If there’s a positive to come from the suspension of the 2020 Toyota AFL Premiership Season, Ben King has found it.

The 19-year-old Gold Coast key forward sees it as a chance to fast-track his development. 

Speaking to SUNS Media, King said that without games to prepare for and recover from, he could spend more time focussed on building his strength and muscle mass.

“I think it’s definitely an opportunity to gain some weight,” King said. 

“I’ve still got a long way to go with my body and putting on size and strength.

“This is definitely one of the small positives to come out of this for me is that I get a chance to get in the weight room and try to progress my development before the season starts again.” 

In an ordinary year, the off-season and pre-season are the ideal times to put on large quantities of muscle.

It’s difficult to maintain that through a season as athletes manage their fitness levels and recovery in between games.

But after conversations with High Performance Manager Alex Rigby, King said together they had devised a program to bolster his load while the season was on hold.

“I think my weights program going forward will be bigger than most,” he said.

“I’ll cut back on the running a little bit to give me an opportunity to put some size on.

“That’s definitely been a focus of ours - more weights, more reps and bigger sessions.”

When he’s not lifting weights, King is finding other ways to keep busy.

He’s moved back in to the family home in Melbourne and amongst his training schedule, basketball sessions with his brother and video games, is also completing the first subject of his degree with club partner Griffith University. 

“I’m still doing uni online so it’s kept me pretty busy,” he said. 

“I’m studying Commerce at Griffith so the subject I’m doing is Accounting at the moment.

“It’s just one subject per trimester so it’s pretty manageable at the moment.

“I’ve got nothing else to do so it’s working quite well.”