So far you have tested yourself in week one against our benchmarks and across weeks 2-4 been introduced to the three physical capabilities that we expose the national players to which are: braking strength, sprinting strength and repeat and recover.
Following that you've been exposed to an accumulation phase and should have re-tested yourself, hopefully having improved your scores from week one. If you've missed any of these weeks we would definitely recommend to go back and work through the programme week by week.
Now you've retested, it's time to move onto the final phase of training, the intensification phase across weeks 9-12.
This phase is all about increasing the intensity of the work across each of these three physical capabilities.
Sprinting is a frequent and important part of international football, which can induce high levels of fatigue across the hamstrings and ankles. Developing sprinting capability can help reduce the cost of these actions to improve performance and reduce the risk of injury.
Sprinting capability is the ability of the ankles and hamstrings to cope with the repeated sprinting demands of international football. It can be split into two different qualities: ankle reactivity, which is the ability of the ankle complex to produce high forces with minimal ground contact time, and hamstring strength which is the ability of the hamstrings muscles to produce and absorb force.
In weeks 9-12, intensification takes place as this last phase is biased towards developing strength and power qualities, therefore you will undertake more high force exercises.
There are two different sessions in this phase, one session is biased towards strength and power, the second session is biased towards muscular endurance. The strength and power session is designed to build the ability to tolerate intense actions such as maximal sprinting. The conditioning session is designed to condition you to be resilient to repeat these actions.
Your sprinting capability profiling score will dictate your program for this phase.
Remember to stay hydrated, eat and sleep well to make sure that you’re recovering from exercise and the day’s other stresses.
Week 9 - Braking
Week 8 - The retesting
Week 7 - Repeat & recover
Week 6 - Sprinting
Week 5 - Braking
Week 4 - Repeat & Recover
Week 3 - Sprinting
Week 2 - Braking
Week 1 - Introduction
