IN-SEASON TRAINING DO'S #2 - PRIORITISE WHAT YOU NEED

With the in-season training model comes less training time because of game soreness, fatigue and unfortunately, a bit of softness when the weather takes a turn.

When there is less training time then you need to prioritise what HAS to get covered, what would be ADVANTAGEOUS to get covered and what is a BONUS if it gets covered.

"HAS" CATEGORY

There's a couple of ways to decide what should go in this category so here are your options.

#1 - The things that you focused on during the pre-season (skills, tactics, speed, endurance etc) must be at least maintained during the season.

The main reason for focusing on these aspects is that you've already invested a lot of time and effort to build these qualities, so to just let them slip away seems a waste of time.

Another reason is that these aspects will be your players' strong point (more then likely), so to win games and play at the best their abilities, they'll need to be able to express these aspects throughout the entire season.

#2 - You can look at less specific factors and replicate them at training such as training at speeds that are faster then a game, thus making a game sub-maximal compared to your training speed which will more often then not result in better skills and decision making during games if they can be displayed at high speeds at training.

Personally a bit column 1 and column 2 is the way to go in my opinion.

After you're prioritised what you need, and a list of 1-to-whatever is a good way to do this, then you need to look at how to set up your training in the short and long term, to make sure what HAS to be covered does indeed get covered.

In future posts I'll delve into how to set this up but by taking a lot of other things you probably don't even know about, that can negatively affect how this all comes together.

Here are the priorities of my own training baring in mind that I only train with my team when work allows (1/week at best but probably looking at 2 every 3 weeks going forwards I reckon).

#1 - Speed (Acceleration/Max Velocity)
#2 - Team Footy Training
#3 - Aerobic Capacity
#5 - Lower Body Strength

In the past I've used specific training blocks to train these physical aspects where 90% of my training goes into that specific trait x 2 - 4 weeks and then I'll let it recover and move to something else.

The premise there is to train that capacity very hard to the point where my performance might even drop in the short term for example my speed might drop by 5 - 10%, which is then time to let it rest, recover and regenerate to an even greater level, if done right.

The other way to go about it is to train 3 - 5 things all the time, which is more of a top up/maintenance type set up which is something I might do if I start team training regularly.