conditioning.

"I think it's a great block as well to drive discipline. Those camps are brilliant for discipline.

"It's huge now in world rugby and I don't just mean giving away penalties. It's discipline in defence, attack, positioning, all the reads you make throughout a game.

"Those camps, above anything else, are a great way to drive discipline.

"In 2011, I was five minutes late for a weigh-in one morning. I thought nothing of it.

"Then we were out on the pitch after breakfast ready to do some running and Adam Beard, our fitness coach back then, was like: 'right lads, we're doing some running but Jamie, go and see the other fitness coach'.

"I was confused but it was because I missed the weigh-in by five minutes.

"I had to go and do an hour of swimming on my own, I wasn't allowed to touch the bottom of the pool for an hour. It was the most brutal thing ever.

"I'm dense, so I don't float at all! That was really tough, so suffice to say I didn't weigh-in late again.

"I think that was a message to the squad and that transfers onto the field in games.

"I've played in teams where we've lost by two or three points and when you look at why, it's come down to culture and discipline."

Richard Hibbard...

The hooker prepared for World Cups in 2011 and 2015 but played at neither.

He missed the 2011 showpiece after damaging ligaments in his ankle during a warm-up clash against Argentina and wasn't selected in 2015.

“I said to a few of the boys that I don’t envy them at all, I know what’s coming, it’s brutal!" He exclaimed.

“I still have nightmares about the last one.

“I remember the first few days, it was so hard I was looking for flights home!

“It does benefit the players, though, and it’s all well thought out. They’ll be in a very good place.

“I just could not do it again. It was savage.

“In Switzerland, we used to live up the mountain and come down a bit to train.

“We come down in these gondolas, you can see the pitch all the way down, and you can see boys in the group before you being sick on the side of the pitch.

“You’re stood in the cable car hoping for it to break down!

“It was brutal... but in a good way!”

Mike Phillips...

The vastly experienced scrum-half trained for four World Cup between 2003 and 2015.

He wasn't selected for the first or the last but revealed how things have changed in 12 years.

“They’re very savage," he said.

“My first experience in a Welsh squad was in 2003 before the World Cup.

“The testing was a lot different, it was only 3km testing, which I loved because I was good at it.

“It was an introduction to professional rugby. It was my introduction to weights and at that stage I’d buckle under 80kg on the squat rack.

“Boys must have been thinking ‘who the hell is this?’.

“Each year, the camps have got more and more intense.

“Switzerland and Qatar in 2015 was savage but it puts you in a great space mentally. It makes you feel like you can take on the world.

“They’re very tough but I really enjoyed it. I loved trying to beat everyone on the fitness tests.”

Paul 'Bobby' Stridgeon - Wales' head of physical performance

"A lot of focus is strength and conditioning, so we're getting a lot of weights in there. We're doing four or five weights sessions a week at the moment.

"There's a lot of fitness. At the moment we're focusing on speed work and keeping everything nice and explosive.

"We integrate some skills from the coaches too. A lot of static skills, hand-eye co-ordination stuff.

"In 2015 we went to Switzerland and we live high, getting all the benefits of altitude, but we come quite far back down the mountain (to train).

"That means we keep the training intensity because if you train at high altitude, the intensity is lessened.

"So we go down the mountain to train hard and back up the mountain to sleep.

"Then we go to Turkey for our heat stress camp, which we did in Doha last time."