Even though it is still common for amateur teams to play matches on a fixed day during the week, for professional teams we see more and more variation in the match schedules. Due to the coronavirus and commercial influences, we see that matches are not only played during the weekend (i.e. Fri-Sun), but they are spread over a broader period (i.e. Fri-Tue). This might lead to a team playing a match on Friday while the consecutive match is played on Tuesday the week thereafter (i.e. 10 days between matches). Or when a team plays on Tuesday, their next match might be planned on the next Friday (i.e. 2 days between the matches). The variation in these match schedules has important consequences for the training schedules. Hence in this blog, we will discuss the basic principles of a weekly periodization schedule, and we will give examples on how to distribute your training load over the week depending on the match schedule (ranging from 3-10 days between matches).
Supercompensation principle
Principles of training variation
Weekly periodization schedule
In figure 1, we have given some examples of how to distribute the load in different types of training weeks. It should be noted that these schedules are not completely fixed, and some changes might be made (i.e. corresponding to the wishes of the coach or to the specific situation). For example, the first two days after the match are focusing on recovery. Most often, the players are given a day off on one of those days. However, it is up to the wish of the coach whether he/she would like to plan this on MD+1 or MD+2.
Figure 1: Distribution of load over the week for different types of training weeks
Conditional session within your weekly periodization schedule
Conclusion
We see more and more variation in the match schedules at the professional level. This challenges trainers and coaches to design the optimal training schedule. In this blog we have discussed 2 training principles that need to be taken into account when designing a training schedule: supercompensation and variation. Furthermore, we have given examples of how to distribute training load over each type of training week. By applying the principles of supercompensation and variation to these examples, you can make changes to these examples so that they are in accordance with your specific situation!