GLENN MURRAY has revealed an injury seven years ago changed his outlook on taking care of his body.

Murray and the rest of the Albion squad will return to the training ground tomorrow after being given a break by Albion this week during the on-going coronavirus pandemic.

Players will be expected to maintain their own personal fitness during an unprecedented spell of inactivity from competitive football with the Premier League shutdown until at least April 3.

Murray, who is now 36, admits he is used to keeping himself in trim and has been ever since an injury picked up against his present club.

In May 2013, when Murray was playing for Albion’s arch rivals Crystal Palace, he suffered an ACL knee injury in their Championship play-off semi final first leg at Selhurst Park.

It kept him out of action for nine months and he admitted it forced him to re-evaluate his approach to his own fitness and conditioning.

The frontman said: “A big turning point for me was when I did my ACL when I was playing for Crystal Palace, funnily enough against Brighton, and that was when I was 29 years old.

“Before that time I relied on my God given talent, and I would be last to the training ground and first away from it, doing as little work as possible by just hitting the back of the net as many times as I could in training, which I felt was enough.

“Getting my big injury opened my eyes and obviously moving up the divisions did too, but I take much more care of my body now, trying to do as much prehab (focused exercises) and rehab as possible.

“I do a lot of strength and conditioning work for my knee as well as my whole body.

“I really believe that injury, which at the time was a major blow in my career, was probably a blessing in disguise.

“If I didn’t make that decision then I would probably be out of the game because you have got to adapt, or you get fazed out.”

Albion do not know when they will next play a competitive game after the coronavirus pandemic forced the Premier League and other football throughout the country to be suspended.

The Seagulls were meant to train as normal on Monday but decided to take a break until Friday.

Murray explained how the decision was made.

He said: “We got together Monday for what was just a normal training session and we decided to have a meeting among the staff and the players just to speak about the situation that is going on and how everyone feels about coming together everyday in training.

“There is a lot of lads in different situations and scenarios, so as a group we came to the decision to leave training this week, stay fit on our own, look after ourselves and then reconvene on Friday when UEFA and the Premier League have both had their meetings, which hopefully will shed a bit of light on the up and coming months.”

With the players doing their own fitness work, Murray gave an insight into his training regime.

He told Talksport: “Obviously you don’t have anyone to do any ball work with, so any ball work on your own is not quite the same.

“Really for me I am just trying to keep on top of fitness like high speed running.

“It’s not necessarily long runs because we are in the second half of the season and we have probably got enough fitness to get over this little period.

“I am just keeping on top of sprints in order to make sure I am ready to go when needed.”