While I was working on the 8-weeks pre-season plan for soccer I have been contacted by the head coach of FC RAD, Marko Nikolić offering me to join the coaching staff as the head strength and conditioning coach. I was serving the same position during the 2007 when the FC RAD was playing Second National League.
Marko has led the team into the First National League and now they are showing great ambition by holding 4th position on the table. The organization of the club is top notch and the communication between and within coaching staff and the players is on high level. Of course, I have accepted the offer and I am looking forward to the successful rest of the season. I have great communication with Marko Nikolić and I am really honored to be part of the team that is so well organized and positive, hard working and responsible.
Tomorrow is my first day at work. Cross your fingers.
It is time to put all of the info into an 8-week template. By template I mean general plan and weekly plans, but without exact loading and drills used. Organization of the training sessions, days and weeks will be highly dependent on your context (facilities, number of athletes, assistants, weather, etc), thus I will only provide models so to speak.
8 weeks is a short amount of time, thus complex training should be utilized. By complex training I refer to Bondarchuk’s exercise/methods classification, where all groups of exercises/methods should be used in parallel, although some of the exercises might rotate every couple of weeks within same group.
Name of exercise/method
Description
Content
Competitive (CE)
Exercises that are identical or almost identical to competition event
10v10 on full pitch
10v10 with different constraints
Friendly games
Specialized
developmental (SDE)
Exercise that repeat the competitive event in training but in its separate parts
Small sided games with different constraints aimed at emphasizing certain aspect of performance
Specialized
preparatory (SPE)
Exercises that do not imitate the competitive event, but train the major muscle groups and physiological systems
Technical and tactical drills (pre-set)
Speed, explosive, reactive training
Strength training (legs)
General
preparatory (GPE)
Exercises that do not imitate the competitive event and do not train the specific systems.
The way you are going to organize development of goals for each training component, especially physical preparation will be dependent on context at hand (level of the athletes, weather, facilities, time limits, peaking indexes etc), along with biological, biomechanical and psychological basis of the development. Please note that I will be talking mostly on physical preparation goals here, but the overall system should include plan for developing goals for other training components as well. More about the planning strategies in terms of goals development you can find in What the heck is Periodization anyway and Periodization Confusion.
For the sake of example, I decided to organize goals development of the physical preparation in three blocks that follows mostly the biological basis of endurance development. I am not saying that things should be done or organized like this all the time or in your case, but I am rather providing an example how to organize everything that is said in the previous parts of this series.
·Peaking index 5 is 50% preparedness, characteristic of the transitional period. Training workloads are very low due the rest and recovery goals.
·Peaking index 4 is 60% preparedness, characteristic of the preparatory period when athletes are not yet ready to play. Training workloads are the highest here, and since the fatigue is highest here, the athletes are not yet ready to play.
·Peaking index 3 is 70-80% preparedness typical for friendly games and games against weaker opponents. Training workloads are still high/medium here, and the training is still directed toward improving preparedness. Fatigue is medium.
·Peaking index 2 is 90% preparedness characteristic of the period and competitive games against opponents from the top of the table. Training workloads are medium level and fatigue is in medium/low level
·Peaking index 1 is 100% preparedness and is characteristic for Play-off periods, when peak form/shape is achieved. Training workloads are lowest and based on a concepts of peaking
Peaking Index
Preparedness level
Fatigue
Weekly training workload
Willingness to train
Muscle soreness
5
<50%
Low
Low
(progress) Low to High*
(progress) High to Low*
4
50-60%
High
Very high, Progressively
High
Medium-High
3
60-80%
Medium
High
Medium
Medium
2
80-90%
Medium-Low
Medium
High
Low
1
90-100%
Low
Medium-Taper
Extreme
None
* Willingness to train is low and the muscle soreness is high during the Peaking Index 5 because of the fact that competition season is over and athletes need rest and recovery.
Peaking index is an index of the sport form and it is related to the overall stress levels (weekly workload) with the special consideration of the volume and intensity, specificity of the training exercises/methods and training block (emphasis). I could say this is more an art than it is a science. Listed percentages don’t mean anything except being just guidelines.
One interesting concept I recently came across in the Training and Racing with a Power Meter book was the cycling form. This cycling form is the result of the fitness and freshness during the certain time period and it is determined by the sliding average training load over the longer time period (fitness) and sliding average training load over the shorter time period (freshness). This is all based on the Banister’s Impulse-Response model. You can read more about this concept in the mentioned book or in The scientific inspiration for the Performance Manager or in What is the Performance Management Chart in TrainingPeaks WKO+?.
Thus this cycling form representa dynamic state that is dependent on the workload you have done in the last, for example, 30 days (which is related to fitness) and workload you have done in the last, for example 5 days (which is related to freshness). This is why if you reduce training workloads to hold a peak for too long, you are going to lose your fitness and thus performance will suffer. Or if you keep pounding all the time your freshness will suffer. Thus, we are unable to hold a peak (sport form) for too long, and during the season, which is especially long in the soccer competitions, it is important to juggle with work and rest and the importance of the games and to plan accordingly. This is why Peaking Index is so useful in training planning.
Compared to cycling or running where objective data is used to calculate workloads, it is nearly impossible to objectively calculate workload in team sports, since we are doing strength training, practices, speed, endurance, etc. We just can’t sum apples and oranges. One concept that might be useful could be subjective indicators like session-RPE. You can find more about subjective indicators in the Usage of subjective indicators in monitoring and programming of training article.
Speaking of weekly loading, it is important to mention that the bars on the 8-weeks pre-season plan graph are not absolute, but relative to peaking index, training block and microcycle type. Thus adjustment microcycle in the Aerobic Power block can be more stressful than loading microcycle in the Base block.
Content of the blocks
In the table below is the listed content of the blocks from the physical preparation standpoint.
Base Block
Aerobic Power Block
RSA Block
General Goals
Increase in Aerobic Capacity and Strength
Increase in Aerobic Power (VO2max, vVO2max)
Improvement in RSA, glycolytic power/capacity and fatigue toleration
Even if the pre-season follows a general template there should be some time for more individual work on players’ weaknesses, yet this depends whether we are talking about starter or bench guy, pro or developmental.
Planning of the microcylces
Now when we have global picture it is easy to plan individual microcycles. What I usually do is get some pre-planned models of the microcycles for a given training block, but plan from week to week, maybe a week or two in advance taking into account the global plan. It is impossible to plan every workout for the whole pre-season since you don’t know in advance what will happen and how are athletes going to react. Yet, you should have a template or model.
For microcycle and training session planning I highly suggest getting Block Periodization by Vladimir Issurin. Issurin outlined numerous planning principles of the training sessions and microcycles, and some of them are compatibility of the motor abilities and optimal readiness for development of each. The following graphs are based on Vladimir Issurin’s book.
Optimal readiness for developing certain abilities
Training compatibility of motor abilities development
It is of crucial importance to take those into consideration when planning microcycles and training sessions. Sometimes it is impossible to follow the guidelines and some compromises should be made.
Technical training sessions
As for technical/tactical training sessions (TE/TA) there are certain models, but before I present them it is important to classify the training exercises/method used in technical and tactical training sessions.
Competitive (CE)
10v10 on normal field
10v10 with tasks
Friendly games
Official games
Specialized
developmental (SDE)
10v10 to 1v1 games with constraints with the aim of emphasizing/developing certain technical, tactical, strategical element on normal or reduced field size
Specialized
preparatory (SPE)
Pre-set play (i.e. 4v0)
Technical drills and polygons
General
preparatory (GPE)
Ball control
Technique correction
Off-the ball movement mechanics
There are two types of TE/TA sessions: ordinary and complex. Ordinary training session is when only soccer practice is done and complex training sessions are when soccer practice is combined with physical preparation. The design of complex training sessions is dependent of the goals of physical preparation part of the workout (mostly energy system used), thus both parts need to be ‘integrated’. In the table below there are couple of models that could be used as an example
Ordinary
Complex
(ATP/CP)
Complex
(Aerobic)
Complex
(Glycolysis)
General Warm-up
Specific Warm-up
(GPE, SPE)
SDE exercises/methods
SPE exercises/methods
SDE exercises/methods
CE exercises*
Cool down
* This model is based on Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) where you start with the game, isolate specific aspect, and end with a game to ‘integrate’ learned
General Warm-up
Specific Warm-up
(GPE, SPE)
Speed and Explosive strength (GPE, SPE)
SPE exercise/methods
SDE exercise/methods
Strength (GPE, SPE)
Cool down
General Warm-up
Specific Warm-up
(GPE, SPE)
SDE exercises/methods
SPE exercises/methods
SDE exercises/methods
Aerobic capacity/power games (SDE)
Aerobic capacity/power games (SPE, GPE)
Cool down
General Warm-up
Specific Warm-up
(GPE, SPE)
RSA
Glycolytic power/capacity (SPE, GPE)
Glycolytic power/capacity games (SDE)
CE exercises*
Cool down
* The aim is to purposefully induce fatigue to practice CE in fatigued state
8-weeks pre-season template
Although I will not cover microcycle templates (models) for each training block (and phase: preparatory, competitive and transition) and type, I will provide an 8-weeks pre-season template based on the solution of the three training blocks. Microcycle models will be covered in the in-season planning article if I decide to write that one down.
The planning process basically involves vertical integration of the training blocks, peaking index (PI), microcycle type and stress level.
For such a purpose we are going to design a table that integrates all the mentioned factors.
MC
Block
PI
Stress
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
The next step is to fill the table with MC, Training block, Peak Index (PI), stress level and dates, along with putting factors like scheduled travel, camps, medical check-up, testing and non-training days and friendly games.
MC
Block
PI
Stress
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
Base Block
4
A
Mon 10. Jan
Tue 11. Jan
Wed 12. Jan
Thu 13. Jan
Fri 14 Jan
Sat 15. Jan
Sun 16. Jan
2
3
L
Mon 17. Jan
Tue 18. Jan
Wed 19. Jan
Thu 20. Jan
Fri 21. Jan
Sat 22. Jan
Sun 23. Jan
Friendly Game
3
3
L
Mon 24. Jan
Tue 25. Jan
Wed 26. Jan
Thu 27. Jan
Fri 28. Jan
Sat 29. Jan
Sun 30. Jan
Friendly Game
4
Aerobic Power
3
A
Mon 31. Jan
Tue 1. Feb
Wed 2. Feb
Thu 3. Feb
Fri 5. Feb
Sat 5. Feb
Sun 6. Feb
Friendly Game
5
3
L
Mon 7. Feb
Tue 8. Feb
Wed 9. Feb
Thu 10. Feb
Fri 11. Feb
Sat 12. Feb
Sun 13. Feb
Friendly Game
6
3
L
Mon 14. Feb
Tue 15. Feb
Wed 16. Feb
Thu 17. Feb
Fri 18. Feb
Sat 19. Feb
Sun 20. Feb
Friendly Game
7
RSA
3
I
Mon 21. Feb
Tue 22. Feb
Wed 23. Feb
Thu 24. Feb
Fri 25. Feb
Sat 26. Feb
Sun 27. Feb
Friendly Game
8
2
PC
Mon 28. Feb
Tue 1. Mar
Wed 2. Mar
Thu 3. Mar
Fri 4. Mar
Sat 5. Mar
Sun 6. Mar
OFC. TEST GAME
9
COMP
1
C
Mon 7. Mar
Tue 8. Mar
Wed 9. Mar
Thu 10. Mar
Fri 11. Mar
Sat 12. Mar
Sun 13. Mar
GAME
With friendly games it is important to provide certain progression in minutes played. Now, with this filled it is easy to continue with individual sessions based on templates (which I haven’t provided though). Maybe you will not agree with the design/progression, but just keep in mind that this is only example.
MC
Block
PI
Stress
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
Base Block
4
A
Mon 10. Jan
Tue 11. Jan
Wed 12. Jan
Thu 13. Jan
Fri 14 Jan
Sat 15. Jan
Sun 16. Jan
Speed
Explosive
TE/TA
TE/TA
8v8-5v5
TE/TA
Sweet spot
Speed
Explosive
TE/TA
TE/TA
8v8-5v5
TE/TA
Sweet spot
Rest
TE/TA
Strength
TE/TA
Tempo
TE/TA
Strength
TE/TA
Tempo
2
3
L
Mon 17. Jan
Tue 18. Jan
Wed 19. Jan
Thu 20. Jan
Fri 21. Jan
Sat 22. Jan
Sun 23. Jan
Speed
Explosive
TE/TA
TE/TA
8v8-5v5
Speed
Explosive
Strength
TE/TA
8v8-5v5
Sweet spot
TE/TA
Strength
Friendly Game
TE/TA
Sweet spot
TE/TA
Strength
TE/TA
Tempo
TE/TA
Tempo
3
3
L
Mon 24. Jan
Tue 25. Jan
Wed 26. Jan
Thu 27. Jan
Fri 28. Jan
Sat 29. Jan
Sun 30. Jan
Speed
Explosive
TE/TA
TE/TA
8v8-5v5
Speed
Explosive
TE/TA
TE/TA
8v8-5v5
Sweet spot
TE/TA
Strength
Friendly Game
Rest
TE/TA
Strength
TE/TA
Tempo
TE/TA
Strength
TE/TA
Tempo
4
Aerobic Power
3
A
Mon 31. Jan
Tue 1. Feb
Wed 2. Feb
Thu 3. Feb
Fri 5. Feb
Sat 5. Feb
Sun 6. Feb
Speed
Explosive
TE/TA
TE/TA
4v4-3v3
TE/TA
Tempo
Speed
Explosive
TE/TA
TE/TA
4v4-3v3
Friendly Game
Rest
TE/TA
Strength
TE/TA
TE/TA
Strength
TE/TA
5
3
L
Mon 7. Feb
Tue 8. Feb
Wed 9. Feb
Thu 10. Feb
Fri 11. Feb
Sat 12. Feb
Sun 13. Feb
Speed
Explosive
TE/TA
TE/TA
4v4-3v3
TE/TA
8v8-6v6
Sweet spot
Speed
Explosive
TE/TA
TE/TA
4v4-3v3
Friendly Game
Rest
TE/TA
Strength
TE/TA
Billat intervals
TE/TA
Strength
TE/TA
Billat intervals
6
3
L
Mon 14. Feb
Tue 15. Feb
Wed 16. Feb
Thu 17. Feb
Fri 18. Feb
Sat 19. Feb
Sun 20. Feb
Speed
Explosive
TE/TA
TE/TA
4v4-3v3
Friendly Game
TE/TA
TE/TA
4v4-3v3
Friendly Game
Rest
TE/TA
Strength
TE/TA
Billat intervals
TE/TA
Strength
TE/TA
Billat intervals
7
RSA
3
I
Mon 21. Feb
Tue 22. Feb
Wed 23. Feb
Thu 24. Feb
Fri 25. Feb
Sat 26. Feb
Sun 27. Feb
Speed
Explosive
TE/TA
3v3-2v2 TE/TA
Friendly Game
RSA
TE/TA
3v3-2v2 TE/TA
Friendly Game
Rest
TE/TA
Strength
Shuttles
TE/TA
TE/TA
Strength
Shuttles
TE/TA
8
2
PC
Mon 28. Feb
Tue 1. Mar
Wed 2. Mar
Thu 3. Mar
Fri 4. Mar
Sat 5. Mar
Sun 6. Mar
TE/TA
Sweet spot
Speed
Explosive
TE/TA
3v3-2v2 TE/TA
TE/TA
Tone
TE/TA
OFC. TEST GAME
Rest
TE/TA
Strength
Shuttles
TE/TA
9
COMP
1
C
Mon 7. Mar
Tue 8. Mar
Wed 9. Mar
Thu 10. Mar
Fri 11. Mar
Sat 12. Mar
Sun 13. Mar
Rest
Speed
Explosive
TE/TA
TE/TA
8v8-5v5
TE/TA
Tone
TE/TA
GAME
Rest
TE/TA
Strength
TE/TA
Tempo
And that’s it. Sometimes, or most of the times, it is not necessary to plan training sessions in advance this far, and we are for sure going to change thing or two, or even more. If the athletes are too fatigued, sometimes it is better to give a day off or an easy day instead of going by the paper and following it to the letter. Thus, consider this only as an example.
I might write another part on the in-season training and how to continue this 8-weeks pre-season plan into in-season in due course.
