Using Heart Rate Data to Plan and Deliver Pre-Season in Elite Soccer

Dr Patrick Orme, head of performance at Swansea City, shows how his staff use heart rate data alongside GPS to plan pre-season and decide when to pull back, for performance staff in professional football.

About this webinar

Patrick Orme leads performance at Swansea City and previously worked at Bristol City, including a spell with the under-21s, after a PhD at Liverpool. He walks through how Swansea prepares for a new season: off-season programmes tracked with heart rate monitors, a day-one field test compared season on season, weekly and daily load reports, and the staff conversations that change the plan. He also shows Quick Recovery Test (QRT) scores, a short heart rate variability check. The session runs 49 minutes and was recorded on 17 June 2026.

What you will learn

• Why a player with the highest GPS outputs in the squad can show the lowest heart rate cost
• How Swansea compares the same player’s field test heart rate traces across four pre-seasons
• How a training effect target of 3–3.5 on a 0–5 scale gives coaches a number they read on their own
• When the staff dropped a planned double session in the first week of pre-season
• Which heart rate metrics Orme uses in pre-season and which in season

Practical examples from the recording

1. The same test, season after season. Swansea tests on day one of pre-season with the SDS, a field test Orme has used for five to six years. Heart rate shows each player’s maximum at the hard end and how fast it comes down in the rest periods. Jay Fulton will do the test for the fourth time this pre-season, and his trace is overlaid on previous years. For a senior player, the comparison tells Orme whether his training needs adjusting.

2. Dropping a double session in week one. The first-week plan for the last two pre-seasons was double sessions Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, single sessions Wednesday and Saturday. Both years, by Thursday afternoon, GPS, heart rate and what staff saw all pointed the same way: players were finishing sessions lying on the floor. Each time the staff dropped Friday’s double session to give more recovery and protect the quality of the sessions that followed.

3. A number the coaches read. Orme reports training effect on its 0–5 scale to the coaching staff. With the target for a session at 3–3.5, a report showing 4.2 had the coaches coming to him with “We’ve gone a bit hard today, haven’t we?” before he said anything. The number starts the conversation; the detailed heart rate data explains it.

4. Building fitness in a rehab signing. A new signing arrived at the end stage of rehab from a load-compromising injury, with medical restrictions on training. Staff added off-feet conditioning and used heart rate to keep his internal load similar to the group’s, while GPS kept external load within limits. Waiting for full resolution would probably have cost him the first four or five weeks of the season, which was not an option for a significant signing.

5. Readiness in a three-match week. One player is known to struggle when Swansea play three matches in a week. After a one-match week, his QRT score on the day before the next match was up towards 80%. In a two-match week it was a little lower after the first match and dropped clearly after the second. Orme brings it to rotation discussions so the decision is not only subjective.

Questions answered in the Q&A

Do you retest fitness at the end of the season or only in pre-season?
Only pre-season to pre-season now. With the Bristol City under-21s he tested at the start and end of pre-season, at Christmas and at the end of the season. In first-team football a maximal test costs a training session, and four days before the first match it could hurt preparation.

What is the SDS test?
One rep is a 60 m run, a 36 m run out and back, and a 60 m run back to the start. Reps are separated by 12 seconds of rest in two sets of five, then two continuous reps, then a time trial of one full lap. With the Yo-Yo test he had seen stiff lower backs and groin issues from the turning.

Which heart rate metrics should you track in pre-season?
In pre-season Orme looks mostly at time in the top two heart rate zones. In season he leans on average heart rate and training impulse (TRIMP) for the overall content of a session.

Is GPS data enough to judge how hard a player worked?
No. Orme describes a Liverpool player with the squad’s highest distance, metres per minute, high-speed running and accelerations, but the lowest average heart rate, time in top zones and TRIMP. Without heart rate, he says, you are at best missing half of the picture.

Can players use heart rate monitors during the off-season?
Yes. Swansea sends players away with monitors and the app on their phone. Players sync each session with one button, and staff check in the portal whether they are working at the level the programme asks for.

Who this webinar is for

Heads of performance, sports scientists and strength and conditioning coaches in professional football planning pre-season, plus head coaches and physiotherapists managing players who return from injury and need fitness built without overload.