2.1
2.1.1
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
Injury Prevention and
Training
As mentioned elsewhere in this F-MARC
manual, there is an extensive body of information on injuries in football. We have
learned many things, some obvious, some
not so obvious. For example, two-thirds
of all injuries occurred to the ankle, knee,
head, lower leg and foot. One obvious conclusion is first aid for games; be prepared
to administer first aid for ankle and knee
sprains, strained (pulled) muscles, contusions, lacerations and concussions.
Another interesting finding is the number
of players with prior injuries. About half
the players with ankle sprains had a prior
sprain, many within the same season. The
risk of a second ankle sprain increases by
3-5 times in players with a prior sprain.
Very often, a major injury was preceded by
an incompletely rehabilitated minor injury.
Competitive sport is inherently risky, but
we can support individual players to take
appropriate precautions against injury or
re-injury. For example:
• Poor flexibility and muscle tightness
are often cited as risk factors in muscle strains, tendon injuries and re-injuries of strained muscles. The groin, hip
flexors and ankle dorsi-flexors (pointing
your toe up) are often tight in football
players. Players should be encouraged,
therefore, not to neglect stretching these
problem areas.
• Ankle sprains often occur during tackling suggesting that technique may be
an issue as well as fair play (many ankle injuries are from late tackles from
the side). In addition, over half of those
with an ankle sprain will re-injure it and
half of those do so within two months of
the first injury. It is good advice to follow the doctor’s and therapist’s orders
about rehabilitation. Most footballers
see a sprained ankle as a nuisance, but
returning too soon to play places the
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
player at a clear risk for another, possibly more serious, injury to the ankle or
elsewhere. Protection of a sprained ankle (e.g. taping, lace-up ankle supports)
for 6 months to a year or more has been
suggested for the unstable ankle. Do not
to try to return to play too soon. Follow
rehabilitation guidelines completely to
protect prior sprains or any injury. The
team needs its players on the field, not
on the sidelines.
Risk factors of non-contact knee injuries
include:
• Laxity - loose ligaments due to either
prior injury or genetics
• Muscle imbalance - one leg being stronger than the other or the quads and hamstrings being imbalanced.
• Flexibility - people with knee injuries
have flexible hamstrings
• General motor skills - knee ligaments
seem to tear during landing, stopping or
cutting in an erect stance (straight knee
and straight hip) and some valgus at the
knee. This is especially true in female
players, who need to play with a lower
centre of mass and absorb the shock of
landing by flexing the hips and knees;a
soft and quiet landing means the shock
of ground contact has been absorbed.
For coaches, these are skills that should
be taught when players are young. Puberty seems to be a reasonable age to
start encouraging this technique.
• Low endurance has been cited as an injury risk. Injuries and goals are similar
in that many occur late in games. In surveys of youth and professionals alike, a
major fraction of all injuries occurred in
the last 10-15 minutes of a game. Many
training injuries occur during pre-season
when players are unfit. So the main duty
of each player is to arrive in shape, not
to arrive in camp to get in shape. The
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
25
coach will then improve fitness specifically for the game so that players do not
tire as much late in the game.
• Football skill is also a factor in injury.
Less skilled players suffer more injuries.
Skill work may seem dull, but we all know
intuitively that the better skilled players
are usually injured less frequently.
• Head injuries occur during head-head
contact or head-ground contact, mostly
in the penalty area and near the mid
line (when competing for goal kicks,
punts, etc.). Especially dangerous are
head flicks where a player flicks the ball
off the head, usually backwards. If the
player who wants to head the ball does
not separate from the defender, there
is danger to the defender behind who
• Foul play has been implicated in injuries
as up to 50% of traumatic football injuries were due to foul play; sometimes
to the defensive player and sometimes
to the offensive player. The most skilled
and most fit players are better able to
avoid these collisions.
• Boys aged 11 to 14 are at a special risk.
During puberty, height increases faster
than muscle growth. The tall, weak boy
gets injured more often than the shorter, less mature or the taller more mature boy. That “in-between” period is a
problem that deserves special attention
from all involved. Notice the wide range
of physical maturity in an U13 team (Fig.
2.1.1).
• Shin guards are required in football.
While all guards will spread out the
impact, they are not really helpful at
preventing fractures. Shin guards that
spread out the impact the most contain
air/foam cell pads. Most players want
the bare minimum guard to pass the
referee’s inspection; however, the larger
the shin guard, the more protection. As
players get older, some even wear children’s shin pads because they are small
and light, but pass inspection by the referee (Fig. 2.1.2). Many contusion injuries from tackling are seen in the bottom
third of the lower leg that is not protected by the small children’s shin guards
worn by adults. Law IV only states that
a player must wear shin guards with no
statements provided on size. Prevent
lower leg contusions by wearing age-appropriate shin guards.
Fig. 2.1.1 US youth players
Fig. 2.1.2 Too small shin guards
Fig. 2.1.3 Head-head contact
26
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
jumps and gets hit on the chin or on the
nose by the first player performing the
flick (Fig. 2.1.3).
The female player on the far left (dark jersey) throws into a teammate who must
head (flick) the ball over her own head. The
defender (white jersey) jumps to head the
ball. The player receiving the throw jumps
slightly, impacts the ball and the opponent’s face/nose leading to a fractured
nose and cheek plus a concussion.
This action can lead to a whiplash type of
injury. Perhaps a solution is to teach players to take a step back to either control
the ball on their chest/thigh/foot or head
it back to a teammate they can see or to
teach the person throwing the ball into
play to throw the ball so that it can be controlled more easily (to feet, thigh or chest).
This would protect both players and be tactically better. In youth play, players usually
don’t know where the flick is going anyway
so it is probably a wasted pass.
• A preventable goalkeeper injury in young
players is a fractured wrist. This happens
when an adult is shooting an adult size
ball (size 5) at a younger goalkeeper. Always use the age appropriate ball and
only have players of the same age take
real shots on goal. Common sense can
eliminate this unnecessary injury.
• Another completely preventable injury is
called a “de-gloving” injury of a finger.
Before some games, nets need to be put
on the goals and many goals have hooks
in the bar for the nets. This injury happens when someone jumps to put the
net over a hook in the bar and catches
a ring on the hook. Gravity then leads to
this injury. Never jump. Always stand on
a ladder or use other suitable support.
• Finally, goalpost injuries to children
have led to catastrophic neck injuries
and some fatalities. These happen when
unsupervised children climb on portable
goals and the goal tips over on a child.
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
Portable goals should always be secured
to the ground and children should never
be allowed to play on the goals. All fatalities have occurred outside of games
when the children were unsupervised.
FIFA clearly states that no goal should
ever be left unsecured.
Many injuries, especially re-injuries in
football are preventable. Preparation prior
to play is important as well as decisions
made during play.
The main objective of any form of physical
training is to elicit a physiological response
that will permit the player to perform at
a greater level than before and protect
against injury. For any athlete attempting to undergo a period of fitness training
they must adhere to certain principles in
order to gain maximum benefits from their
training programme. This applies to all
athletes, regardless of competency and
is extremely important for the injured and
deconditioned because training can be
more varied and complex in comparison
to the fit athlete who is more consistent in
their training habits. The aim of this section is to provide a breakdown of the long
established training principles and their
importance to the athlete who, either due
to injury or a period of inactivity, has not
trained consistently for a sustained period
of time.
2.1.2
The Individuality of Training
The predominant factor that governs an
individual’s response to exercise training
is genetics as everyone responds to exercise training differently even if the training
performed is identical. Some individuals
respond better to endurance type training
whereas others respond to shorter, more
power/strength biased activities.
Many research studies have examined the
genetic response to exercise training and
concluded that for maximal aerobic capacity, heredity can account for between 25%
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
27
- 50% of the variance in VO2 max values.
Improvements have been reported from
0% - 43% when a group of subjects followed the exact same endurance training
programmes for up to 12 months. It has
been said that “the best way to become
an Olympic athlete is to be selective when
choosing your parents.”
Athletics is a good example of how genetics can affect a person’s sporting ability.
Athletes who perform the 100m have a very
different physiological make up to athletes
who perform the 10,000m. These revolve
around differences in body habitus, cardiovascular system and in the muscle fibre
type. Sprinters have predominantly fast
twitch muscle fibres (type IIa and type IIb).
The characteristics of these fibre types are,
fast contraction speed, high power output,
very high intensity exercise and anaerobic
generation of energy. Consequently, fast
twitch muscle fibres can support shortterm explosive activities such as sprinting.
The muscle fibre characteristics of the
10,000m runner are the opposite. The runner’s muscles are predominantly made up
of slow twitch muscle fibres (type I). These
muscle fibres have a slow contraction
speed, low power output, are recruited for
low intensity exercise and generate energy
aerobically. Because of these characteristics, the slow twitch (type I) fibres are fatigue resistant. Therefore, the type I muscle fibres can support medium intensity,
long duration exercise in the absence of
fatigue.
Most muscles contain a mixture of the various muscle fibre types and fibre type distribution varies from individual to individual. While each fibre type can be trained
to a certain degree, the relative fibre type
composition of muscles is a genetically
determined attribute. Hence, athletic and
sporting capabilities, are to a certain extent genetically predetermined.
28
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
Initial fitness levels prior to a period of
training can also govern the nature of the
response. This is particularly true for the
injured and deconditioned athlete. After a
prolonged period of inactivity, fitness levels are lower for these individuals in comparison to athletes actively participating
in their sport. Consequently, when commencing a training programme in a deconditioned state or following an injury, the
gains in fitness, whether they are in endurance, strength, power etc., will be fairly
rapid in comparison to the gains that a conditioned athlete achieves in their regular
programmes – despite their higher fitness
levels. The higher the initial level of conditioning the smaller the relative improvement for the same training programme,
i.e. if two people, one fit and one unfit,
perform the same training programme the
unfit person will demonstrate the greater
relative improvement. The more one has to
improve, the more one will improve.
2.1.3
Overload
In order to bring about adaptations that are
enough to elicit an improvement in physiology and, ultimately, in performance, the
programme must provide a sufficient overload stimulus. This will provide the body
with sufficient adaptations to training that
will improve performance. Overload can
only be achieved through performing exercise at a level above what the body is already conditioned to perform.
The overload stimulus must also be progressive, otherwise improvements will begin to level off and performance will stagnate. For example, an athlete attempting to
improve their bench press may initially perform 3 sets of 8 repetitions with a weight
of 60 kilograms on the bar. As the number
of training sessions performed increases,
the athlete’s upper body strength will also
increase and the 60 kg will feel lighter than
when the exercise was first performed and
the athlete will be able to perform more
repetitions before fatigue sets in. There-
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
Progressive overload is also a very important factor for injured and deconditioned
athletes. The retraining process can occur very quickly at first, but the overload
must be continued in order to return the
player to competitive fitness. Otherwise
the responses/adaptations to training will
be less and improvements in fitness will
stagnate leaving the player ill-prepared to
compete. The appropriate overload can be
achieved by manipulating combinations of
training frequency, duration and intensity
(McArdle et al. 2001).
2.1.4
Frequency, Intensity and
Duration of Training
All training programmes should contain
and follow the principles of frequency, intensity and duration. Improvements in fitness will occur if any of these three factors
are increased.
2.1.4.1 Frequency
There appears to be no precise number of
times to train in order to bring about physiological improvements. The frequency of
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Fig. 2.1.4 Training frequency and injury
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
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sessions depends entirely upon the goal of
the training programme or session. Is the
goal of the programme to improve endurance, strength, power etc.? Three non-consecutive training days a week is typically
considered as the minimum necessary to
improve fitness. It is also known that doing the same exercise daily can lead to
overuse injury (Fig.2.1.4). That is why it is
important to have rest days as well as considering a cross training day as a replacement for regular training.
2.1.4.2 Intensity
The relationship between fitness improvement and exercise intensity is an S-shaped
curve (Fig. 2.1.5). A small increase in intensity at the low end of the curve (left) will
lead to small increases in fitness while
the same relative increase in intensity at
the moderate area of the curve (middle)
leads to much larger increases in fitness.
At the very high intensity level, an increase
in intensity can lead to further, but small,
gains in fitness but these are best left to
the highly competitive elite athlete.
2.1.4.3 Duration
Increasing the duration of training leads
to increases in fitness up until about 45
minutes to 1 hour of work and then further increases in duration lead to smaller
changes (Fig. 2.1.6). Again, long duration
sessions are best left to the highly competitive athletes. Volume of work refers
to the product of duration and frequency
of training bouts, i.e., volume can be increased be either increasing the frequency
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fore, as strength improves, the athlete will
need to increase the weight at which the
exercise is performed in order to elicit the
same overload that 60 kg once represented. As strength continues to increase, the
weight used in the programme will also
need to increase. Progressive overload is
applicable to all forms of fitness training,
aerobic and anaerobic.
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Fig. 2.1.5 Training intensity and fitness
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
29
or the duration of sessions. This is due to
the various energy systems employed to
support energy production during short,
medium and long term exercise at varying
intensities.
During high intensity training such as
strength, speed or power work, where the
exercise is performed at or close to maximal levels, the energy systems employed
to support the exercise are predominantly
anaerobic. Energy for high power output at
a fast rate provides instantaneous energy
at the onset of exercise, but the capacity
to prolong energy provision is poor. This
is either the result of depletion of ATP–PCr
stores or a build-up in lactic acid or other
waste products in the muscles. In order
for exercise to continue, intensity needs
to be reduced so that the aerobic pathway
becomes the major source of energy production, thus maintaining stores of ATP
and PCr whilst also minimising lactic acid
levels. Therefore, when intensity is high
the volume of work that can be tolerated
is brief and the benefits of the training are
anaerobic adaptations.
The aerobic pathway of energy production
has a much greater capacity and can supply energy for a much longer period, but it
cannot supply energy as fast as the anaerobic pathways. Therefore, when exercise
intensity is reduced to below approximately ~80-90% of maximum, the volume
of work that can be tolerated is increased
and hence there is an increase in exercise
Which of the three elements, intensity,
frequency or duration (volume), have the
greatest effect upon fitness levels? It appears that intensity is the critical factor.
However, a structured training programme
should feature all three elements.
Studies that have examined tapering, i.e. a
reduction in training in order to peak for a
particular event, have reported the importance of exercise intensity when attempting to maintain fitness levels. One study
reported that after a reduction of 67% in
training volume and frequency while maintaining intensity, fitness levels were maintained for an amazing 15 weeks! This was
achieved because the remaining exercise
in the programme was performed at a high
intensity and as soon as intensity levels
were reduced, fitness levels began to fall.
Other studies have produced similar findings which all lead to the conclusion that
for frequency, duration and intensity, intensity is the critical factor of fitness during regular training.
2.1.5
Specificity of Training and
Cross Training
The principle of specificity has a major role
in the physiological responses to training,
the adaptations that occur following training and the mechanism of fatigue.
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2.1.5.1 Specificity of exercise
A specific exercise elicits a specific response. The heart rate response of running 100m is different from the heart rate
response of running 5,000m. In football,
the best way to mimic the game is to play
the game.
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Fig. 2.1.6 Duration of training and fitness
30
duration. The adaptations to which will be
predominantly aerobic.
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
���
2.1.5.2 Specificity of training
A specific training programme will lead to
specific adaptations. The adaptation to
a resistance-training programme will be
different from the muscle adaptation to a
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
distance running programme. In football,
the best way to train for the game is to do
activities of the game. Distance running
during the season will train a player to be
a distance runner, not a footballer.
training. Consequently, cross training is a
mode of exercise that aids training when a
programme’s normal activities are not possible and this is a popular mode of training
for injured and deconditioned athletes.
2.1.5.3 Specificity of fatigue
The reason an athlete fatigues (fails to
maintain a desired power output) when
lifting weights is different from the reason an athlete fatigues when running a
marathon. Fatigue in football arises from
repeated short sprints depleting muscle
glycogen as well as dehydration.
Despite the principle of specificity of training, athletes may improve performance
in one mode of training by training in another. The benefits of cross training for the
injured and deconditioned athlete allow
for the participation in training even if the
desired mode of training is not an option!
For example, cycling enables an athlete to
train aerobically even if an injury prevents
them from being able to run. They can
maintain the cardiovascular adaptations
to their training even though an injured leg
might prohibit running. Does cross training have a sufficient benefit to be included
in the training programme of injured and
detrained athletes?
Ideally training should, as close as possible, mirror the movements and energy
systems necessary for the sport in order
for peak performance to be achieved. This
applies not only to the energy systems required for the sport, but also the muscles
and movement patterns of the sport.
The principle of specificity is not simply
confined to aerobic or anaerobic forms of
exercise training. Many research studies
have demonstrated that training responses are specifically related to the nature of
the training activity as little improvement
is observed when the response is measured during a dissimilar mode of exercise.
For example, Magel et al. (1975) studied
the aerobic improvements following swimming training when the subjects were
measured during swimming and running
tests. The swimming test demonstrated an
11.2% improvement in aerobic capacity
whereas the running test only elicited an
increase of 1.5%. Therefore, the specificity
principle is most effectively achieved when
the athlete trains the specific muscles and
energy systems involved (McArdle et al.
2001).
2.1.5.4 Cross training
Whilst the adaptations that occur following exercise are greatest when the activity
employed is specific to the activity which
is being trained for, it may not be possible,
either due to injury or poor fitness levels
for an athlete to mirror their sport when
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
Numerous studies, employing various different modes of exercise, have examined
the physiological effects of cross training
with varying results. It has been reported
that runners were able to maintain actual
running performances by running in deep
water for a period of 4 weeks. Other studies have also reported that deep water running, in common with other aerobic activities offers similar aerobic benefits when
performed at the correct intensity, frequency and duration. It has been reported
that even for the most serious of athletes,
cross training could be a way to increase
the amount of training without increasing
the risk of injury. However, it has been suggested that cross training is not an activity
for highly trained or serious athletes.
The majority of research concerning cross
training arrives at the same conclusion
– that whilst cross training may demonstrate some transfer effects of training,
the size of the effects will be less than
those which could be attained by increasing specific training by a similar amount.
However, if specificity of training is not an
option, cross training should be consid-
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
31
ered, some training is better than none at
all. This is especially relevant to aerobic
training. It appears that cardiac performance improvements are general (McArdle
et al. 2001). Anaerobic training is entirely
specific as these adaptations occur within
the muscle, if the muscle is not used during training, it will not produce a training
response!
2.1.6
If training is not performed due to either
illness or injury, any adaptations that have
occurred are lost in as brief a period as 10
days. This detraining process which occurs regardless of the pre-existing state of
physical fitness, has varying effects upon
aerobic and anaerobic fitness.
The reduction in aerobic adaptations is
considerably greater than for other performance capacities such as strength,
power and flexibility. In a study of the effect of complete rest upon fitness levels,
five subjects were confined to bed rest for
20 consecutive days and their VO2 max
declined by 25% (approximately 1% per
each day of rest). This decrease was largely
brought about via a reduction in the performance of the heart.
A clear illustration of detraining is highlighted in Fig. 2.1.7. Capillary density, aerobic (Krebs cycle) enzymes and ultimately
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VO2 max all reflect the
efficiency of a per-
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Reversibility of Training
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Fig. 2.1.7 Effect of detraining
32
Decreases in muscular endurance performance can occur very rapidly following
the complete cessation of training. This
appears primarily to be a function of an
impaired ability of the muscles to generate
energy, both aerobically and anaerobically. Reductions can occur within two weeks
if immobilisation has occurred, but if muscles are still able to move freely, a minimal
amount of training stimulus should be sufficient to prevent any substantial drops in
muscular endurance performance.
Adaptations that are lost during the detraining process are not regained during
an equivalent period of retraining. If an
athlete stops training for 12 days then
only 75% of the enzymes responsible for
aerobic metabolism are regained after 24
days of retraining. A study of the effect of
15 days detraining followed by 15 days
retraining on aerobic enzymes, VO2 max
and an endurance performance run time
showed that the 15-day period of retraining did not return any of the variables to
the pre-existing levels. Finally, there was a
two minute increase (i.e. slower) in endurance performance time.
The problems of retraining do not differentiate between fitness levels, as highly
trained athletes and non-athletes both
demonstrate a slower rate of return compared to the rates of loss. Therefore, detraining appears to far outweigh the effects of retraining. The old coaching saying
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therefore
appears to be true: “It’s easier to
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stay in shape than to get in shape.”
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son’s aerobic capacity. The graph demonstrates that the adaptations that took almost two years to achieve were lost within
only six months of detraining.
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
������
Now,
the question arises as to what can be
done to maintain fitness; what is the least
an athlete can do and still keep most of
their fitness? As has been mentioned elsewhere, training is a mixture of 3 factors:
training frequency (days/week), training
intensity (percentage of maximum capac-
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
ity) and training duration (minutes/day).
All three factors have been studied and all
three have to be considered when figuring
out how to maintain fitness.
2.1.6.1 Reduction in frequency
If training days are reduced by a third or
two-thirds (that is, from six training days
per week to four or two days per week)
while the training intensity and duration
(work as hard and as long as before) are
maintained, it is possible to maintain endurance.
2.1.6.2 Reduction in intensity
If training intensity is reduced by a third or
2/3 and the training frequency and duration are maintained (work as frequently
and as long), there are significant reductions in endurance.
2.1.6.3 Reduction in duration
If the minutes per session are reduced by
a third or two-thirds (or from 40 minutes/
session to 26 or 13 minutes per session)
while the training frequency and training
intensity are maintained (work as hard
and as often), it is also possible to maintain endurance.
These results show that training frequency
and duration can be reduced with little effect on overall endurance, assuming intensity is maintained. However, the quickest
way to lose endurance is to reduce training
intensity. Therefore, it is important to keep
practising at a training intensity similar to
that during the season.
Following injury, joints and their surrounding musculature are often immobilised.
The detraining process occurs very rapidly
to these muscles. Anyone who has ever
had a relatively serious injury will have noticed a certain degree of muscle wasting
(atrophy) following immobilisation.
Muscle size is reduced during periods
of inactivity, with the loss in size consequently causing reductions in muscular
strength and power. However, unlike aero-
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
bic capacity, reductions in neuromuscular
performance are not as rapid following
detraining. Reductions in muscle strength
and power are relatively small during the
first few months after training has been
reduced. Research evidence demonstrates
no loss of strength in the first three weeks
after the cessation of a three week training programme. Only 45% of the original
strength gained from a 12-week training
programme was lost after one year of no
training.
If muscles are not immobilised, then large
drops in strength following periods of inactivity can be minimised. This is due to
athletes being able to move around freely, supporting their own body weight and
providing an exercise stimulus to the muscles. Muscles apparently require minimal
stimulation to retain the strength, power
and size gained during training.
The detraining process appears to have a
greater effect upon aerobic performance
than it does upon anaerobic performance
(strength, power and muscular endurance).
The decrements are primarily due to a reduction in the ability to generate energy
aerobically. Strength, power and muscular
endurance can all be maintained to a certain degree via one high intensity training
session per week. However, for aerobic capacity to be maintained, two days a week
of training are needed if the intensity of
the exercise is high (85 – 100% VO2 max).
2.1.7
Principles of Recovery
One of the most crucial factors of all training programmes is that adaptations to
training only occur during periods of rest.
Good training programmes are all about
balancing high quality work and quality
rest periods. If rest and recovery are not
built into a training programme, then session after session will soon become counter-productive rather than beneficial. This
also applies to competition. With players
on multiple teams, league games, tourna-
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
33
ments and other competitions, the only
time players get any quality rest is when
they are injured. On the other hand, too
much recovery will also not help to boost
fitness levels, because training infrequently will not provide sufficient overload
to boost performance.
Thinking back to the principle of overload,
training must provide a workload above
what the body is already accustomed to.
Following exercise that has been performed to sufficient overload, the muscles
and energy systems undergo physiological
and structural changes that permit them
to reset to a higher level, thus gaining the
benefit of the exercise. This process of
recovery involves the repletion of energy
stores, repair of structural muscle damage
and recovery for the nervous system which
tends to take longer to recover than muscles. If the central nervous system is still in
a fatigued state during subsequent training bouts, nerve cells will fire at a slower
rate, the number of muscle fibres recruited
will be less and movements will become
less coordinated.
The rate at which energy stores are replenished following exercise depends upon (1)
the intensity at which the exercise bout
was performed and (2) the energy systems
that supported the exercise. Both of these
factors go hand in hand. Muscle ATP and
PCr stores are repleted within a matter of
minutes following exhaustive exercise;
however, carbohydrate stores may take up
to 2 days to return to the pre-exercise level
following exhaustive endurance exercise
(distance running) which football is not.
Glycogen replenishment following exhaustive intermittent running can be repleted
within 24 hours. The rate at which muscle
glycogen stores are resynthesised largely
depends upon the timing and quality of
carbohydrate (CHO) intake following exercise. It is recommended that CHO intake
should begin immediately upon termination of exercise, as the activity of the enzymes that regulate this process is greatest in the first two hours after exercise is
34
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
completed. A high CHO diet should replenish muscle glycogen stores within 24
hours of exhaustive exercise. More details
are found in the nutrition section (section
2.6) of this manual.
A strenuous workout will cause a certain
degree of muscle damage, or micro trauma, within the muscles. This damage is
repaired as the muscles undergo the adaptations that occur following training.
However, if another training session is
performed before the muscles have had
the chance to repair, the problem of insufficient rest occurs. Structural repair of
damaged muscle, however, is one of the
fastest adaptations to exercise and training.
The amount of protein resynthesis can illustrate the extent to which muscle tissues rebuild following damage that has
occurred during training. Studies have
demonstrated that following extensive exercise, the muscle protein synthesis rate
increases by 50% four hours after exercise
and can climb to a 109% after 24 hours.
Finally, the rate of muscle resynthesis returns to baseline levels 36 hours following
heavy training. This demonstrates that it
can take a period of up to 36 hours for this
recovery process within the muscles to be
complete and it is important that this period of recovery not be interrupted by another bout of training unless a prolonged
rest period is planned after back-to-back
intense training sessions, i.e. a weekend
of rest.
However, that is not to say that athletes
must wait 36 hours in between every single training session. The recovery process
will be specific to the nature of the prior
training. It is common to see professional
athletes training up to three times a day,
but all the sessions will have a different
objective, i.e. strength, power or aerobic
exercise, therefore the recovery will be
confined to the specific muscles and energy systems incorporated with that particular training session.
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
Muscle soreness tends to be more prominent following resistance or power training
than aerobic endurance training. Resistance training requires significant eccentric
(lengthening) contractions that damage
muscle fibres. The eccentric component
of running is much less. Plus, the muscle
fibre types involved in the activity have
varying resistance to fatigue. Fast twitch
muscle fibres are recruited during resistance training (short-term explosive exercises) and these fibres have a tendency to
fatigue much faster than their slow twitch
counterparts. Also during these types of
training, the exercise is localised to specific muscle groups whereas aerobic training such as running spreads the work (and
subsequent soreness) over a much larger
muscle mass.
The recovery process initiates various
mechanisms that permit subsequent bouts
of training to be performed to a higher level. New muscle proteins are formed which
enable muscle to produce more forceful and sustained contractions. Glycogen
stores within the muscles are increased as
are the amount of enzymes involved in the
anaerobic and aerobic production of ener-
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
gy. There are many other adaptations that
occur within the body during recovery following exercise and this process is termed
‘compensation’. If the process of compensation involves the return of the body to its
pre-existing state, then supercompensation is a process where the body returns
to a level above the pre-trained state. Over
a sufficient period of time compensation
eventually produces a fitter, stronger, faster and more powerful athlete.
Figure 2.1.8 illustrates the supercompensation effect of exercise training. If the exercise has been performed to the correct
intensity then fatigue occurs. Following
training the body begins to compensate:
energy stores are replenished, muscle
damage repaired, etc.. If the training overload has been sufficient the body compensates and adapts to a higher level than
before (supercompensation). The adaptations that occur following aerobic, anaerobic, power and resistance training will be
discussed later. If too much time elapses
between training sessions then the level
of supercompensation is soon lost. If the
recovery period is too short, sufficient time
has not been allowed for compensation. If
the recovery period is too long, the body
can lose some of the compensation it has
achieved.
Low intensity aerobic training can be structured into a training programme in order
to help boost recovery between strenuous training sessions. This light exercise
is termed ‘active recovery’ and it aids the
recovery process by increasing the blood
flow through muscles that, in turn, ena�����������������
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Following a strenuous resistance or a heavy
aerobic training session, muscle soreness
is commonplace. This soreness can show
immediately after exercise and lasts for
a few hours (acute soreness) or soreness
can be delayed for hours or even days after a training session (this phenomenon is
termed ‘delayed onset of muscle soreness’
or DOMS). DOMS appears to be a result
of structural damage to the muscle cells
(mostly during eccentric or lengthening
contractions) and not only does it produce
soreness but has also been demonstrated
to slow the rate at which muscle glycogen
is resynthesised. However, DOMS, during
the early phase of a training programme,
is necessary as it maximises the training
response (muscles are broken down and
rebuilt to a higher level) and soreness will
eventually be reduced during subsequent
bouts of training.
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Fig. 2.1.8 Time, fitness and length of recovery
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
35
bles the efficient removal of any lingering
waste products that may hinder the recovery process.
If recovery is not an integral part of the
training programme then the body will
not have a chance to build on the training already performed, as physiological
improvements only occur when the body
is resting. In turn, subsequent bouts of exercise will be performed before recovery is
complete or in a fatigued state and will be
counterproductive to the training session.
If the principle of recovery is not followed,
it is common for athletes to develop overuse injuries, mild viral infections or experience the overreaching or overtraining syndromes.
To induce ‘supercompensation’ it is necessary that each training programme contains training sessions with a sufficient degree of variation alternated with sufficient
rest. A training programme can consist of
training cycles of three weeks. Each cycle
starts with a priming week with moderate
training volume and intensity, a ‘crash’
week of higher intensity training, then a recovery-week where training intensity and
volume are low.
not recover between training bouts and
therefore work in a compromised state.
The degree of muscle damage can manifest itself as muscle soreness, earlier onset of fatigue, muscle pain, stiffness and
a higher than normal blood lactate response. All of these factors will result in
a loss of strength, power and efficiency of
the work being performed. Muscle damage with overtraining will also impair the
muscles’ ability to restore glycogen stores
thereby reducing the amount of available
energy for subsequent bouts of exercise.
In short, the body begins to break down
and fails to fully recover by the next training overload.
Other symptoms of overtraining are sleep
disturbances, nausea and higher than normal heart rate and blood pressure. Along
with detrimental performance, a good
indicator of overtraining is the heart rate
response to a standardised exercise session. In an overtrained state the heart rate
response rate will be higher when compared to the response when the athlete
is fit. As soon as the coach or athlete perceives that it becomes difficult to maintain
the athlete’s heart rate in the high intenGet enough rest.
2.1.8
Overtraining
The consequence of too little recovery
between training sessions, or too many
high intensity sessions performed within a
short period of time, is a concept termed
‘overtraining’. This is a psychophysiological phenomenon whereby performance
is reduced despite the continuation of
training. Fatigue is an unavoidable consequence of exercise and, during periods of
overtraining, increased levels of physical
and psychological fatigue are inevitable
consequences!
A reduction in performance in spite of increased training is the primary indication
of overtraining. This can be a direct consequence of muscle damage as muscles do
36
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
Take adequate time to recover between work-outs.
Get a full night’s sleep.
Increase training load slowly.
Have the players keep a training diary of the type of work-out, duration
and intensity. Also what was eaten
that day, how they felt while exercising. Rate the training difficulty
on a 1-10 scale.
Eat a balanced diet low in fat and
high in complex carbohydrates.
Alternate intense work-outs with
lighter exercise sessions. Perform a
variety of exercises.
Fig. 2.1.9 Steps to prevent overtraining
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
sity target zone, they should be very careful to reduce or avoid the stress of training.
Alternatively, a sudden but consistent decrease or increase of the resting heart rate
measured after waking up in the morning
is another dangerous sign of infection or
over-training. If any of these symptoms occur, it is important to contact the coach immediately to modify the training. High intensity training is strongly discouraged in
the presence of any of these symptoms because high intensity training would cause
a further deterioration in performance. The
symptoms of overtraining are highly individualised and subjective and cannot be
universally applied so the presence of any
of the above symptoms should be enough
to provide an indication that the athlete
is either training too hard or having insufficient recovery between exercise bouts.
Athletes in an overtrained state are likely
to experience an increased rate of infection
as overtraining can also suppress the normal immune function. Sometimes coaches
need to question the athlete about how
they are feeling; “Sleeping OK?”, “Feel
rested when you wake up?”, “No? Must not
be sleeping through the night, are you?”.
In a game like football, a player that needs
rest may not be truthful as they fear that
days away from training might mean losing playing time to another player. Direct
questions the player knows the ‘right’ answer to will not give the coach the information needed to help the athlete. Of course,
their body may make the decision for them
when they contract an illness due to the
suppressed immune system.
The treatment of overtraining consists of
either a significant reduction in training intensity or complete rest, but the best cure
for overtraining is prevention. Training
should be structured to avoid overtraining.
• Adequate recovery is an integral part of
a training programme.
• Mix low, medium and high intensity
work.
• Try not to perform too many high intensity sessions back to back.
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
• Try to follow a high intensity session with
a low - medium session.
• Ensure an adequate CHO intake.
• Try to implement low intensity aerobic
sessions (some call this a regenerative
session) into programmes to facilitate
the recovery process.
Overtraining is a syndrome that coaches of
individual sport athletes (e.g. swimming,
distance runners, cross-country skiers,
cyclists) must be constantly concerned
about. Thankfully, this syndrome is rare in
football and other team sports but can occur in selected players on professional or
other highly competitive teams.
2.1.9
Periodisation Concepts
Periodisation refers to the overall training
plan of a team. The concepts can be applied to a calendar year, season, week,
or day and are built on the interaction of
training volume, training intensity and
technique training during the period. Figure 2.1.10 shows the general relationship
between these three factors.
The training year can be divided into four
conceptual phases. Each year begins at
the end of the previous year with a period
called “Active Rest”. During this important
period players stay active, but they do activities away from the game like cycling,
swimming, hiking, tennis, rollerblading, or
other non-football related activities. This
keeps the player active and retains some
of their fitness, but takes them away from
the game where overexposure might lead
to staleness. The next phase is called the
“Preparatory Phase” where players slowly
begin to build up their fitness. The emphasis is on high volume, but low intensity training (e.g. jogging). With gradual
increases in fitness, the running distance
declines while the pace of running increases. The Transition Phase is the period between the more aerobic preparatory phase
and the initial training camp. Here, the volume is reduced as the intensity is raised.
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
37
For example, in the early transition period;
Fartlek running would be a good choice
then moving into some long interval runs
followed by shorter, harder intervals. The
final few weeks prior to the team coming together might include a lot of repeat
runs at a fast (but not sprint) pace, such
as 90m in 15s with a 45s rest; the typical
1:3 work:rest formula for interval training.
This running distance would be for male
adult players. Decrease the running distance as needed for younger players as
well as females. The idea is to run for 15
seconds at a fast pace. Start out doing 1020 of these and add a further 5-10 each
week. The total number would be based
on the age and playing expectations of the
player and team. An U16 team might do
20-25 of these repeat runs while an adult,
highly competitive player might work up to
40. The “Competition Phase” is where the
coach will bring the players to match fitness with activities that closely mimic the
game and give emphasis on technique,
tactics and fitness. The total volume of running will be less than that of the preparation period, but the intensity will approach
that necessary for the game.
The phase that is probably most poorly
understood is active rest. This is a critical
phase for the physical development of the
player. During this phase, the player continues to be active, but in different activities such as other sports and leisure time
activities. This accomplishes two things.
First, the activity helps the player to maintain a reasonable fitness level. Second,
this is the time for psychological and emotional rest away from the game.
The body’s adaptation to training follows
a predictable model; Figure 2.1.11. At the
onset of training, there is a slight drop in
performance due to things like muscle soreness and stiffness (the Alarm phase in the
figure). Then the body begins to adapt to
the new demands (the Resistance phase).
Training is manipulated to maintain fitness (the Competition phase). Should the
training stimulus continue to be increased
while performance declines, the athlete
may lapse into a detrained state (the exhaustion or overtrained phase). Once an
athlete’s performance has plateaued,
however, backing off the training volume
and intensity and then beginning to ramp
the training up again (the transition and
preparation phases) can eventually lead
to performance at a higher level (the new,
higher Competition phase).
2.1.9.1 Off-season training
Football, like most sports, is seasonal there are periods of preparation (pre-season, or preparation/transition), competition (in-season) and recovery (off-season
or active rest). Pre-season and in-season
training are the domain of the coach, but
during the off-season it is the player’s responsibility to complete the fitness programme the coach has put together. What
players do in the off-season will impact on
the next season. The old coaching adage
says, “it is easier to stay in shape than it
is to get in shape.” Most players however,
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Fig. 2.1.10 Model of periodisation
38
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
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Fig. 2.1.11 General adaption syndrome
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
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do not know how to maintain their fitness
without a coach to supervise them. Proper planning of a year-round training programme requires some understanding of
the periodisation of training concept.
Cardio-respiratory endurance can be
trained by specific endurance training, but
it may also be challenged by non-specific
endurance training; like jogging, cycling
and swimming. These types of activities
would be performed during the active rest
phase and the beginning of the preparation
phase. Non-specific endurance training is
often neglected as a method for developing fitness. In between two competitive
seasons, players should be encouraged
to participate in other endurance exercise modes such as cycling, in-line skating, cross-country skiing and swimming in
order to fully maintain and develop their
fitness. Of course, the genetic component
of maximal oxygen uptake is still predominant. However, the impact of this training
should not be neglected. These activities
not only serve to better develop fitness
levels, but also mentally distract the player from the ‘addiction’ to running and playing. For speed and agility, practising other
ball sports on a recreational basis (such as
badminton, tennis, squash and playing 5a-side football) may result in an improved
fitness level while maintaining agility. A
key fact is that training activities are recreational, not competitive.
2.1.9.2 Other off-season considerations
Calorie intake
During the off-season, if training volume is
reduced (as days per week and/or minutes
per day), the number of calories burned
during exercise will be reduced. To maintain weight during a period of reduced
training, it is therefore a good idea to reduce food intake.
There are some players who may need to
lose weight to improve their performance.
Do not make this decision without sound
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
advice on whether weight loss is desired
and get advice on nutrition and weight loss
goals. Once this decision has been made,
the season for weight loss is the off-season, not in-season. Trying to lose weight
in-season is a quick way to poor performance and possible injury. It is much better
to save weight loss for the off-season.
Strength training
Strength is one of the many factors that
make up the concept of physical fitness
and most athletes can become better in
their sport if they are stronger. Strength
training achieves some things, but not others. For example, the stronger player will
be able to resist physical challenges better
and be more resistant to injury. However,
strength training is not really effective at
adding distance to a goal kick or power to
a shot.
The off-season is the best time to improve
strength and power. In this regard, the
coach should identify those activities that
improve a player’s overall strength and
not focus exclusively on the athlete’s legs
on the notion that this will improve their
shooting ability (to be a better shooter, go
out and shoot). Once the season begins,
the goal of strength improvement gives
way to the goal of strength maintenance.
Rest
There is a genuine concern among the
football community that both youth and
professional players compete in too many
games each year. Games for school teams,
club teams, in and out of season tournaments can mount up to the point where
the only rest a player gets is when they get
injured. For the professional players there
is the suggestion that games be limited
to 60 or fewer per year to avoid fatigue,
which can lead to poor performance and
injury. There is a need for planned periods
of rest followed by a planned re-establishment of fitness for the next season. Rest
is important, so take some time by being
active, but refrain from playing football.
Rest is valuable for “recharging the batter-
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
39
ies” in preparation for the push of the next
season. While time away from the game is
important, time off does not mean down
time; it does not mean no exercise. As has
been mentioned before, the fastest way
to lose fitness is to reduce the intensity of
training. And no player really wants to go
into the early games of a season in poor
shape or with rusty skills. They want to get
on the field and start playing.
occurred during games. Probably the easiest and best way to prevent injuries is simply to improve the fitness of the players
prior to the season. Medical professionals in multiple sports will say that fitness
is one of the best ways to prevent injuries.
Of course, in some sports (e.g. American
Football), improved fitness has reduced
some injuries while increasing others; the
profile of injuries has therefore changed.
There is nothing more aggravating than to
have to spend time off the field due to an
injury. But most injuries can be prevented
by some work prior to re-entering the field.
Below some evidence is presented that
both pre-season conditioning and ball
skills are modifiable factors of injury prevention (not all injuries can be prevented,
some injuries just happen).
Skill level
Most injury studies focus on location, type
and rate of injuries. Projects that investigate other factors in injuries are rare. A
group of Norwegians added a skill factor
to their project (Poulsen et al. 1991). Each
coach was asked to grade the overall skill
level of each player and then look at injuries according to that player’s skill. Interestingly, the most skilled players were the
least injured and those with the poorest
skill levels were the most frequently and
most severely injured.
The possibility of fewer, less severe injuries clearly shows there is a reasonable
trade-off for a little time in the weeks prior
to training. So it is important for the upcoming season to improve endurance and
body control by doing lots of activities that
will improve both. The healthier the individual athletes and the team, the more
likely the team is to have its best players
on the field; this should hopefully translate to a more successful season.
2.1.9.3 Importance of preparatory
and transition phases
Pre-season conditioning
A recent report tracked injuries of 300
girls, aged 15-18 over two high school seasons (Heidt et al. 2000). Some of the girls
participated in a 7-week pre-season conditioning programme and some did not. The
training programme concentrated on endurance, strength, agility and plyometric
activities. An athletic trainer recorded all
injuries according to location, type (sprain,
strain, etc.) and severity. The results could
not be more startling.
There were a total of 98 injuries with an
overall injury rate of 0.3 injuries per player
per season. However, of the 98 injuries,
only seven were in the group that participated in the conditioning programme. In
the trained group, there was one ACL tear
(vs. eight in the untrained group), two ankle sprains (vs. 21) and one quad strain
(vs. seven). Only one trained athlete had a
season-ending injury (the ACL) while 11 of
the untrained had season-ending injuries.
Almost half of the injuries to the untrained
players occurred in practice while five of
the seven injuries to the trained players
How would these concepts be applied to
the annual calendar year of a European
professional team? (Fig. 2.1.12)
The end of the long season might be at the
end of May. The players might be given two
to four weeks off and then be asked to start
preparing on their own for the next season
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Fig. 2.1.12 Typical European calender
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40
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
�
based on some prescribed programme by
the trainer or manager. They would arrive
at training camp and move into the beginning of the competition phase and games
would begin in very early August. The first
half of the season is played until the middle of December. During this phase, there
might be some small increases in fitness.
Over the winter break, the players might
have two weeks of active rest, two weeks
of preparation and finally two weeks of
transition training. Then the second half of
the season begins in early February.
2.1.9.4 The dilemma of physical
training and match schedule
As the season approaches, more excited
coaches start to plan out the season. Books
and videos of skills, drills and games are
studied, selected, discarded and reconsidered until finally every minute of each
training session is filled.
But more planning is needed. The prime
variables of training are the frequency of
training (days/week), the intensity of training and the duration of training (min/day).
In many cases, the frequency is somewhat
fixed. A school programme might train/
play daily (five days/week as three training days and two games or four training
days and one game) while a youth club
team might train twice per week and plays
1-2 games over the weekend. The season
does not have unlimited training time and
somehow the coach must cram in technical skill training, team tactics and fitness.
The next question is how all this can and
should be managed.
Probably, the first thing to do is to set up
a calendar with game dates. The following
shows a possible 4-week schedule of a
professional team. Game dates are in red
(Fig. 2.1.13).
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Fig. 2.1.13 Match days (red)
Obviously, everyone knows it is better not
to train hard on the day before a game, so
the days before a game are coloured light
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blue (Fig. 2.1.14).
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Fig. 2.1.14 Light training (light blue)
As many teams restrict training on Sundays, these days may be coloured yellow
(Fig. 2.1.15).
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Fig. 2.1.15 Sundays (yellow)
Most coaches know that it is important to
conduct regenerative training on the day
after a game. Therefore these days are coloured green (Fig. 2.1.16).
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Fig. 2.1.16 Regenerative training (green)
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Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
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Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
41
Finally, most people who study training
know that training hard on two consecutive
days is very difficult to do. So, where there
are two consecutive uncoloured days,
one may be coloured dark blue before the
lighter of the two days (Fig. 2.1.17).
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Fig. 2.1.17 Light training (dark blue)
It becomes evident that because there are
only three days to work on fitness� (ignore
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the last Saturday), how can fitness be improved during the season? Not surprisingly, when the endurance of football players
is followed over a season, there is little
change throughout the season. The bulk of
the improvement in fitness happens in the
first third of the season (beginning with
the first day of pre-season training camp),
then maintained for the rest of the season.
Some studies have even shown a decrease
in fitness towards the end of the season.
While this example is based on a European
professional season, most coaches should
be able to manipulate these phases to
their own calendar year of training and
competition.
Suggestions on how to organise a single
training session based on these concepts:
Begin the session by following the warmup suggestions. These will help prepare the
players for activity and also teach valuable
lessons on controlling their body. Next,
some individual ball skill training (very low
intensity work) can be followed by small
group work (e.g. 3v3, 4v4, 5v2, 6v4) that is
at a higher intensity, then large group work
(as big as your team allows up to perhaps
7v7 or 8v8). Restrictions should be placed
on the format of games so the players
have to run and think. This helps with their
42
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
‘game intelligence’ and minimises players
standing around doing very little.
Restrictions can be technical (e.g. must
trap and pass with the weak foot, always
pass with the outside of the foot), tactical
(e.g. on offense, attackers play with their
back to the goal, which teaches midfielders to come forward to shoot at goal), or fitness (e.g. two-touch speeds up the game,
run 10m in any direction after any pass).
Coaching books and schools teach almost
endless variations in format.
The coach could choose almost any drill or
small group game and modify it to stress
any combination of fitness, technique or
tactics. For example, for low intensity training the team could play 6v6 with goalkeepers on half a field with no restrictions for
about 15 minutes (technical and tactical
coaching should be offered throughout).
For higher intensity, mark off a 20m zone
across the middle of the field. The teams
play six attackers v five defenders in one
end of the field with the sixth player at the
opposite end of the field. When the defensive team gets the ball, they pass directly
to their far team-mate and all but one from
the other team sprint across the midfield
and play at the other end. The game continues back and forth across the no-play
zone (some call this the ‘no midfield’ game
or ‘deep game’). Play this harder game for
about 10 minutes. Finally, for very high intensity work, when the defenders get the
ball and pass the ball across the midfield,
they get two points for a goal (or one point
for a shot on goal) if their entire team is
in the new attacking area AND at least one
opponent (other than the one who is supposed to stay) is left behind. Play this very
high intensity game for maybe five minutes. The volume (time played) is dropped
for each game while the intensity is raised
according to the periodisation concept.
Depending on the age and goals of the
team, this series of games could be followed by small-sided activities then some
skills and finally cool down. For more com-
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
petitive teams, after a break, the routine
could be repeated before easier small-sided games, skill work, then cool down.
ment of fitness is slow, the higher the ultimate level of fitness will be and the longer
this level can be maintained.
The no-midfield game can be modified
further. To make the transition to the other
end of the field faster, make the midfield
shorter (10m) for shorter, faster sprints. To
encourage longer runs (and accurate long
passes) increase the size of the midfield
to 30 or 40 metres. Of course, other technical or tactical restrictions can be added
to make the game even harder. A game
need not just have one restriction. Practice
games of 11v11 with no restrictions are
not good for fitness training. With a typical possession in a football match being 4
players and 3 passes or less, small sided
games (4v4) are very good for teaching
general tactics with many ball contacts.
Improvement in running (not sprinting)
speeds: If one trains by walking, walking
improves. If one jogs, ability to jog AND
walk improves. If a person trains at progressively faster speeds (but not sprinting
speeds), they will improve their fitness at
that speed and the lower speeds. That is
why repeat 90m runs at a hard, but not
maximal pace, are good because only
about 800-1,000m (of 10,000m) are covered at a sprint by a male professional in
a game, so about 9,000m are covered at
speeds below a sprint.
How often must high intensity training
be performed? Remember the section on
maintaining fitness. Intensity is the important factor. But how often? Most training
specialists feel that three non-consecutive training sessions a week need to be
scheduled. The competitive game should
be considered as intense training. Playing
one game a week means two intense sessions need to be scheduled. If there are
two games, then one hard day would be
scheduled. Many youth teams train twice a
week and play one or two games over the
weekend. The game is considered a training stimulus, so in order to get three days
of hard training, there must be some high
intensity work scheduled for each training
session.
Special considerations to think of when
planning a training
Relationship between intensity and duration: It is wrong to think footballers can
train hard AND long. Intensity is inversely
related to duration; the harder one works,
the less time they can maintain that intensity. Trying to work long and hard without
rest or low intensity days can lead to overuse injuries and possibly overtraining.
Rate of improvement in fitness (Fig.
2.1.18): A player can work their way up to
peak condition in a short time, but the ultimate level of fitness will be low and the
length of time they can maintain that fitness will be brief. However, if the develop-
Fig. 2.1.18 Improvement of fitness
How much of a training session should be
devoted to high intensity training? People
who study training suggest that no more
than about a third of the sports specific
training (i.e. not the warm-up, cool-down
etc.) should be devoted to high-intensity work. For example, assume that once
warm-up and supplementary activities
have been done, the plan is for 90 minutes
of football training. That might mean that
the coach would have the training divided
into low, moderate and high intensity portions. Putting all the high intensity work
into one 30-minute segment would tire the
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
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43
players so that during the final 10-15 minutes of hard work, they would not be working as hard as they should be. Therefore,
divide the training time in half (two 45minute periods). Now devote about 15-20
minutes of low intensity work (ball skills,
small group activities. Then increase the
intensity by some of the options suggested above for about 15 minutes followed by
15 minutes of the highest intensity work
planned that day. Now break for maybe five
minutes then start the ramp all over again.
The players will get far more out of the hard
work from two 15-minute segments than
from one 30-minute segment.
Other important ways to increase intensity: At any running speed, the physiological requirement of running is increased by
10-15% when the athlete is in control of
the ball. Therefore, to increase intensity,
add a ball because the more opportunities
for a player to control the ball, the harder
the work. Thus, small-sided games are the
best format for this purpose.
Weight training
When a player wishes to improve strength
(a very valuable commodity in modern football), the major portion of the work would
be done outside of the competition phase,
still following the principles of periodisation. During the season, weight training
is continued, but as a maintenance programme, not an improvement programme.
Flexibility training
Remember that a warm muscle is more
receptive to flexibility training. Also, flexibility training should be continued even
during the active rest period. Be sure that
a warm-up is done before the flexibility
work. Flexibility is not a warm-up. Once
sweating starts, the body is warm enough
to begin flexibility training.
Weight loss
In-season weight loss is the wrong time of
year for weight loss. Using the periodisation model, the competitive time of year is
for weight maintenance, not weight loss.
44
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
Considerations for youth
There are a number of studies that demonstrate the trainability of children (i.e. under 10 years). In a ball game that requires
skill development for some success,
many coaches focus on skills. Plus, many
leagues allow unlimited substitution, so
the emphasis on match fitness is less important. The very young would be losing
valuable skill-time should special emphasis be placed on fitness.
Some concepts not to be forgotten
It is important to stress that no training
programme will eliminate the perception
of training intensity. The individual perception of a given training load is indeed
important. By consequence, if signals of
fatigue or over-training appear, the training programme must be individually modified. In particular, high intensity training
should not be performed when the coach
perceives signals of abnormal fatigue or
over-training. Due to the high frequency
of games, general fatigue and over-training is a continuous threat to the fitness
level of any player. Still, poor performance
is sometimes thought to be due to a lack
of training. In some cases this perception
may indeed be correct, yet in other players
the opposite is true. Rest days or low intensity regenerative training sessions often
have a much better impact on fitness and
performance level than an increased training load. Therefore, if the player feels that
they are unable to continue the prescribed
training programme due to fatigue, the
coach should be contacted. If this is not
done, the training programme may actually be detrimental to performance.
Some additional things to consider:
• Always start each training session with
a regular warm-up and end the session with a cooling-down (including the
stretching programme).
• For those athletes who have a mid-week
game, it is very important to do a regenerative training the day after a match
and to do a light training session the day
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
before the game including a good warmup, mobilisation exercises, stretching
and speed exercises. This training session should ideally be done on the pitch
that the game is to be played.
• When performing high intensity training sessions, the running time should
be such that the player can run at a high
intensity but still be able to maintain the
speed for several exercise periods. The
coach should ensure that the exercise
intensity during high intensity training
sessions does not become so high that
the training becomes exclusively speedendurance training. If the intensity is too
high, the player will not be able to keep
a high enough work rate during subsequent work periods and the desired effect of this high intensity training will be
lost. Access to a heart rate monitor is
very helpful for determining intensity.
• For the same reason, it is essential that
the recovery periods are determined
according to the different fitness levels. Specifically, for the best runners,
a recovery period can be used that is a
third of the actual running time. For the
intermediate fitness levels, the recovery period should still be less than the
running time. Finally, for those athletes
whose fitness is poor, the recovery period should be as long, if not longer, than
the running time.
• Give the players an off-season fitness
programme so that they will show up for
pre-season training camp at a degree of
fitness that they can improve to a higher level and be maintained for a longer
time. If players can improve during the
off-season each and every year, their basic endurance will be a little better each
year and this can make a substantial difference to a player’s career.
• Train players as well as possible in the
pre-season and try to maintain their preseason level throughout the season.
While fitness can be achieved in a short
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
pre-season period, the ultimate level
of fitness can stay low and can only be
maintained for a short period of time.
• Try to keep training the youth players
harder as the season progresses. In order to do this, one has to plan the season around the fitness plan while ignoring some parts of the game schedule,
especially at the beginning of the season.
• Competitive games count as a training
day, but only for those who actually play.
In this regard, equal opportunity should
be provided for sports participation.
• Training leads to two major adaptations
in the body. First is the ability of the cardiovascular system to deliver oxygen to
the muscle cells and second is the ability of the muscle cells to use the delivered oxygen. Research shows that the
central cardiovascular system’s ability to
deliver oxygen to the muscles improves
slowly while the muscle cells improve
their ability to use the delivered oxygen quickly. When training is stopped,
the muscle cells lose most of what they
have gained fairly quickly (10 days to
two weeks), but the cardiovascular system detrains slowly. Most athletes have
probably experienced this when working
out after being off for a short break. In
this case, the first workout does not feel
too bad. During that workout, the cardiovascular system is capable of taking up
the slack from the cells that detrained
quickly. However, if athletes lay off for
a month or more, then they start back
from zero in terms of endurance fitness.
Career practice pattern, age adequate
training - The comcept of deliberate
practice
It is difficult to watch players such as Luis
Figo (of Real Madrid and Portugal), David
Beckham (of Real Madrid and England), or
Gianfranco Zola (of Chelsea and Italy) and
not wonder how these players became so
good. How long did it take them to devel-
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
45
op their talent? How many hours did they
(and their parents) invest in their careers
from the very first time they kicked a ball or
played a game of street football?
The roles of talent, physical precocity and
practice in the development of top players
have been studied (Helsen et al. 2000).
The goal was to take an objective look
at the evidence for practice alone being
responsible for the development of outstanding skill levels. Specifically, the “deliberate practice” concept (Ericsson et al.
1993) must be examined in predicting the
ultimate levels of expertise in football (i.e.,
professional, semi-professional, amateur).
Deliberate practice is defined as any activity designed to improve the current level
of performance that requires effort and is
not inherently enjoyable. It is contrasted to
other activities that could erroneously be
considered practice such as play, work and
observing others performing the skill. Their
primary prediction is that “the amount of
time an individual is engaged in deliberate
practice activities will be linearly related to
that individual’s acquired performance.”
(Ericsson et al. 1993).
Most of the research on deliberate practice
in sport has focused on individual sports
such as wrestling, figure skating, or karate
(Starkes et al. 1996). An overview of the
findings suggested that for individual athletes there is a linear relationship between
amounts of accumulated practice alone
and level of performance. This finding supports the model of deliberate practice;
practice activities most related to actual
performance (such as sparring in wrestling, or the practice of skating) are judged
as strenuous and requiring concentration.
Unlike Ericsson’s musicians however, athletes also find their most relevant practice
activities highly enjoyable.
Across these individual sports the average amount of practice per week varies by
sport, but is consistently high (on average
26.4 hours/week). The data are also close
to Ericsson and colleagues’ best musicians
46
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
who practised approximately 25 hours/
week. Taken together, these findings have
shown that the truly elite performers have
put in around 10 years and 10,000 hours
of practice in their pursuit of excellence. In
addition, the top performers usually began their journey very young, i.e. between
three and six years of age. Those athletes
starting later and who still put in the same
amount of time will never equal the performance of those who began young. Ten
years and 10,000 hours averages out to
1,000 hours a year. Divided by 50 weeks,
gives 20 hours a week, or 3-4 hours a day.
Not a full-time job, but obviously not what
most kids can give. The professional players spend many hours a day on the field
and off in preparation. As kids, Pele, Ronaldo, Zidane and other great players
played for hours in the streets and parks
and that obviously was beneficial.
Recently, the generalisability of the deliberate practice theory in two team sports
(e.g. football and field hockey) was studied (Helsen et al. 1998). International,
national and provincial football and field
hockey players recalled the amount of
time they spent in individual and team
practice, sport related activities and everyday activities at the start of their career
and every three years since. These activities were rated in terms of their relevance
for improving performance, effort and concentration required and enjoyment.
Biographic information showed that all
groups began playing football at age six
years and engaged in team practice beginning around age seven years, on average
one year after starting. This information
also revealed that it took professional
players at least 10 years to eventually play
for one of the top teams. The finding that it
takes at least ten years of practice to attain
what is considered an exceptional level
of performance (“10 year rule”) has been
confirmed in numerous domains (Helsen
et al. 1998).
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
One way to look at how much athletes practise is to consider the number of hours per
week typically practised at varying ages
(Fig. 2.1.19). Overall significant differences between each and every skill level were
shown from 12 years into career (Int., = 9.2
hr/week; Nat., = 6.9 hr/week; Prov., = 4.1
hr/week). Across years into career, team
practice only increased significantly and
progressively for the international players
from 9 (5.9 hr/week) to 12 (9.2 hr/week)
to 15 years (11.5 hr/week).
Mean hours per week spent in team
practice as a function of the number of
years into career
Very important career decisions are made
around 10 years into career. Nine to twelve
years into career (age 19 years) seems to
be a career watershed when the international players steeply increase the amount
of time spent in team practice. Part of this
change relates to the professional development system in football. In future, will
the youth player have to decide at an even
younger age (e.g. at 16 or less years) to become involved professionally in football?
Likewise, when players recognise they will
not succeed in advancing to the professional leagues, their practice patterns reflect this reduced expectation. It is also a
time when students are entering university
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or the workforce and they may have less
time to devote to practice.
Accumulated practice hours as a function
of the number of years into career
Across skill level, at 10 years into career
there was a remarkable difference between international players (4587 hr) and
provincial players (3306 hr). Overall differences according to each and every skill
level were shown from 13 years into career
on (Int., =6328 hr; Nat., = 5220 hr; Prov.,
= 4081 hr). At 18 years into career, international, national and provincial players had
accumulated 9332, 7449 and 5079 practice hours respectively (Figure 2.1.20).
Regarding the assessment of the practice
and everyday activities, the most enjoyable
aspects of practice for the football players
were team related and included work on
technical skills, games and tactics. For everyday activities, players enjoyed watching
football and active and non-active leisure.
The things they least liked were running,
game analysis, reading books, studying
and cycling. These findings are consistent
across skill levels.
When asked what aspects of practice
were most relevant to their football performance, the players stated that working
with a coach one-on-one, running, game
and tactics, technical skill work and adequate sleep were all precursors to good
performance. They also ranked the most
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Fig. 2.1.20 Accumulated practice
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
47
effortful/concentration demanding parts
of their practice and everyday activities as:
running, strength training, working with a
coach one-on-one, working on tactics and
technical skills and studying. It becomes
obvious that the most enjoyable aspects
of practice are those that are most relevant
to the real game and, demand the most
effort and concentration. Weight training
and stretching were not rated highly.
Practical applications
As football players develop, they consequently put in more hours per week in
deliberate practice. Research shows that
players performing at the highest competitive level peak at about 17 hours of total
training per week. In comparison with individual sports this is relatively low (on average 25 hours/week). Perhaps an increase
of the absolute amount of practice time
per week from an earlier age (e.g. 16 years
of age) and throughout a player’s career
might be desirable. But, it could be that
football is such a physically demanding
sport, that there must be a trade-off between the hours spent in physical practice
and rest, if only to avoid injury, illness and
overtraining.
From a coaching standpoint, if one were
to speculate on the possible impact of the
concept of deliberate practice, several options emerge. If training history is indeed
directly related to performance level attained, then one could always recommend
that more hours practice might improve
performance. In football, long hours are
already spent in team practice but as commitment to a professional career deepens,
individual practice clearly suffers. Once
players become involved professionally
and, by consequence, have more time for
their ‘job’, high levels of individual training
could more readily be maintained. Individual practice sessions on each of the players’ physical, technical, or tactical weak
points in future should go hand-in-hand
with efficient team practice sessions.
48
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
The relative age effect in youth football
competition
When children are separated into age
groups, there are physical, cognitive and
psychological differences between the
youngest and the oldest children. The
‘youngest’ children are boys or girls who
are born far from the cut-off date while the
‘oldest’ children are born close to the cutoff date. There can be an age difference of
one year between the ‘oldest’ and ‘youngest’ participants within any age group, resulting in huge differences in development
and maturation. The relative age effect
(RAE) refers to the difference in age between individuals in the same age group.
In professional sports, it has been shown
that asymmetries in birth date distributions are apparent in various professional
sports, including American college football, baseball, cricket, ice hockey, football
and swimming.
Recent studies in youth sport (Helsen et
al. 2000) clearly showed the impact of the
RAE when, in line with the FIFA guidelines
the selection-date changed in 1997 from
August 1st to January 1st. With August 1st as
the selection-date there was an over-representation of players born in the months of
August, September and October. One year
after the cut-off date moved to January, the
over-representation moved to the months
of January, February and March. This clearly shows that the selections are made on
the basis of ‘older’ and physically more
mature and stronger players (Helsen et al.
2000). Some players that are older and
physically well developed, but less talented will therefore be chosen. They only play
at a higher level because they are more
mature. When all players are mature, the
physical advantages of these older players
disappears making it difficult for that early
mature, but less skilled player to maintain
the level they had before, meaning the RAE
decreases after maturation.
Significant effects have been found for
many countries. In Germany, 50.5% of
players were born in the first quarter while
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
only 4.4% were born in the last quarter.
This RAE even extended to youth national
teams.
There are three main findings. First, there is
an RAE that is similar to the one of national
youth selections. Second, it is shown that
the RAE comes mostly into play from the U13’s onwards, the age at which the physical differences between players of the
same age category are most pronounced.
Finally, from the results for the U-17’s, it
becomes clear there is a drop out effect as
there is no longer any player born May to
August.
As the primary function of a football club
in general and an academy in particular,
is to guide young players in their development, the consequences of these findings
should be taken into account. Selecting
players because of their relative physical
advantage is not the best long-term option
because after maturation this advantage
is no longer present and the chances of
drop out increase. Unfortunately, physical
size seems to be a real pitfall in identifying future elite performers. As a result, a
lot of talent is not detected. Players who
are less physically developed because of
their younger relative age in a category, but
who are talented, are clearly not selected
to the same extent. These players are denied access to professional training and
the opportunity to fulfill their potential. In
the long term, this results in a devaluated
selection.
There seem to be three possible explanations for the relative age effect. First, the
physical component mentioned above is
the most important factor. To solve maturity mismatches in size, strength and power,
changing the rules is an option. As it has
been shown in other sports, eliminating
physical contact (e.g. tackles, body checks,
etc.) clearly reduces the relative age effect
and this can also prevent injuries in those
players who are ‘less equipped’ to play the
game.
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005
A second explanation for the relative age
effect is found in the psychological component. An ‘older’ player will experience
more success than a ‘younger’ one because of the physical advantage and this
may increase the motivation of older players. Because of this increased motivation,
the player will commit more effort to practice. The opposite process might appear in
the ‘younger’ players, who, in many cases,
may drop out of football entirely.
A third factor to explain the relative age
effect is the experience component. Players born in January are not only older than
players born in December of the same
year, but they also are more experienced
because they have been able to practice
and compete more. For two players with
the same physical characteristics, a coach
will choose the more experienced (older)
one if a choice has to be made.
Several possible solutions have been suggested. The first, is to rotate the yearly
cut-off date, (Boucher and Mutimer 1994),
which gives all players the advantage of
being ‘older’ at some point in their football career. A second possible solution is
to make more categories with a smaller
bandwidth (e.g. one year instead of two).
This results in a narrower age range, which
reduces the relative age difference within
age groups.
A third solution stresses the importance of
a change in mentality of youth team coaches. (Helsen and Starkes 1999a, b). Coaches should pay greater attention to technical and tactical components when making
selections and not only physical components such as height or physical maturity.
Therefore, select the most talented players instead of choosing less talented but
‘physically better equipped players’.
Finally, the approach of the youth coach
needs to be addressed. The statement
‘winning isn’t everything, it’s the only
thing’ unfortunately represents the philosophy of many youth coaches. In this ap-
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
49
proach, the ‘youngsters’ of the age group
won’t experience success enough and will
drop out. That is why a coach has to be
task-oriented and focus on development
rather than wins and losses; the result of a
game should be of minor importance.
In the light of information presented here,
it seems that players born late in the selection year almost do not exist. Hopefully,
Football Associations and club teams will
take these recommendations into consideration and provide an equal chance for
each and every child to support the idea
that ‘learning isn’t everything, it’s the only
thing.’
50
Theoretical Fundamentals of Training
Football Medicine Manual, ©F-MARC 2005