[hlnx1]

Pre-season is one of the most injury-prone periods. Players come back from holiday, load rises too quickly and muscle injuries follow.

Principles for the first two weeks:

• Build load gradually; no double sessions or maximal sprints on day one
• Open up high-speed running and sprint volume step by step over several weeks
• Strength work, especially for hamstrings and groin, from week one
• Players who did light running and strength work during the break start much more comfortably

Season-long fuelling: nutrition periodisation in football.

How does your team plan pre-season?

[hlnx1]

The simplest way to track load: after each session, ask players to rate how hard it was from 1 to 10 and multiply by the minutes. Keeping the weekly total from jumping sharply compared with the previous week is a good check against big injuries.

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