By Dan Harrison

Andreas Weimann admits he is being pushed to the limit in the Bodymoor Heath gym - because the man known as Concrete Ron is his training partner!

Weimann has been on the same weights programme as new signing Ron Vlaar, who joined Villa from Feyenoord last month.

And the 21-year-old has found out the hard way why 6ft 2in defender Vlaar earned the nickname Concrete Ron.

But Weimann insists the Dutch defender also has the technical ability to match his power and strength.

"Everyone has a programme for the gym and we have the same one but we did an extra bit at the end on Tuesday," said Weimann.

"Obviously he is a big guy so if I do it with him so hopefully I'll get a bit bigger and stronger as well!

"I think they call him Concrete Ron don't they? You can see why!

"I have to take it a bit easy on the weights but he was lifting quite high.

"But as well as being strong he likes being on the ball as well and you can see he is comfortable with it and is good at passing it."

Weimann came off the bench in the second-half of Saturday's disappointing 1-0 defeat to West Ham.

The Austrian U21 striker is hoping to see an upswing both in the team's fortunes and his own performance when Villa face Everton this weekend.

"It was hard when I got on because all they were doing was defend and they had loads of players back," he added.

"Hopefully we will improve on Saturday. I played okay against Bremen and I played for the U21s last week and scored a couple of goals, so I feel really fit at the moment."

Click here to pick up tickets for Villa's exciting first home game against Everton.