The relation between intensity and volume

Just imagine you are running on a treadmill with 10 kilometers per hour and
after 30 minutes you are exhausted. So, the intensity is 10 km/hr and the volume
is 30 min. What will happen if you decide to run with a higher intensity next
week? Let’s say you will be running at 15 kilometers per hour. What will happen
with the volume? Will you still be able to run for 30 minutes? Obviously, asking
the question is answering the question. If you are lucky you will be able to run at
15 km/hr for 20 minutes. In other words, when the intensity goes up the volume
will go down. What does it take for you to eventually run at 15 km/hr for 30
minutes?

Gradual build-up
After you initially ran at 15 km/hr for 20 minutes, the next week or month you
will be able to maintain this intensity for 21 minutes. Another week or month
later, you can run for 22 minutes at 15 km/hr. Based on this gradual build-up,
after several weeks or months, you will eventually be able to run at 15 km/hr for
30 minutes. Everyone can see him- or herself doing this and understands it takes
time. Nobody can jump from 20 to 30 minutes in a split-second.

This same principle applies when a player returns from injury, arrives late in pre-
season or decides to join a club at a higher level of play. The moment he joins
the team training he has to deal with a higher intensity. So, what will be the
consequence in terms of his training volume? Indeed, the player will not be able
to maintain the training like his fitter teammates. Otherwise, you could ask the
question what his teammates have been doing during his absence.

From Academy to First Team

Let’s take the example of a youth player who is promoted to the first team. His
starting fitness level is probably lower than that of his new (adult) teammates. In
the Under 19 he used to train and play with a lower intensity (fewer actions per
minute) compared to the first team. If we use the above treadmill metaphor we
could say that this player used to play at 10 km/hr and now needs to learn to
play at 15 km/hr. Last season he used to train five times per week while at first
team level he now has to train six times per week. In other words, the youth
player has to adapt to playing with a higher intensity for longer.

THEO WALCOTT

JACK WILSHIRE
Thrown in the deep?
In the context of the metaphor, it means that the youth player has to jump from
’five times per week at 10 km/hr’ to ‘six times per week at 15 km/hr’. What will
happen if the coach throws this player in the deep? Again, asking the question is
answering the question. Just imagine you can run on the treadmill for 30
minutes at 10 km/hr. What will happen to you if next week you all of a sudden
have to run at 15 km/hr for 45 minutes? Yes, you will get exhausted and break
down. And this is exactly what happens each (pre-)season to all these talented
players around the world. They are thrown in the deep by their uneducated
coaches who work based on tradition rather than knowledge and logical
thinking. Consequently, these players will get exhausted after a few days or
weeks with the first team, their performance will drop and eventually they will
get injured. Ask yourself this question: how many dreams of talented players
worldwide are destroyed each season by coaches who do not understand the
above principle?

Temporarily less training volume

What you would expect is that the youth player gets the opportunity to adapt to
playing football at a higher intensity with adults rather than players of his age. In
other words, the player initially only trains four times per week at ’15 km/hr’.
Next week or month, his training volume is increased to 4,5 times per week
followed by 5 times per week the week or month after. Step by step the training
volume will increase until the moment the new player is able to train 6 times per
week at the higher tempo. Just like you would gradually build-up the volume
from 20 to 30 minutes on the treadmill.

Training LESS than the TEAM but HARDER than HIMSELF

The conclusion is that a player with a lower fitness level should temporarily train
LESS than his fitter TEAMmates. But he should train HARDER than his less fit
SELF last week! By applying this principle over time the player will eventually
reach the training volume of the team. The above is no rocket science. It’s
simple, factual and undeniable. It would save the dreams of thousands of
talented youth players around the world each season as well as the career of
players who return from injury, arrive late in pre-season, decide to join a club at
a higher level and many other players.

Executing a decision
By (non-)verbally communicating with their surrounding players collect
information about teammates, opponents, etc. Based on this information
players make a decision. Next, they have to execute this decision with their
technique. So, technique in football means executing a decision and not just
executing a technique like in, for example, gymnastics. For a sport such as
gymnastics the technical execution is the objective. A gymnast receives points
for moving the body in an ideal way from A to B. In football, on the other hand,
players receive points for moving the ball from A to B, with B being the goal of
the opponent. Therefore, the technical component is just a means to execute a
decision.

Variable technique
In football, the movement of the body thus plays a very different role than in
gymnastics. For football players, there is no ideal stereotype technique because
each game situation is different. In their whole life, they will never pass the ball
twice in the same way, because the circumstances and the opponents are
always just slightly different compared to last time. So, a gymnast needs a
perfect stereotype technique while a football player needs a variable technique.
This is also called functional technique.

 Isolated training based on subjective opinions

Based on the objective analysis of the game, it shows that football technique is
the execution of a decision that can only be trained in football situations in
which players have to make a decision. In an isolated training situation without
opponents a player does not have to make a decision. In that case, the player is
not practicing the execution of a decision but just the execution of a technique.
In other words, he is not developing football technique. Despite the above
philosophical analysis of the game, all around the world there are football
coaches who stick to isolated technique training based on their subjective
opinion. They believe that children have to start with isolated technique training
before they can do more complex football training.

solated training underloads most players

Just image six or seven year old children play ten versus one on a whole pitch.
What do you think the defender will do after 30 or 60 seconds? Yes, the defender
will probably give up because he cannot get the ball. So, this passing exercise is
too simple. It is underloading passing. Players are not challenged and as a result
will not improve their passing. But if 10v1 is too simple, why do coaches do
isolated exercises? An isolated exercise 4v0 is even more simple and more
underload compared to 10v1.
 

Football training is the rule

Instead of making 10v1 even more easy by taking out the opponent, coaches
should develop the 10v1 into a more realistic and challenging exercise. The
coach can reduce the number of attackers from 10 to 8, 7 or even 6. He can
increase the number of defenders from 1 to 2 or reduce the pitch size. With all
three adjustments the players will get less space and time to control and pass
the ball as the defender(s) will be closer to the player with the ball.

Isolated training is the exception on the rule

In other words, isolated technique training is not necessary for children who are
able to play 10v1 without losing the ball. And for those players who will even
lose the ball in 10v1 isolated technique training is the perfect solution to develop
kicking the ball. So, football training like 10v1 (or more demanding football
situations) is the rule with respect to football technique training. And isolated
technique training is the exception on the rule in case players keep losing the
ball even in extremely simplified football situations like 10v1.

Subjective status quo has been broken

For decades people are having an intense debate about football training versus
isolated training. Based on the above objective analysis of football we have now
broken the subjective status quo. Players should develop football technique in
football situations because football technique means the execution of a
decision. And for those players who struggle even in the most simplified football
situations, isolated technique training is the perfect exception on the rule.

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/jack-wilshere-and-theo-walcott-suffer-from-being-
overworked-at-a-young-age-claims-football-medicine-expert-a3110721.html