I've been using SFrasers theory on training schedules for a few months (irl). Always been accurate in helping me increase the attributes of players that need improvements.
One thing that has occurred to me when looking at a players progress using training schedules I've made, is the difference between how many attribute increases a player achieves and which attributes are increasing.
Its seems to me that training schedules don't affect how many attribute increases a player receives over a period of time but instead guide which stats will increase. The number of attribute increases is dictated by other factors such as the amount of game time a player receives, what level of competition he is playing against, his determination attribute, natural fitness, his ambition attribute (hidden stat) and his morale. Another factor can be age of the player (as they get older progress slows and eventually they start decreasing).
If this is true then a good way of testing a training schedule might be to use a real time editor (fmrte) and creating three players with equal current ability and potential ability who play in the same position and are the same age. One of these players could be given maximum determination, natural fitness, ambition and morale, another the minimum in all these fields and the third somewhere in the middle. The editor can be used to keep morale and match experience at the appropriate level for each of the players.
Doing such a test would show how much of an impact training can have on a players development in terms of actual attribute increases (I don't believe it contributes at all). It will also provide a fairer method of testing specific training schedules to see if they are increasing the expected stats or not as being on the same schedule they should increase in the same attribute groups (strength, aerobic, tactics etc.)
The problem with posting screenshots of players on a training schedule after a year to see how many increases a player has achieved is that I'm not sure that the schedule is what is actually affecting the speed of their development. I believe that it is just guiding how they develop (in which stats).
Hope all of that makes sense, it's very late (or early I guess) here and I've had a few drinks
.
Be interested to see what you think.