Blog Posts - The Athlete Development Project

The Critical Role of Sleep in Professional Athletic Performance

Posted on 21st January 2025 (21st January 2025) by Ben Bradley

For professional athletes, optimal performance hinges on several key factors: training, nutrition, recovery, and, often overlooked, sleep. Scientific research consistently highlights the importance of sleep as a cornerstone of physical and mental recovery, underscoring its role in enhancing athletic performance and reducing injury risk. Sleep and Physical Recovery Sleep is an active recovery process that […]

The Role of Supplements in Professional Athletes’ Performance

Posted on 19th January 2025 (19th January 2025) by Ben Bradley

In the high-stakes world of professional sports, athletes are always seeking ways to optimize their performance, recovery, and overall health. Supplements are a widely used tool in this pursuit. While supplements cannot replace a balanced diet and rigorous training, evidence-based research supports their role in enhancing specific aspects of athletic performance. This blog explores the […]

Maximizing Recovery Between Football Matches Played 72 Hours Apart

Posted on 17th January 2025 (17th January 2025) by Ben Bradley

In the demanding world of football, recovery is as crucial as the match itself. When players face games scheduled 72 hours apart, like your typical Saturday, Tuesday turnaround, ensuring optimal recovery becomes a science. […]

Sports Performance & The Immune System

Posted on 9th September 2024 (11th September 2024) by Ben Bradley

Blogpost brought to you by The ADP. […]

Arsenal FC end of Warm Up Accelerations

Posted on 8th June 2023 (8th June 2023) by Ben Bradley

Watch in this short clip, Arsenal FC Men’s First Team finish off their pre-Premier League match warm up with some Footwork and Acceleration prep before heading back to the Changing rooms to finish off their pre-match routine. They had completed a dynamic warm up and ball work prior to this last section of the warm […]

Chelsea FC Pre-match Dynamic Warm Up

Posted on 6th May 2023 (6th May 2023) by Ben Bradley

Chelsea pre-match dynamic warm up from the match V AFC Bournemouth at Vitality Stadium on 06.05.23. […]

A quick Guide to a Jumping, Landing & Plyometric Continuum

Posted on 14th June 2022 (15th June 2022) by Ben Bradley

As part of a good athletic development programme it is key to have a movement syllabus or competency framework to guide athletic development, inform programming and ensure our athletes are getting the right stimulus and challenge from their S&C programme to give them the desired outcomes that will improve performance in their Sport. As we […]

The Evolution of the Modern Day Centre-Back: From Baresi and Beckenbauer to Ruben Dias

Posted on 25th October 2021 (25th October 2021) by Ben Bradley

Blogpost written by Hugo Ferreira former performance Analyst at SC Braga and AFC Bournemouth. Over the last few decades, our generation of Football passionate people have grown watching astonishing centre-backs who still fill us with nostalgia when we travel down memory lane to past international tournaments or UEFA Champions league finals back in the 90s […]

The use of small-sided game formats as individualised training stimuli for football playing positions.

Posted on 21st June 2021 (22nd June 2021) by Ben Bradley

Blogpost Written by Dr Will Abbott By now it is clear the competitive demands of football differ between playing positions. Central defenders have been shown to produce the lowest total and high-speed distances during competition, whilst central midfielders produce the highest total distances (Abbott et al., 2018; Bradley et al., 2009; O’Donoghue et al., 2005). […]

Match Day Nutrition for Youth Footballers

Posted on 16th April 2021 (16th April 2021) by Ben Bradley

There’s no doubt that hard work on the training ground and sound tactics suited to the opposition and the game are key to success in a football match. But how well you actually play on the day is going to come down to how well fuelled you are. Just as teams will have a match […]

Training Day Nutrition for Youth Footballers

Posted on 14th February 2021 (14th December 2021) by Ben Bradley

The role nutrition plays in football performance cannot be overlooked. It’s key to both mental and physical performance in the preparation for and recovery from a session. What a player fuels with and when they fuel will have a direct impact on lots of different areas of performance from strength and speed to accuracy and […]

Research Reports – Relative age and maturation selection biases in academy Football.

Posted on 20th January 2021 (20th January 2021) by Ben Bradley

Research Reports brings you lead authors from published research articles so you can hear all about the research, key aims and take home messages straight from the source. These short, easily digestible videos make it simple and easy to understand the work and its context. This Research Report is by Megan Hill who discusses her […]

Category: Blog Posts