In-Season Internal Load and Wellness Variations in Professional Women Soccer Players: Comparisons between Playing Positions and Status.

Renato Fernandes,Hadi Nobari,Filipe Manuel Clemente,Rafael Oliveira,Luiz H Palucci Vieira,João Paulo Brito,Victor Machado Reis,Alexandre Duarte Martins

doi:10.3390/ijerph182312817

Abstract

The internal intensity monitoring in soccer has been used more in recent years in men’s football; however, in women’s soccer, the existing literature is still scarce. The aims of this study were threefold: (a) to describe the weekly variations of training monotony, training strain and acute: chronic workload ratio through session Rated Perceived Exertion (s-RPE); (b) to describe weekly variations of Hooper Index [stress, fatigue, Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) and sleep]; and (c) to compare those variations between playing positions and player status. Nineteen players (24.1 ± 2.7 years) from a Portuguese BPI League professional team participated in this study. All variables were collected in a 10-week in-season period with three training sessions and one match per week during the 2019/20 season. Considering the overall team, the results showed that there were some associations between Hooper Index categories and s-RPE like stress or fatigue (0.693, p < 0.01), stress or DOMS (0.593, p < 0.01), stress or s-RPE (−0.516, p < 0.05) and fatigue or DOMS (0.688, p < 0.01). There were no differences between all parameters in playing positions or player status. In conclusion, the study revealed that higher levels of fatigue and DOMS occur concurrently with better nights of sleep. Moreover, any in-season variations concerning internal load and perceived wellness seems independent of position or status in outfield players. The data also showed that the higher the players’ reported stress, the lower the observed s-RPE, thus possibly indicating a mutual interference of experienced stress levels on the assimilation of training intensity by elite women soccer players.

Highlights

Load/intensity monitoring is a well-implemented practice in team sports that guides the coach’s interventions through a better understanding of the impact of training stimulus on players [1,2]
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) presented the highest value in week 8
Were reported concomitantly in the same week period; best self-reported sleep quality was identified simultaneously in the week where peaks of fatigue/DOMS occurred whilst the inverse holds true, that is, the smallest indices of DOMS, fatigue and sleep quality temporally coincided; dynamics of perceived load and wellness variations during a 10-week in-season period were similar for starters and reserve players; and playing position was not a factor affecting load distribution and wellness sensation in women’s soccer

Summary

Introduction

Load/intensity monitoring is a well-implemented practice in team sports that guides the coach’s interventions through a better understanding of the impact of training stimulus on players [1,2]. A wide vision of how the player is coping with the training process is implementing a strategy in which training intensity monitoring is complemented by wellness and readiness monitoring [3]. This integrated approach, known as athlete’s monitoring allows understanding of the mechanisms related to training stimulus and recovery, providing some information about how the training periodization is done while helping coaches to quickly identify the individual responses of players to stressful situations while monitoring their wellness [4]. Training intensity monitoring can be organized in two main dimensions: external and internal

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Discussion

Conclusion