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BASIC TRAINING PRINCIPLES – PLANNING A PROGRAMME

All good training sessions will have specific aims and objectives, and must ALL begin with a sound warm-up. There are 4 fitness components, identified as; Frequency, Intensity, Time and Type, that determine the long-term effect of training. To achieve a high level of fitness, training sessions need to be undertaken regularly by players, as it will be difficult for any individual who only occasionally turns up for training to see any real improvement. In general terms, fitness is often referred to as “the 4 S’s”, namely; Stamina or cardiovascular endurance, Strength/muscular endurance, Suppleness or flexibility, and Speed. It is these fitness parameters and the links between them (Strength endurance, Power and Speed endurance), all of which contribute to the player’s performance.

The effects of training are reversible; if training is infrequent or not sufficiently intensive, the training effects will diminish. Overload and progression form the foundation of all training. Without overload no improvements will take place and without appropriate progression individuals will not be given sufficient time to adapt to the training, with the likely result being injury. To achieve this, the intensity and duration of training sessions should be increased in a logical and reasonably progressive fashion. The importance of recovery is critical to ensure optimal development of players at all levels. Recovery allows the body to replenish energy stores and assist in the repair of damaged tissues allowing subsequent training sessions to take place in a state of minimal fatigue.

The greatest percentage of injuries occur in July (pre-season). This is when players return to training from the “close season” and in most cases these injuries will happen because training programmes are designed to expect too much, too soon. As at the beginning of the season players have not been progressively overloaded, most players tend to go from doing little or no exercise to physically demanding training sessions that can actually do more harm than good and cause injuries. To reduce the risk of injury early in the season, players should attempt to maintain a reasonable level of fitness throughout the year. Therefore maintain your fitness throughout the Summer and make sure you build a pre-pre-season programme in to your training routine.

In order to maintain the required level of fitness we would recommend individuals take part in relatively short but intensive training programmes, ideally 2-3 times a week. The high intensity of training sessions limits the length of the training periods and the number of repetitions. For professional footballers it is recommended that 4 intervals of 4 minutes are very effective. Less trained players would require shorter work periods or a lower number of intervals.

Rest is a crucial factor of training and a number of continuous days strength/endurance exercise at any one time over a short period is not advisable. Ideally leaving a day rest between exercise bouts allows the muscles to recover so that it can work maximally at the next exercise session.

The critical elements for developing Speed are; effort (exercises must be performed at maximum effort), intensity (quick and over short periods – no longer than 10 seconds, which is relatively long considering the average sprint in a game is 2 seconds), and volume (short number of drills, maximum 4, with rest periods in between).

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