Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether session rating of perceived exertion-derived training load (sRPE-TL) correlates with GPS-derived measures of external load in National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division I female soccer athletes. Methods: Twenty-one NCAA Division 1 collegiate women’s soccer athletes (11 starters, 10 non-starters; 65.1 ± 7.2 kg, 168.4 ± 7.9 cm, 20.3 ± 1.5 yrs) volunteered to take part in this study. Data for this study were collected over the course of 16 weeks during the 2018 NCAA women’s soccer season. External load and heart rate (HR) data were collected during each training session and match during the season. At least 30 min after the end of an activity (e.g., match or practice), athletes were prompted to complete a questionnaire reporting their perceived exertion for the session. sRPE-TL was calculated at the end of the season by multiplying perceived exertion by the respective session duration. Results: sRPE-TL was very strongly correlated with total distance, distance covered in velocity zones 1–3, the number of accelerations in zones 4 and 5, total PlayerLoad™, and PlayerLoad™. For internal load, sRPE-TL correlated very strongly (0.70 ≤ |r| < 0.90) with Edward’s and Bannister’s TRIMP and strongly (0.50 ≤ |r| < 0.70) with duration spent in in heart rate zones 5 and 6 (80–90% and 90–100% max HR, respectively) while correlations with maximum HR (bpm), mean HR (bpm), and mean HR (%) and sRPE-TL were moderate (0.30 ≤ |r| < 0.50). Conclusions: In NCAA Division I women soccer, sRPE-TL is strongly associated with external measures of workload. These relationships were stronger during match play, with acceleration load and total distance exhibiting the strongest relationship with sRPE-TL.
Highlights
Quantifying training load during sports practice can be challenging, due to the large number of athletes and their unique movement characteristics at any given point throughout the training session or competition. This is true in the setting of team sports, where a given external workload may represent considerable variation in the internal training load, which is likely of more importance as a driver of the adaptive response [2]
When considering event type, relationships were generally stronger in matches. session rating of perceived exertion-derived training load (sRPE-TL) from match data was nearly perfectly correlated with total distance, Edward’s training impulse (TRIMP), accelerations in velocity zones 4 and 5, and acceleration load, while these relationships were strong for practice
Previous work in semiprofessional soccer athletes indicated that session RPE (sRPE)-TL was strongly associated with measures of external load such as total distance covered and PlayerLoadTM over 44 training sessions [16]
Summary
Wearable global positioning systems (GPS) in combination with inertial sensors have been of particular interest for sport applications due to their ability to quantify kinematic and inertial load metrics in a variety of settings. These systems have a growing body of evidence supporting their use with valid and reliable measures of various parameters of movement kinematics such as velocity, acceleration, and distances covered [3–6] for a variety of different sports [7]
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