Table 1.

Weekly training characterization in an Italian Serie Bwin.it team.

Characteristic	MD + 1	MD-5 (Day Off)	MD-4	MD-3	MD-2	MD-1	MD
Day	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Duration	75 ± 30 min		120 ± 16 min	118 ± 15 min	98 ± 30 min	101 ± 12 min	90
Time	Morning			Bidaily	Afternoon	Afternoon	Afternoon
Warm-up	Static stretching for starting players; dynamic stretching for non-starting players.		Technical skills warm-up	Dynamic stretching	Technical skills	Dynamic stretching
Main contents	Recovery training for starting players; small-sided games (ball possession) and cardiorespiratory endurance training for non-starting players		(1) Team tactics (e.g., 10 vs. 10 full-sized game); (2) Cardiorespiratory endurance exercises (e.g., interval training); (3) Continuous regime small-sided games (pitch was commonly goal to halfway line as length and touchline to touchline as width)	(1) Complex training (morning); (2) Intermittent-regime small-sided games (commonly ball-possession without goalkeepers) with reduced pitch sizes (e.g., 3 vs. 3 to 5 vs. 5).	(1) Team tactics (e.g., 11 vs. 11 emphasising specific and expected game situations); (2) free-kicks	(1) Corners and free-kicks; (2) Pre-match activation (e.g., skipping and short sprints)

MD, match day; non-starters, players who participated less than ≤45 min in the game of the previous day; starters, players who participated at least 45 min in the game-time of the previous day.