2015 Pre-Season Conditioning Sessions

Sessions all delivered on either a 3G surface or a full sized grass pitch. Sessions varied in length,
never longer than 90 minutes in total and occasionally split over a double session.

Tactical and shape sessions not included on this particular document, purely sessions used for
conditioning and overall technical sessions.

I've included a few comments etc throughout on what I felt worked or didn't work in various
situations.

Below was a very basic 6v3 setup, the tempo and intensity from the off was quite good and set the
tone for the session.
Just opened it out slightly with this one, very conscious to set the theme of being brave in
possession and being composed under pressure from day one. Again work load was decent and
the effort levels were good.
First real heavy session of the day, 3v3s were in very narrow boxes forcing players to open up in
only one direction and this increased the pressure on the ball as space was minimal. Having
players coming straight into the boxes after some high intensity running appeared to work and was
very game specific, players were grouped together in positional blocks. Technique and tempo were
very good until fatigue set in towards the final stages. Players commented on the physical demand
involved in the running phase and then straight into a high energy 3v3.
Below completed day one. 7v7+3 with all players numbered. On the call, one from each side came
out and round their pole before rejoining the game. Went for 4x4 minute sets with players being
called out continually during the sets. Doing this session again I would put a competitive element
within the game setup, ie 5 pass = 1 goal.
Session 2 started with this little warm up. Worked well to begin the session, lots of twists and turns
for the players in the box and the edge players constantly on toes.

Went from there into a sequential passing setup below. Various conditioning progressions used, all
short distance running and dynamic moves. Worked 5x4 minute sets, workload was extremely
heavy, final progression was to move poles 30 yards away, this effectively ended the sequential
passing at various stages as all players where out of the box but the conditioning element was the
main focus.
Ended the session on two possession based setups. The 3 in the setup below got quite a blast as
they were against a heavy overload.
The setup below ended the day, as was a theme of pre season the emphasis was heavily on some
short heavy duty conditioning and then straight into a high intensity game situation. Session
peaked in terms of a stamina perspective when two from each side were out at the same time as
the overload increased within the box, resulting in effectively two conditioning sessions within one
setup.

Session 3 was mainly spent working specifically with the forward players on some position specific
conditioning. The warm up below has developed into part of the current match day warm up where
I use 3x3 minutes of dynamic and technical work.
Below is the conditioning session specifically for the strikers. Players worked individually for 3 sets
and then rested while the others players worked before completing a final 3 sets. Lights were
understandably out after this session. Players were timed and various stats recorded, shots on
target, goals scored etc, all added to the competitiveness of the session.
Session 4 began with a standard dynamic warm up and then into a high intensity SSG below. Took
a little while to get going but finished well and set a decent tempo for the session.
I then had the centre backs for two position specific sessions below. Lots of game related
scenarios and a huge workload. Players worked 3 sets in the end and then rested, had initially
planned 5 but 3 was ample.
I had planned this session a while ago and thought on screen it looked like it would work. Didn't
really get off the ground, players were totally fatigued and the above session would have been
enough with attempting this session below.
Back into the main session and finished with a very heavy possession into 2v2 session, the
general feedback was of the brutal workload involved in a high tempo possession, a sprint to the
opposite end and then a 2v2 with a big recovery run. These type of sessions were the cornerstone
of pre season and I would be keen to integrate them throughout the season. We used a similar
theme on many occasions, looking at 1v1, 2v2 and up to 4v4.
My involvement in session 5 was a high
intensity possession session shown
below and a variation on a session from
the previous day.
Used the above session to bridge from
warm up to possession phases. By the
time poles were moved to 30 yards the
workload was huge and the demand to
get back into the grid to keep the
overload really added to the setup.
The setup below was a similar session to the previous day but this one I used two keepers rather
than one. This allowed a transition element to the 2v2 and seemed to add to the general tempo of
session. We varied the length of recovery runs back into the possession box, initially straight in,
progressed to back round the corner flag and back in, progressed to round corner flag and one full
length run round the opposite corner before rejoining the box.

This session proved to be one of the most physically demanding of the entire pre season.
Session lasted 16 minutes but by the end we had completely fatigued.

Session 6 was centred around some position based conditioning for the wide players. Stated with a
basic group warm up shown below. Players seem to enjoy these tight box games with the target
goals, tempo was good and good the session off to a nice start.
The session for the wide players was done of one setup and continuously. It is shown below in
three phases for ease of diagrams. As has been the theme of these individual sessions it proved to
be a major stamina push and players were heavily fatigued.

Credit to the guys taking the session with me in these situations as my grasp of time is awful and I
continually forget to actually stop the session such is my enthusiasm, much to the players
annoyance.
Final phase of the session was a group setup below, again working on breakouts from possession
situations. Some high intensity possession, short range power circuit followed by a 2v2.
Session 7 was
quite a low key
session
following a
series of games
and some heavy
days.
The eighth session of pre season conditioning was the final session before the season started. We
kicked off with a basic sequential passing setup, developed into some low level conditioning.
Went from here into some high tempo 5v2s with a few progressions and box changes etc.

Progressed the session into some larger possession games but still in small areas. Tempo in both
was good and conditioning levels were decent.Opened the setup out and brought us into a bigger
transition session. During pre season these specific type of sessions proved fruitful from a
conditioning perspective and popular with players.

Final phase of the session was a lung buster 2v2 built to 4v4. Players had a sprint in before they
were straight into a high intensity 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4. The lights severely went out when this session
neared completion.
Those are the majority of the pre season conditioning sessions. The rest were all tactical and
shape based sessions.