[hlnx1]

Most amateur and semi-pro teams play once a week, yet the training week is often planned session by session rather than as a whole. Thinking in “match-day minus” terms makes the logic clearer.

• MD+1: recovery for starters (light movement, mobility); substitutes and unused players usually need a top-up session
• MD+2: often a day off or very light
• MD-4 to MD-3: the main loading days, one with more strength and short, intense actions, one with larger spaces and longer running
• MD-2: moderate volume, more tactical, intensity coming down
• MD-1: short, sharp and fresh

The guiding idea is that the hardest work sits furthest from the match, so players arrive rested but not detrained.

More detail: match-day preparation physiology and periodisation of the football season.

How many sessions does your team fit between two matches, and where does the hardest one sit?

[hlnx1]

With only two or three sessions a week, the template has to shrink. A common version: the first session of the week (around MD-4 or MD-3) carries most of the physical load, the second is shorter and more tactical, and if there is a third it is the light pre-match session.

What tends to go wrong is putting a hard running session two days before the match because it was the only free slot.

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