Planning the football training: Volume and Intensity

In this introductory article I will present the master lines and create an overview, from where we can get into more detail about the more complex and specific parts of the process. The sketch of a traditional and very simple model that you can use with junior and youth players.

What is the planning of sports training?

Planning is to complete the structures or temporary cycles produced in the periodisation with training sessions. As we saw in periodisation, we have to achieve different goals through the work on content. These were selected and sequenced in a logical order. Now in the planning phase we will explain what will be done in each cycle, sessions will be developed at all times for achieving the goals we set in periodisation.

I will explain how to perform a step by step plan. However it is very complex and I would need many more articles.

What must football players do when they are defending? How do they know what actions and roles should they undertake depending on where the ball is on the field? Should all defenders do the same tasks? We will explain the 30 functions and responsibilities that the players must learn to do when defending.

In football, the team that has the ball is said to be attacking; however the team that does not, is defending. You can go deeper on the offensive and defensive phases in this article. In a previous article we explained what players do when they are attacking. In this one, we'll explain the tasks that our players should do on defense. For this we will divide defense time in the following sub steps: a) pressure: we just lost the ball, b) retreat: we will go back to our area where we will defend the counter attack c) recovering the ball.

Warming-up as a set of physical exercises should be conducted in an orderly and progressive manner. To organize exercises, we divide warm-up in phases, which have the same goals: activation, joint mobility, stretches and specific exercises.

Activation.- Consists on "waking up" the body, we raise breathing rate, increase muscle temperature and viscosity, increase beats per minute, vasodilation, we redistribute cardiac output, etc.

Articular Mobility.- perform abduction and adduction, flexion - extension, and/or rotation of the joints. Thus we lubricate cartilage and prepare ligament insertions.

Muscle stretching.- Once muscles have increased temperature, becoming more viscous and receiving more oxygenated blood, we can proceed to stretch the myofibrils and muscle fascia, preparing the muscles to lengthen and give maximum possible elasticity.

What are the best physical trials in football? Do they serve for anything or are they a waste of time? Why conduct these tests and not others? Is it the same to do tests on Monday than on Thursday? How to organize a session of physical trials to be effective and not a waste of time for the players? What should I prepare before taking the session to the field? What type of warm up should be done? What data is important and useful?

All groups must have someone to be the spokesman which in turn "manages" from within it. Having a good team captain is very important because if he performs his functions properly, the group will be united and working all together to achieve the objectives.  Who should the captain of the football team be?, what psychological aspects should we look in him?

Working with people involves the appearance of conflicts. When you train a football team you're interacting with people and in this relationship conflicts may occur.

What are the conflicts in sports? Why do they arise? How do you prevent them from appearing? I will explain everything you need to know about conflicts between players and between players and coaching staff, so that when they pop up you'll be more relaxed and prepared to handle them.

How to detect them? What to do when they happen? Should we let them pass? Can anything be done? I'll explain the steps for the detection and resolution of conflicts on your football team.