This guide shows how to build a plan from scratch. It then shows how to set your workflow up for the long term, with reusable templates, daily athlete updates in Slack, and fatigue flags.

Work through it in order the first time. Come back to any section later as a reference.

Give your plan a clear, descriptive name so it's easy to find later, then select New Plan to start from scratch.

Before you add any tasks, the first thing to do is create your sessions. Select Add Session to add one.

We recommend a simple naming convention like Baseline, Session 1, Session 2, and Session 3. Keeping them clearly labelled makes the whole plan far easier to manage and read back later.

Next, set how many times each session should repeat. By default every session runs for a single cycle, but you can adjust this to suit your programme.

You can also turn on athlete feedback scales. There are three: Rating of Mental Fatigue, Rating of Mental Effort, and Rating of Perceived Exertion. Your athlete completes these after each task, giving you valuable subjective feedback alongside the objective cognitive data.

If you switch on Baseline Comparison, Soma automatically generates pre and post baseline reports at the end of the block. With this turned on, the session cycle is set to two for you, so both baseline assessments are included.

Finally, if you want more detailed analysis, enable Minute on Minute tracking. Instead of just the final average for a task, this records performance all the way through, so you can see how your athlete responds as mental fatigue develops.

With your sessions ready, start building the structure. Soma lets you filter tasks by cognitive demand, which makes the process much quicker. Most athletes benefit from training all four demands, but prioritise the ones that matter most in their sport, where split-second focus, control, or decision-making count.

→ How to Filter Tasks by Demand

→ How to Filter Tasks by Mode

Next, decide when the cognitive work happens around physical training: pre-session, in-session, or post-session. Only the placement you choose shows up inside Soma NPT, so your athlete's workflow stays clear. To add a task, select Add Drill within a session, then set the duration, the intensity, and the mode. The mode adds an extra layer that increases the load on top of the task. Repeat this until the session is complete.

→ How to Adjust Task Settings

→ How to Access Mode Information

→ How to Access Task Information

A practical approach is to create a core group of three sessions and repeat them each week. Simply copy and paste the sessions, then progressively increase the training load or use undulating periodisation by varying intensity, duration throughout the block.

Once you're finished, tap the periodisation overview to see how the plan develops across the entire block.

If you'd rather look at baseline data before finalising, just set up your session names, add your scales, and enable Minute on Minute first. Once you've reviewed the baseline results, carry on and build the rest.

To assign it now, select Assign Users, choose your athletes, and tap Assign. To start it later, pick a date and time from the calendar and Soma will assign it for you automatically.

When a new plan is assigned, your athlete opens the Home tab in Soma NPT to refresh their plan list. Once it refreshes, the new plan appears. For example, a plan updating from Soma 1.0 to Soma 1.1 will only show after they tap the Home tab.

Important: Saving and Deleting Plans

Plans save automatically as you work. Assigned plans sit under Active, and unassigned plans sit under Inactive. One thing to be careful with: if you delete a session that an athlete has already completed, all its data is permanently lost, and this can't be undone.

Now you know how to build a plan, set up a workflow around it. A good workflow makes it easier to build training plans and stay informed about athlete progress. Start by creating reusable templates, then set up daily Slack updates and optional fatigue alerts.

Create your first template and name it 12 Sessions.

Add a session named Baseline:

When the athlete repeats the baseline, Soma automatically calculates the comparison and sends the results to them. The comparison also appears on your dashboard, making it easy to review changes in performance.

Next, add three core sessions named Session 1, Session 2, and Session 3. For the baseline and each core session, we suggest adding PFTT or PVT-B to both the Pre Session and Post Session sections to monitor fatigue.

Save your template, then repeat the process to create 16 Sessions and 20 Sessions templates using the structure below.

You now have three reusable templates with a baseline session, named core sessions, and your chosen fatigue checks. No other tasks are needed at this stage. You'll add them when building each athlete's plan.

Load the saved template for your chosen plan length and build the baseline session for your athlete.

If you prefer to review baseline data before finalising the plan, leave the core sessions blank, with their names and any chosen scales or MoM settings prepared. Once the athlete completes the baseline, review their results and use them to build the core sessions.

If you prefer to prepare the full plan in advance, build the baseline and core sessions together, then follow the copy-and-paste steps below before assigning the completed plan. Choose the approach that suits your workflow.

Once your core sessions are built:

Once all sessions are in place, update their names and make any adjustments for progression and periodisation.

MoM mode and scales are not copied over by default, giving you the flexibility to choose where to use them. Both are optional. Simply switch on MoM mode and apply your chosen scales to the sessions where you want them.

Use a separate Slack member account for Claude so Soma Intelligence updates are easier to recognise. Give this account your company name and logo.

Soma Intelligence updates will appear under the company account instead of your own name. Check your channel notification settings to make sure they match how you want to receive alerts.

Once Slack is connected, create a scheduled task for the athlete you want to follow.

Set up a scheduled task that posts [ATHLETE NAME]'s current plan progress to my [#CHANNEL] Slack channel every day at [TIME] [TIMEZONE]. Use the Soma connector. Look up the athlete by name first, then read their current plan and plan progress from their athlete status. Do not use the plan list for this, because it can flag an old, completed plan as active.

Keep the instruction to use athlete status in your prompt so the update uses the correct source for the athlete's current plan and progress.

Create a scheduled Slack alert to flag athletes whose task results show both slower and more variable responses.

Set up a scheduled task that checks my athletes' [TASK NAME] results every day at [TIME] [TIMEZONE] using the Soma connector. Only check results from the last [NUMBER OF HOURS] hours. Flag a result only when both conditions are true for that same result: mean reaction time is above [REACTION TIME THRESHOLD] ms AND variation is above [VARIATION THRESHOLD] percent. Exceeding only one threshold must not trigger a flag. Post flagged results to my [#CHANNEL] Slack channel under the heading "[HEADING]". Include one line per flagged athlete, starting with 🚩, followed by their name, task name, session date and time, mean reaction time in ms, and variation as a percentage. If an athlete has multiple qualifying results, include their most recent qualifying result.

Do not alert on the same result again in a later scheduled run. If nobody meets both conditions, or there are no new qualifying results, post nothing.

Fill in the placeholders

Review the task's usual results in your dashboard before choosing thresholds. Set them to highlight changes that warrant your attention, then adjust if alerts are too frequent or miss changes you want to review.

Why require both conditions?

Requiring both thresholds means the alert identifies results that are slower and more variable, rather than flagging either measure alone. Use the flag as a prompt to review the athlete's results and context; it does not confirm fatigue by itself.