Monitoring training and competition loads in team sports

Question 1

Explain the dose-response relationship

Answer 1

External load: what stimulus applied
Internal load: what stress imposed
Fatigue: how is athlete coping with load
Prepardness to play: athlete physically prepared

Question 2

What prescribe training on what 5 principles?

Answer 2

Frequency
Intensity
Type
Time/duration
Composition

Question 3

What are some player characteristics?

Answer 3

Maximal sprinting speed
Vo2max
Nutrition
Gross efficiency
3RM strength
Prolonged intermittent running performance

Question 4

What is the relationship between injury burden and league points tally in premiership rugby union players?

Answer 4

Negative (more injury days, less points

Question 5

What methods are currently available to quantify the training dose?

Answer 5

Subjective - RPE
Objective - HR
Internal
External - 1000m

Question 6

Give some examples of internal measures

Answer 6

RPE
sRPE
HR
HR to RPE ratio
Lactate Conc
HR recovery
Questionnaire/diaries
Biochemical/hormonal/immunological assessments

Question 7

Give some examples of external measures

Answer 7

Power output
Time-motion analysis
Neuromuscular function

Question 8

Define motion

Answer 8

A change in position of an object over time

Question 9

How can motion measure acceleration?

Answer 9

Distance over time = speed

Change in speed/change in time = acceleration

Question 10

Describe arbitrary motion

Answer 10

Same zone for everybody, no physiological justification but can compare between players

Question 11

Describe individualised motion

Answer 11

Zones anchored to physiological or testing scores

Question 12

Describe the definitions of the zones

Answer 12

Zone 2 - lactate threshold
Zone 3 - lactate turnpoint
Zone 5 - 95% of max speed

Question 13

Why are direct measurements of internal load preferred?

Answer 13

It is the internal physiological and biochemical load that disrupts homeostasis and elicits training induced adaptation

Question 14

How do you calculate sRPE?

Answer 14

Scale x duration of session

Question 15

Advantages of sRPE

Answer 15

Inexpensive

Can be quantified for all types of training

Question 16

Limitations of sRPE

Answer 16

Does it provide a valid measure across all types of training?
Considerations when collecting
Realistically, only rating the intensity of every session on a 6 point scale

Question 17

Name the method of heart rate based training load methods

Answer 17

Edwards TRIMP

Question 18

Describe Edwards TRIMP

Answer 18

It is one of the most common used methods

Time spent in % of HR zones multiplied by zone weighting factor and summated

Question 19

What are the limitations/assumptions of Edwards TRIMP?

Answer 19

Arbitrary choice of weighting factors for each zone
Assumes time spent at 90-100% is 5 times more physiologically demanding than time at 50-59%
Each % intensity in a given zone is given the same weighting factor

Question 20

Describe the results of Denadai et al, 2006

Answer 20

1 group at 95% Vo2max - increase VLT, 5000m
Other group 100% Vo2max - increase VLT, 5000m, 1500m and vVo2max
When duration is controlled and only intensity manipulated even by a small amount, adaptations to training differ
Therefore, some evidence to suggest that use of HR zones and the same weighting factors likely to under present the true stress of a given training session

Question 21

What is iTRIMP?

Answer 21

Individualised training impulse

Weight factor for every heartbeat

Question 22

What is a limitation of iTRIMP?

Answer 22

Adaptation occurs due to training and values are useless
Need to frequently update lactate and HR relationships in the lab
Often not feasible with professional sport training and competition demands

Question 23

What is measurement validity?

Answer 23

Validity refers to the agreement between the value of a measurement and its true value

Question 24

How do you calculate external load validity?

Answer 24

GPS vs. Speed measured via speed gun and distance measured by tape

Question 25

How do you calculate internal load validity?

Answer 25

sRPE vs. Edwards TRIMP
Shown by a correlation
Given this definition can any single measure capture the true value of the internal load?

Question 26

How do you measure training load dose-response validity?

Answer 26

1. assess starting fitness - yo-yo, phys markers
2. training period - collect training load measures during this period
3. assess ‘end fitness’ using same test
4. calculate change in scores following training period

Question 27

What is a challenge of using the dose-response relationship in the field?

Answer 27

Agreement of intensity of session that coach wants vs. what the athlete rated the intensity at
(easy session - athletes thought harder
hard session - athletes found it easier)

Question 28

Describe the characteristics of a small sided game

Answer 28

Less distance covered
Less high speed movement
More acceleration and deceleration

Question 29

Why would you not just use total distance to assess methods of training?

Answer 29

There would be no difference between skill and speed however there would be a difference in the amount spent walking/jogging (skill) and striding/sprinting (speed)

Question 30

Can a players training load/fatigue on a given day provide us with insights to injury risk?

Answer 30

Not about fatigue, low 28 day accumulation load

Getting injured after returning to sport or increased training load

Question 31

How can training load be used to predict fitness?

Answer 31

Starting fitness + 6wk internal load = end fitness
Starting fitness and the distance covered at very high speed showed the strongest relationship with end fitness
Starting fitness + distance above 7m/s + equation error = end fitness

Question 32

Can we predict the squads end fitness response?

Answer 32

Useful to guide our decision making but still a long way to go o predict specific amount of response