The loosehead prop, like many of his teammates, enjoyed a four-week post-season break in June, spending time with his young family, catching up with friends and attending the weddings of Messrs Williams (Nick) and Bowe (Tommy).
But that now seems like a distant memory, with four weeks of pre-season training already under his belt. "It's been pretty grueling," declares the 29 year-old. "The coaches have pushed the boys hard. We'e done a lot of power work in preparation for the new season."
Detailing the punishing schedule, Black says: "At the moment we're training Monday to Saturday and we're fitting in seven weights sessions throughout the week. A typical day would be a weights session and a speed session with the prowlers in the morning and a Brazilian Ju-Jitsu grappling session in the afternoon.
"The physical nature of rugby demands such power-based training, but there is also a big emphasis on skill development and learning the systems:
"We'll start to spend a lot more time on the pitch, playing small-sided games and going through our patterns to make sure everyone is comfortable," explains Black. "We'll do a lot of unit work and team plays as we approach the first few games."
With a World Cup looming, many of the squad's new signings and more than a just few players from the Hughes Insurance Academy will have a key role to play at the start of the campaign. Black is confident that they can do the business: "The new players have settled in really well and the Academy guys have stepped up to the plate in training. We'll have a lot of boys involved in the World Cup, and we wish them all the best, but Doaky (Neil Doak) has said from the off that this is the group that will take us through the start of the season. We've got a lot of confidence within the squad."
While, Ulster will be affected by World Cup participation over the next two or three months, the likes of Leinster and Glasgow are likely to be missing upwards of 15 internationals. A great opportunity, insists Black: "We know that a lot of teams are also going to have players missing so it's a key opportunity for us to get a good start. We've targeted the first five games - if we can get five wins that will put us in a good place to finish in the top two at the end of the season and that is a minimum requirement for this squad.
"When the boys come back from the World Cup hopefully we'll be in a good place and they can add to that on their return. The way last season finished was hard to take and it took a while to get over it. But it has added motivation for us to come back again this season and really take it a step further, because we know we're good enough,"claims Black.