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Lowering training throughout the season


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I've noticed that I'm getting more injuries in the second half of the season probably due to fatigue. So I've decided to lower the physical training a little in early february and then maybe again in early april.

Anyone who's experimented with this? If so, how much do you lower the workload to keep the players fresh without them losing form?

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I've noticed that I'm getting more injuries in the second half of the season probably due to fatigue. So I've decided to lower the physical training a little in early february and then maybe again in early april.

Anyone who's experimented with this? If so, how much do you lower the workload to keep the players fresh without them losing form?

Ive been considering trying it after watching a recent Ian Rush interview about how Liverpool used to train. They'd be doing lots of intensive physical training before x-mas and then after it theyd lower the intensity and focus on ball work.

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Yes, it works. Lowering physical training works well for those players who play week in week out, especially if their Natural Fitness is not too great.

Reduce training by how much?

Check how their condition behaves between matches. If it doesn't do too well, reduce both aerobic and strength training by 1 notch. If this doesn't prove enough, reduce by one more.

Should this be used for everybody?

No. Players who don't play too often, don't need the additional rest. As a matter of fact, reducing their physical training will probably harm their condition. That's because matches count for physical training and these players have not played enough to be really fit.

Generally speaking, matches work wonders for a player's general fitness up to a point, but then start wearing out the player. Your strategy works well for players who are beyond this point, but not anybody else.

By the way, concerning preseason training:

Playing many friendlies during preseason will get your players fit very soon, and the team will gel earlier. This means that the start of the season will be easier, but the players will wear out sooner, so the end of the season will be harder.

On the other hand, playing too few friendlies will have your team unfit in the early season, but pretty fit at the end.

So it's all about finding the right balance for your players (what part of the season is the most important for you?), also taking into account what kind of schedule you expect to have (e.g., a lot of midweek games or not).

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You 're welcome. The overall training level should remain lower.

Having said that, physical training counts for 3 training points, while everything else counts for 1 training point (except for set pieces training, which counts for 0.33). So when you reduce physical training, you may get away with increasing something else for a couple of notches (while overall training workload is less than before).

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