Welcome to the fifth episode of Fitogether Vision & Insights! Your go-to source for staying at the forefront of sports science and technology. Our weekly updates deliver a curated blend of sports insight and knowledge!

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We will delve deeper with our Sports Scientist, Dr. Elliot Lam, into the technical intricacies of performance optimization through Fitogether Live Ultimate. In this edition, we explore the art of effective goal setting, leveraging real-time insights to propel teams and individuals toward their peak potential.

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The ability to use Electronic Performance and Tracking Systems (EPTS) data to inform training load prescription has become a fundamental practice for high-performance practitioners working in team sports.

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Live monitoring of EPTS data has become a crucial resource for practitioners to determine whether planned training goals will be achieved by enabling in-session adjustments to be made in real-time.

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Fitogether is FIFA Preferred Provider for Live Player Tracking and the Fitogether Live Ultimate app empowers practitioners to monitor training goals for the overall team and individual players simultaneously. Implementing our XtendConnect technology that delivers identically matched live and post-session data, the platform provides practitioners with data-driven insights and an easily understandable goal-setting system to make accurate real-time decisions.

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This blog explores how you can use Fitogether Live Ultimate to set team and individual goals to fulfill a range of practical applications.

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Team Goal Setting

Alongside coaching objectives, practitioners will plan the external load (physical demands) imposed on players to achieve desired training adaptations that will optimise development, performance, and injury risk reduction (Torres-Ronda et al. 2022).

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Setting team goals using Fitogether Live Ultimate assures practitioners that desired training plans will be implemented across sessions (drills) and overall activities. Below are examples of practical scenarios where team goal setting can be utilised:

• Commonly multiple sets of the same session (i.e. 5 v 5 small-sided game) are planned within a training activity but goal targets may reveal that the first two sets may be under- or over-stimulating players. Real-time adjustments may enable less or more sets to be planned, or durations to be adjusted, to achieve the desired goal target for the overall session.
• Prescribing top-up conditioning sessions at the end of training to attain desired training load when goals haven’t been reached, or factored into MD or MD+1 activities for squad players who haven’t been exposed to the same load as starters. Targets can be set based on match data for players to achieve within these sessions.

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Individual Goal Setting

Whilst training periodisation will primarily focus upon team objectives, it is well established that players’ responses and ability to tolerate load may vary based on a number of factors.

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The Fitogether Live Ultimate App allows you to set individual goals that can be monitored alongside team goals to prioritise the personalised requirements of different player profiles within the squad. Practical applications of setting individualised goals during live monitoring include:

• Modifying overall player involvement based on age, physical qualities, fitness, injury history and chronic load (Gabbett et al. 2020). For example, an U18 player stepping up into 1 team training may be required to have lower individual goals for a session to manage the transition to a higher-level environment.
• Monitoring players’ re-involvement within training drills and matches to graduate load exposure after returning from injury. Individual goals for returning players may be lower compared to team averages.
• Replicating positional differences in large-sided or full-pitch games (i.e. 9 v 9, 11 v 11) in training to mimic match intensities. For example, the high-intensity requirements of wingers are considerably higher than centre backs during matches and their targets in large-area drills should reflect this.

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Team and Individual Goals: Metrics

• The Fitogether Live Ultimate app allows you to set team and individual goals for two key metrics regarding load management and performance: Total Distance (TD) and High-Speed Running (HSR) distance (default setting > 5.5 m/s [19.8 km/h]).
• Whilst monitoring TD allows you to set an appropriate volume of training, monitoring HSR is equally important to target optimal high-intensity exposure that maximises player performance and injury risk reduction.
• During professional football matches, male players typically cover a TD of 10 – 12 km with HSR distances (> 5.5 m/s) ranging between 600 – 1200 m across positions and it is important that players are prepared for these demands in training (Allen et al. 2023).

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How to use Team and Individual Goal Setting in App

Before Activity:

• When creating a session (drill split) within the overall activity, you can set team goals for TD and HSR that will be applied to all players for that session.
• When selecting the individual goal tab, you can set specific TD and HSR goals to any individual player included in the session. You can also multi-select players to apply the same individual goals.
• You can create multiple sessions that follow a training plan with different team and individual goals applied in each one.

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During Activity:

• After starting a particular session, you can view data in relation to goal targets using a simple traffic light system where yellow represents under-target (0 – 60%), green represents on-target (60 – 100%) and red represents over-target (> 100%).
• As players get closer to achieving goal targets, you can monitor these colour-coded changes within our graphical team report, tabular team report and individual player report to make simple and accurate real-time decisions.
• Filter between viewing team goals and individual goals to compare players’ outputs to overall targets and their specific values if set.

With the ability to run multiple sessions at once using the Fitogether Live Ultimate App, practitioners can monitor team and individual goals for a session representing the overall activity and specific drills at the same time.

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Now, we invite you to take the next step toward elevating your team's potential. Schedule a complimentary one-on-one consultation with our team of experts to discover how Fitogether Live Ultimate can revolutionize your training game.

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Uncover the power of real-time data analytics and unleash the full potential of your team and individual athletes.

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