Crawely Town FC's Post-Match Top Ups for Bench Players: Insights from Ricky McFarlane
Post-Game Workload Analysis
My observations from post-game workload for bench players is that most teams only really worry about high-speed running and sprint distances after a game. I understand as there is a lot of research behind it. However, I believe many clubs are focusing too much on research and not on the players and the environment on any given day. It could be a night game, this extra work could be late in the evening, the temperature could also be cold, and you are now asking bench players that for 85% of their day have been seated to perform maximal effort for 15 to 25 minutes. What tends to happen is the volume of high-speed runs far surpasses their high-speed exposure per minute of a game. So, this increased metabolic stress is far worse in terms of per minute than they would ever experience during a game, because otherwise everyone would be doing five, six, seven thousand meters of high-speed running in a game!
Alternative Post-Game Process
Firstly, we tend to look at this post game process differently by performing three or four sets of four-minute exposure runs, run at 120% of that player's likely meters per minute in a game (1). For example, if a player usually runs around the 110 meters/minute mark, we will look at around the 130 meters/minute mark, three or four sets of four-minute blocks. So, this takes care of the athlete’s chronic load and if they’ve warmed up before/during the game, we might get around 60% of their approx. game load.
Utilizing Flywheel for Deceleration Volume
Secondly, we then consider deceleration volume, which is where we will utilize the flywheel. If we have an away game, we'll use a portable flywheel, and the players will go through a circuit consisting of high volume and low inertial loading working for 15 to 20 reps. We aim to accumulate around 100 reps per exercise and this plus the previous mentioned exposure runs equates approximately to 100 potential decelerations in terms of muscular tissue exposure similar to their game outputs. Therefore, this post game routine allows us to have low risk, chronic exposure without subjecting players to something that could potentially be dangerous after all the time spent on the bench (2)(3).
Summary
In summary, the players have performed their exposure runs, their bodies are now warm, heart rate has been elevated and they then complete a submaximal high-volume circuit on the flywheel. Thus, emulating some of the stresses to their body, muscles and joints normally experienced from high-speed running and sprint distances after a game.
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References
- Lacome, M. & Simpson, B.M. (2018) Monitoring Strength On & Off the Field. Science Performance and Science Reports. 1.
- Fajardo, J.T. (2018) Strength Training in Elite Football: An Alternative Approach. Science Performance and Science Reports. 1-2.
- Mendiguchia, J. (2018) Rehabilitation of Hamstring Injuries in Elite Professional Football. Science Performance and Science Reports. 1-2.
