Join Catapult’s Ross Goodall as he talks through how teams approach weekly periodisation in association football, Soccer.
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So the question I’ll be answering today is; “How
much shall I load my players and when?”
The periodized week should be planned around how coaches
are wanting to structure their training weeks, when players
are in and when they’re off recovering.
It’s the role of a sports scientist to
balance exposing players to enough training load to
increase their fitness while at the same time
being careful not to overload players.
The values I’m about to talk through are
shown as an approximate percentage of match loads.
The first model is the Traditional Model.
This is a model in a typical one game
week schedule and gives players two days off.
This model prioritizes freshness in the
lead up to the match day.
However, this may not provide enough recovery time.
Research suggests players should have at least
48 hours post-match date for recovery.
Athletes will also only have
one conditioning day per week.
Model number two is the European Model.
This is a model which has been
adopted by Rafa Benitez in the past.
Players are back in on match day plus one (MD+1) for
active recovery and squad players will receive top up sessions.
Match day plus two (MD+2) will then be a rest day.
This model generally prioritizes recovery.
There are long lead times into games
with one day dedicated to conditioning.
Model number three is the Tactical Model.
The Tactical Model has been used by Jose
Mourinho and his staff in a very immersive
approach to where there are no days off.
This affords the coaches two days of conditioning,
one dedicated to small spaces with lots of
Accels and Decels and one with larger
spaces with more high speed running.
Lastly, we have the Adapted Tactical Model which
has been used by Pochettino in the past.
This is similar to the Tactical approach,
but swaps the extensive and intensive days
around and instead incorporates a friendly game.
This is used to simulate two day game weeks, but
once again there’s little to no time off with family.
Thanks for listening, I hope you found that useful.
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