Thoughts on Testing & Monitoring Football Players
General Thoughts on, and Recommendations for Testing & Monitoring Football Players
In my experience, all athletes should have a Need Analysis profile consisting of the four essential pillars:
a) Physiological
b) Biochemical
c) Psychological
d) Nutritional
Training should be individualized according to each athlete’s needs. Each training session should set a target-goal for the player, enabling us to know if we overtrain or undertrain our players.
It is crucial for the team to identify a testing protocol, so that progress checks on both the players’ and the team’s performance can be made throughout the year and then, further utilized. What we call “recovery index” of a player derives from specific tests that indicate the recovery curve of a player, compared with his maximum numbers of his season performance (e.g. body composition, flexibility tests, force platform jumps, hamstring/adductor squeeze strength, Heart Rate Variability, sub maximum tests on pitch, like yo-yo). All these tests can, and in some cases, should be done weekly!
Biochemical testing has been gaining significantly more ground lately in the sports world. Hormonal levels (testosterone/cortisol ratio, CPK, blood ammonia and other indicators) can provide us with crucial information about our athlete’s status.
Training Monitoring!
It’s a key element for success in football, or any other sports, for that matter. Monitoring is the key to avoiding overtraining and injuries. GPS technology provides us with information that could make our training more efficient and specifically focused to a player’s and a team’s needs. In recent years, a football physiologist was introduced as part the monitoring process. After analyzing the training load of a session, detailed feedback is given to strength and conditioning coaches, by the football physiologist, regarding their work and helps them achieve more efficiently their daily or weekly goals.
GPS monitoring vs Heart Rate monitoring.
There is an ongoing debate regarding the pros and cons of both GPS Monitoring and HR Monitoring. For me, heart rate monitoring is used only when the player trains in an aerobic endurance session (especially during preparation). We could say it’s a waste of time looking at heart rate response in a training session that aims towards performance (not recovery).
Two key elements that we have to take into consideration and find ways to monitor, are sleep quality and hydration. Lately, a lot of technologies went introduced to the market that aim to help monitor and have an overview of an athlete’s sleep quality. Its important to get to know our players and be aware of their needs and habits outside the pitch and the training court. We spend 2-3 hours per day training them, but what happens after they leave the pitch? Also, the hydration levels of a player is of great importance, especially during hot periods and before a game.
In regards to testing our players; is VO2max and lactate threshold so important to look at? Would it be better to find a field test (like beep test or yo-yo) that could help us make our training much more functional (i like this word!).
Furthermore, is testing our players in jumps so important? Would it be better to check the rate of force development which would also allow us to see muscle asymmetries and more functional patterns of our player?
To summarize, factors that could make a difference in our player’s performance and should be monitored and taken in grave consideration, are: recovery index curve (thought testing and need analysis), hormonal levels and generally biochemical test results, self-report questionnaires, sleep quality, hydration levels and an overall training monitoring.
Efthymios Kyprianou
Note: More analysis and thorough information on specific topics covered in this article will follow in the next weeks.