Planning the training week (the microcycle)

How to organise your training week in amateur football: the microcycle explained simply, from the day after a match to matchday itself.

Thibaud C. · Fitness coach · Last updated: September 26, 2026

The microcycle is the training week, organised around the match. Its load is never uniform: it rises towards a midweek peak, then eases off until matchday (see "Load dynamics"). The practical question here: how much room do you give physical work in the week?

How much physical work?

It depends on the objective and the period. For a "normal" week during the season, a good compromise is a quarter physical to three quarters technical and tactical. You can spread it across the week or within each session: in a one-hour session, roughly 15 minutes devoted to physical work.

The most rewarding approach in the amateur game remains integrated work: developing the physical side with the ball, in small-sided games, rather than isolating it.

Two typical weeks

The logic is always the same: you move away from the previous match, you build up, then you approach the next match and ease off. Here are the two most common cases in amateur football, with a match on Sunday.

Two sessions a week (Tuesday and Thursday)

• Tuesday — the demanding session. It's your only real development slot: after a full warm-up, high-intensity play (small-sided games, opposition), plus strength or speed work if you do any. The longest session of the week.
• Thursday — the matchday session. Shorter, less dense: you set up what you'll play on Sunday (patterns, set pieces), with short efforts and plenty of recovery. The aim: arriving fresh.
• Sunday — the match.

Three sessions a week (Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, Friday)

• Tuesday: getting going again. Moderate volume — you don't chase maximum intensity two days after a match.
• Midweek: the peak. This is the most demanding session, the one where you can ask for repeated intense efforts.
• Friday: lighter and turned towards the match — short speed work, tactical situations, set pieces. Never a big volume within 48 hours of the match.

The three most common mistakes

• Putting the hardest session the day before the match. It's the most frequent mistake, often because that's the day everyone turns up. Move the intensity to the start of the week.
• A flat week. Three identical sessions develop nothing and prepare nothing: it's the variation that drives progress.
• Forgetting the players who didn't play. Those who sat on the bench on Sunday need more load, not the same as the starters.