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Microcycle

Planning »

In soccer usually is defined as the formation of a weekly plan (1 match a week) or a couple of days plan(2 matches a week), where there is the fitting of physical / technical / tactical/mental contents with particular sequence, considering the loads and recovery of the players body aiming at maximizing match performance.

In a classic seven days microcycle the first two days are devoted to rehabilitation due to the recovery proccess the players need to return in a prior match state. The next two days in the acquisition of performance elements / increase training load and the last two in tapering proccess.

One of the existent plannings presented from s11 team is in figure 1.

The training of the first 2 days can be reversed (1st or 2nd day after a match is day off) without losing the sense of their goal althought the training contents can vary.

Microcycle

The weekly training proccess follows the principles of energy systems that are required to use the players, overloading and giving them the possibility of partial or total recovery until the next training session.

  • ATP-CP system = ATP-phosphocreatine

The energy of this system is small but has great power and prevail in maximum efforts up to 7''

  • La system = carbohydrates

The energy and the power of this system is moderate and prevail in maximum effort from 7'' to 1'

  • O2 system = carbs, fats, protein

The energy of this system is great, but has little power effect and prevail in efforts greater than 1' regardless of intensity

Microcycle

But what happens when from match to match intervenes different number of days?

What happens if the team has the match on Saturday and the next is Sunday or Monday?

The placement of training units within a microcycle based on energy systems and which are used more (It is impossible to exclude all of the energy systems during training) , is designed to increase or maintain performance, perhaps giving us a chance to find the right answer to this question (Figure 3) .

Microcycle

Create training contents depending the day you are in, with an impact on the appropriate energy substrates and prepare your players to achieve the desired athletic performance wich will enhance overall football performance.

Microcycle
1.Designing of microcycles with different number of days between matches

The construction of a weekly microcycle for the starting eleven players differs according to the coaching philosophy and level of the players of a team. We should not overlook the fact that performance depends on the gold four-fold:

  • Tactical Skills
  • Physical Attributes
  • Technical Ability
  • Mental / Psychological Attributes
Microcycle

One of the suggestions you can use in your team is the following training sequence, appropriately putting the contents of all four aspects of performance into the week.

Do not forget that when designing in addition to training loads (Tactics, Technique, Mental, Physical) you should take into account the level of preparedness of the players (where you should be at the highest possible level on the day of the match) and the fatigue state (where it should be close to zero).

Microcycle

Devote the first two days to recover your players from the loads of the match with or without using a ball. Depending on the operation of your team you can reverse the days (with the next day "off" or not) without losing the goal of the training.

In the next two days acquiring skills by increasing the load by placing training contents to improve the gold quadruple of performance.

Over the last two days, focus on tapering strategies. With training contents where the training elements are held on the basis of the goals of the week, while maintaining the inensity but reducing the duration and increasing the breaks, try to achieve a high level of performance on the match day.

Besides, when players arrive to the match they should feel trained good (prepared for the game's needs) and fresh ...

Microcycle
2.Week micro-cycle structure