Wednesday, January 27, 2021

THE MORPHO-CYCLE.

Author: Oscar Mendez.

The morpho-cycle is the way our week will be organized , always according to several Methodological Principles (Principle of Horizontal Alternance in Specificity, Principle of Complex Progression and Principle of Propensions), between our last game and the next one.

The difference between Micro-cycle and Morfo-cycle is that in the Micro-cycle by itself, consists of sessions, of a certain number, normally they can be between 3 and 14 sessions, that are programmed. This is why they can take different shapes and have different objectives.




The Morpho-cycle  (Morpho -The way or shape matter can take), focuses basically on the shape of our Game Model of the team we are coaching can take or obtain,  and for that to happen certain processes must happen, in them there must be continuity, the week of training in some dynamics will be the same, or that it alternates between the problems that will show up during game situations, this is why Morfo-cycle is how or what shape we want to give our team and game model.

Some Authors talk about a Pattern Morfocycle, that is a sequence of several sessions of training, that takes into consideration the game prior and the future match. This Morfocycle was published in literature by Nuno Oliveira, Nuno Amieiro, Resende 2006 and Barreto and Gomes in 2008. This does not mean that there isn’t a Meso-cycle (Made up of 2 to 4 mycro-cycles) or Macro-cycle (6 to 12 Meso-cycles), this is why  these are mere theorical guidelines of planification and periodization, with less interference in the process of training that in the morfocycle.

 

FACTORS TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT IN THE SESSIONS AND THE MORFOCYCLES.

  

Tension –What we mean by the tension is the muscle contraction that will be exposed. The higher amount of eccentric contractions the higher the tension will be.

Duration –What we mean is the duration of the muscle contraction. The longer the exercise or task, the longer the duration of the contractions that normally will be concentric.

Speed – What we mean is basically the speed of the muscle contraction. The faster the action , the faster the contraction, in game like situations that will be very brief and intense.

Emotional  Stress – It is the stress that the task or exercise will créate in the athlete. Related to the following critera:

Complexity of the principle(s)

Complexity of the dynamic

Amount of Athletes

Space of Play

Time of duration of exercise

Discontinuous – It refers to the duration of the exercise, the more discontinuous the shorter it will be.

When we mention a typical Morpho-cycle we can describe it as one of five days of training , one day of rest after competition and one before the next match.

On these five days, three will be acquisitive sessions and two will be recuperation sessions. Typically the next day after the competition will be the rest day or day off.

The two recuperation sessions will be the first and last session in the morpho-cycle.

The first one we will focus on recuperating the players that played most of the match, but not as we used to do many years ago, in activities that had little to do with specific sport (jogging around the pitch or playing football tennis) but in exercises similar to real game but very  discontinuous. Pauses here will be very high.

With the players that didn’t play, the training and exercises  will be more continuous where we will try for them to have an intense effort so that they will be ready to play next match.

The last recuperation session before the match, we activate and prepare the team for the next opponent going over the strategy of the match and what the opponent will do, their and our behavior and other tactical and contra-tactical aspects.

In between these two recuperation sessions, we will work with the three adquisitive sessions.

The first one will be Tension (of muscle contraction).

The second one will be Duration (of muscle contraction).

The third one will be Speed (of muscle contraction).

 

 


MORFO-CYCLE WITH ONE MATCH PER WEEK.

MATCH DAY= (SUNDAY).

– 5 SESSIONS + MATCH + 1 REST DAY OR DAY OFF.

 

1ST DAY- 1st Active Recuperation Session. (Tuesday). Recuperation of last match under specific scheme.

Description:

Principles and Sub-Principles of our game model under a recuperation scheme with a very low dynamic.

Specific content:

We will train the mistakes of prior match or focus on next weeks’ principles or subprinciples that we will see on the following match.

Example of exercises:

Very discontinuous exercises with not very high difficulty and emotional stress, where we will try for the players that played most or all of the match to recuperate on specific energetic system and not the traditional way where we would do things that had nothing to do with specific game of football (low endurance jogging for example).

Players that didn’t play must have exercises higher in intensity and duration than others that did.

 

 

Mentally:

Exercises that have a relatively low difficulty where the athlete doesn’t have too much stress since he/she is not fully recuperated from previous match.

 

Tension –

Duracion –

Speed –

Emotional Stress -

 

 

2ND DAY (Wednesday)- 1st Adquisitive Sesion.Tension of muscle contraction.

Description:

Exercises of elevated tension, small spaces, very discontinuous exercises, intense ,a lot of stop and go, intermitent and short exercises. Low level of difficulty.

The most intense and discontinuos session of the week.

Tactically:

Exercises where we will train our Sub-Principles of play on a sectorial and intersectorial level.

Here we can focus on small sided games, rondos, small posessions, always focusing on what is being mentioned above.

Exercises must be very intense and discontinuos.

Always exercises must be relevant to  our game model and how our team is going to play.

The amount of players must be small, as well as the difficulty because if the difficult is high, the intensity will never be high.

Mentally:

Because the players are not quite recuperated, The difficulty of the exercises must be rather low.

 

Tension +++

Duration –

Speed +

Emotional Stress+

 

 3RD DAY (Thursday) – 2nd Adquisitive Session.DURATION (of muscle contraction).

Description:

Because it is the day farther away from previous and future competition or match, we will training similarly to the way we are going to play on the match. Big spaces, with longer duration of time, and with higher amount of complexity and amount of athletes.

 

Tactically:

We will focus on this session on the great principles of our game model and some sub-principles on situations similar to real situation.

The exercises here , we will focus on high numbers, 9v9, 10v10 and 11v11, big spaces, exercise that are not very discontinuous and complexity of the exercises that will be high as well. We will also focus on the Macro Principles or the big behavior of our game model and what we want our team to do on the match.

 

Mentally:

The level of concentration here is the highest of the week due to the complexity of the exercises and here is where we will have the highest emotional stress along with the duration that will be the highest this is why this session will be farther away from the match.

 

Tension +

Duration ++

Speed +

Emotional Stress  ++

 

 

4TH DAY. (Friday). 3rd day Adquistive Session.  SPEED (of muscle contraction).

 

Description:

Prepare and actívate the team for next match and super-compensate.

The exercises must be of elevated speed of decisionmaking and execution (activation). Because the exercises will be intense and there will not be maximum tension, the number of repetition must be low and very discontinuous.

We must not misunderstand speed of execution (quickness) with the travelling speed (moving from point A to point B in the shortest amount of time).

This is the session where we can focus on counter/attacking/defending in game like situations.

Exercises don’t have to be flashy, but practical with real game situations.

Our exercises must be on specific energetic systems we use in Football (Atp/pc) Anaerobic Alactic and Aerobic System.

Tactically:

Sub principles of game on a sectorial level, intersectorial or collective. With / without /or with little opposition.

Mentally:

Levels of concentration lower than the day before. Levels of complexity will be reduced. We will look for exercises with little or no opposition.

 

Tension +

Duration -

Speed ++

Emotional Stress -

 

 

 

 

5TH DAY–(Saturday). 2nd Recuperation session.Active recuperation and preparation of next Match.

 

Description:

Pre activation  of following match the next day. We will in first part of session activate players for tomorrows’ match based on what we worked during the week and prepare what the strategy will be according to the information we have about or next opponent, our plan and contra-tactical analysis of things that might come up in match.

 

Tactically:

Exercises with high level of concentration but with Little or no complexity (will provoke a high density of concentration). We will work dynamic behavior of the team or exercises that don’t request high level of concentration and remind the general pattern of collective game.

 

Mentally:

Concentration very high but with very low volumes , obtaining a high levels of concentration and focusing on the most important aspects of behavior of the team.

 

Tension -/+

Duration -

Speed -/+

Emotional Stress -/+


 



EXAMPLE OF MORPHO-CYCLE OF JOSE MOURINHO AND LOUIS VAN GAAL IN F.C. BARCELONA WITH TWO COMPETITION / MATCHES IN ONE WEEK.




EXAMPLE OF MORPHO-CYCLE OF JOSE MOURINHO IN S.L BENFICA WITH ONE COMPETITION / MATCHES IN ONE WEEK.





"I was never an athlete, an athlete has to eat correctly, sleep correctly, drink correctly…and I never did anything of this.

Surely I could have been better if I would have been an athlete, but without a doubt I would have never been as happy".

Romario.

 

 

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