Training load monitoring in football
In football, load is not shared evenly across the squad. A player who starts and one who comes on for twenty minutes accumulate very different weeks, even after training together every day. Controlling that starts with measuring it.
Why log load across a football squad
A football microcycle is not a straight line: a recovery day after the match, two hard days in the middle, an activation session before playing. That shape is deliberate, and without logging there is no way to check it actually happened. It is common to look at the numbers and find that the day that felt easy was the heaviest of the week.
Session-RPE applied to football
The method is simple: when it ends, each player rates how hard it felt from 0 to 10, and that is multiplied by their minutes. In football the individual minutes are the crux. In a match eleven play ninety and the rest play twenty or none, so the same session produces completely different loads inside one squad. A team average hides exactly that.
Week-to-week tracking
With several weeks logged the progression appears: how much the total rises or falls, whether the week was flat or had peaks, and how it compares with the past month's average. That comparison between the current week and recent history is what points to who should be eased off and who is short of work.
Frequently asked questions
- How is match load measured?
- The same way as training: minutes played multiplied by the effort the player perceived. That is why it matters to log each player's own minutes rather than the match length.
- What about substitutes?
- They accumulate far less load on match day, and that shows up immediately in the record. It is useful information: it is usually the reason compensatory work is added the following day.
- Does it work in youth football?
- Yes, and the method does not change. What changes is the reading: with youth squads it is worth watching consistency of logging and wellness more than chasing precise load figures.
- Does it replace GPS?
- No, it complements it. GPS measures what the player did; perceived effort measures what it cost them. Two players covering the same distance can finish in very different states.
Track your squad's load
Training Feel is built for squads: every player logs from their phone and the staff sees them all together, with each player's own minutes.
- Individual minutes, not team averages
- The shape of the microcycle, visible at a glance
- One squad free, to try it out