How to Use Firstbeat Sports in Practice – A Quick Guide for Coaches

Coaching a sports team requires careful management of training, player performance, and recovery. Making informed decisions is crucial to maximize your team’s potential and achieving success on the field. One powerful tool that coaches can rely on is Firstbeat Sports.

With its extensive experience and an impressive client base, Firstbeat Sports provides coaches with valuable insights and metrics to drive performance improvement and optimize training strategies.

In this article, we will explain how coaches can leverage Firstbeat Sports to make informed coaching decisions on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis.

1. Daily Basis: Tracking and Adjusting Training Load

Firstbeat Sports enables coaches to monitor and adjust the training load on a daily basis. Key metrics such as Training Load (TRIMP), Training Intensity (TRIMP/min), and Training Effect (aerobic, anaerobic) help coaches assess player fatigue levels and determine if players are more fatigued in later periods compared to earlier periods. This information can aid in making strategic decisions during games and adjusting training sessions to optimize player performance.

2. Weekly Basis: Optimizing Training Load for Upcoming Games

Coaches can leverage Firstbeat Sports on a weekly basis to optimize training load leading up to a game. Additionally, recovery scores serve as a valuable asset to assess players’ recovery state, ensuring that the training week strikes the right balance between intensity and rest, particularly during crucial parts of the season.

3. Monthly Basis: Evaluating the Bigger Picture

Firstbeat Sports provides coaches with the ability to analyze larger trends on a monthly basis. They can evaluate metrics such as Chronic Training Load (CTL) to assess if training load is increasing over time and compare it to the Acute Training Load (ATL). The platform will automatically calculate the acute to chronic workload ratio (ACWR) to help manage injury risk.  Coaches can also examine the relationship between internal load (TRIMP) and external load (Movement Load) to gauge the conditioning state of players. Identifying players consistently struggling to meet demands may indicate a need for targeted recovery strategies or load management techniques.

4. Annual Basis: Assessing Long-Term Performance

Looking at the bigger picture, Firstbeat Sports enables coaches to evaluate long-term performance trends. Coaches can analyze individual athletes’ training volume throughout the season, the intensity of training during playoffs compared to pre-season, and the balance of aerobic vs anaerobic training. By comparing training load and recovery scores between the regular season and playoffs, coaches can make data-driven decisions regarding the need for deloading or adjusting training strategies to optimize performance during critical phases of the season.

A Powerful Platform to Make Coaching Decisions

Firstbeat Sports provides coaches with a powerful platform to make informed coaching decisions at any time of the season. By leveraging the wealth of data and insights offered by Firstbeat, coaches can optimize training, monitor player fatigue, track recovery, and maximize game performance.

With its widespread adoption by top teams across major sports including ice hockey, soccer, and basketball, , Firstbeat Sports has established itself as a valuable tool for coaches seeking a competitive edge.

As a part of our service, Firstbeat collaborates with coaches to identify the most important metrics and questions specific to their team’s needs, ensuring a tailored approach to achieving success on the field.

To learn more download our guides  or book a demo with us.