Manipulation and Delivery of Training Load Into a Seasonal Schedule

Training load monitoring has evolved into a requisite practice within both professional and nonprofessional soccer settings. The primary objective of this chapter is to elucidate prevalent practices regarding the manipulation of training load, aiming to optimize intensity throughout a season schedule. In pursuit of these objectives, the chapter expounds upon periodization concepts and provides practical examples illustrating the applied load during mesocycles and microcycles, including those with one, two, and three matches. The chapter’s insights reveal that mesocycles during the preseason and the initial phase of the season (first three mesocycles) impose a higher load when juxtaposed with subsequent mesocycles in the season. Analyzing data from microcycles underscores that match days exhibit the highest intensity, closely followed by training sessions on midweek days. Notably, the peak load tends to occur between 5 and 3 days before a match, while the lowest values are observed on the day preceding the match. In essence, this chapter aims to furnish information on structuring diverse seasonal schedules, accommodating weeks with a solitary match and congested weeks featuring multiple matches (i.e., more than one match per week). The intention is to offer a comprehensive guide on how to navigate and optimize training loads across various scenarios within a soccer season.