The break and the preparation puzzle. Empoli studies the right strategy. The expert: "Little time to make an impact. Help comes from technology"

The one that has just ended was a week of more specific work for theEmpoli, who did not have to prepare for the weekend's challenge due to the break in Serie A for the national team's commitments. So how were these days used in view of the final rush of the championship? The watchword, in the Azzurri house, was job customization with a special eye for those footballers who are recovering from injuries or need to find the best condition because they have recently returned. To better understand, in this sense, how the training of a professional team is organized we asked for the help of the personal fitness coach of Empoli Lorenzo Spina, who also has a decade of experience as an athletic trainer between Empoli Fc and Siena.

"There is no standard methodology and the coaching staff is only a support to the coach – Spina begins – from my experience, however, during a break for the national team, there is not much time to make an impact so with those who are available you make a personalized training, especially in the central part of the two weeks: on the one hand, we try to help those who have played more recover energy, doing that prevention that perhaps we haven't been able to do until then, on the other hand, those who have played less work a little more intensely". And in this perspective, the current equipment allows us to create specific training for each player. "Technology helps us a lot - continues Spina -, for example, since GPS were introduced we can weigh the training and understand whether it needs to be integrated or not". Over the years, nutrition has also acquired an increasingly central role.

"It is essential that the athlete eats in a correct and balanced way - Spina insists -. Moreover, also from this point of view, thanks to a whole series of tests, we are moving more and more towards a precision diet". In general, with an increasingly busy competitive calendar, with the time for training that has instead been drastically reduced, the work of the trainer must necessarily be more specific and incisive. "We cannot waste time, especially in light of the fact that each player must always be in top condition, even if other factors that are not purely physical come into play here, such as the mental one - concludes Spina -. My concern, as a trainer, was to make all the players in the 'rose' fit for training. Which I imagine is also the biggest concern at the moment at Empoli given the many injuries of the last period".