PUTTING on four kilos is usually enough to slow a person down, as far as running is concerned.

For super-fit Western Bulldogs midfielder Daniel Cross, such a pre-season weight-gain only improved his already superb aerobic capacity.

"I feel a lot more powerful. Endurance has never really been a problem for me; I run a lot during the pre-season, longer distance runs and the like, but it certainly hasn't slowed me down," Cross told afl.com.au.

"It's only benefited me in my power, and although there may not be a massive difference off the field, I can definitely feel it on the field.

"I'm able to recover a lot quicker as well after I have a break, and my power output is still the same as it was at the start of the game."

Bulking up his playing mass has also come with the added benefit of increasing the 25-year-old's confidence in his abilities in contested situations.

"With me, it's helped not to get pushed off the ball as much as I did in my earlier days and it's helped my running a bit as well," he said.

"I'm not the longest kick in the game but it's given me an extra one or two metres on my kick with the power in my legs as well.

"[Our fitness staff] focussed on our deficiencies and where we needed to improve from last year, and we've done that."

For a player that didn't quite have the skills to stand out in his first few years at an AFL club, Cross has always relied upon his outstanding fitness to make up for where his ball work may have lacked.

A love of cross-country and two parents who admit to enjoying long-distance running in their younger years have helped to shape the midfielder from Albury into the non-stop engine he is today.

"Without a doubt, it's probably one of the reasons why I got onto an AFL list in the first place.

"Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and that was one of my strength areas. I felt if I could develop very well in certain other areas in skills, that I could match it with gun midfielders coming through."

Coach Rodney Eade recently described Cross as a "maniac" on the training track, and the midfielder admits to embarking on pre-match runs before adding another 10 or so kilometres during the game.

But his near-completion of a degree in exercise science, combined with almost eight years of playing for an AFL club, has taught Cross that sometimes less is better.

"I know how important it is to have all the muscles firing before you run out to play," he said, about running before games.

"Getting warmed up properly is very important. There are probably other guys that are thinking we're stupid, wasting our energy, but I feel it gets me ready to play.

"I've learned to listen to the fitness staff, and I know that as you get older in footy terms, you have to let your body recover.

"I always do my extra skills, but you run so much during a game that you don't really recover until midweek."

Cross has one semester's worth of study to go before he gets his degree after seven long years of part-time schooling at the Australian Catholic University.

While he hopes he's got plenty of stamina left to add to the 100 games he'll notch up this weekend, he's already got his eye on a career after football – and possibly at the Bulldogs underneath current physical performance manager Cameron Falloon.

"I'll be extremely happy when I'm finished, and would hopefully like to stay at the footy club once I've finished my playing career and do the fitness side of things," he said.

"It's what I enjoy and I love being outdoors, so hopefully that's where it takes me."