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Does transforming subjective measures of load better represent training and match-play intensity in youth soccer players?

Maughan, Patrick C; MacFarlane, Niall G; Towlson, Chris; Barrett, Steve; Swinton, Paul A.

Authors

Patrick C Maughan

Niall G MacFarlane

Steve Barrett

Paul A. Swinton



Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the structure of relationships between measures of training load and assess whether these can be modified through non-linear transformations. Ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and seven external load measures (total distance covered, PlayerLoad, low-intensity running distance, high-speed running distance, sprinting distance, accelerations, and decelerations) were collected from 20 academy soccer players (age = 17.4 ± 1.3 years, stature = 178.0 ± 8.1 cm, body-mass = 71.8 ± 7.2 kg), with 3220 recordings taken across a 47-week season. To control for the effects of session duration, sessions were categorised as short (≤60 min) or long (>60 min). All RPE and sessional RPE-training load (sRPE-TL; RPE multiplied by session duration) were analysed in their raw form and through raising to a series of exponentials. The underlying structure of the data was investigated using principal component analysis. Two components were retained for each analysis and varimax rotation was performed. The first rotated component (RC) was best represented as a measure of volume (RCvolume) with high loadings for RPE and sRPE-TL, whilst the second RC was best represented as a measure of intensity (RCintensity). Non-linear transformations had little effect on loading of modified measures for long sessions for sRPE-TL (RCvolume: 0.87–0.8; RCintensity: 0.27–0.13), and for RPE (RCvolume: 0.76–0.79; RCintensity: 0.17–0.10). For short sessions, the loading became more equal between intensity and volume for sRPE-TL (RCvolume: 0.88–0.41; RCintensity: 0.32–0.36) and more aligned to intensity (RCintensity: 0.52–0.61) compared with volume (RCvolume: 0.44–0.23) for RPE. The present study demonstrates that RPE and sRPE-TL predominantly reflect measures of training volume, however, they can be modified to better reflect intensity for training sessions <60 min in duration.

Citation

Maughan, P. C., MacFarlane, N. G., Towlson, C., Barrett, S., & Swinton, P. A. (2023). Does transforming subjective measures of load better represent training and match-play intensity in youth soccer players?. International journal of sports science & coaching, 18(5), 1541-1549. https://doi.org/10.1177/17479541221114739

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jul 5, 2022
Online Publication Date Aug 1, 2022
Publication Date Oct 1, 2023
Deposit Date Jul 19, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching
Print ISSN 1747-9541
Electronic ISSN 2048-397X
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 18
Issue 5
Pages 1541-1549
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/17479541221114739
Keywords Association football; Athlete monitoring; Rating of perceived exertion; Running distance; TRIMP
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4032528

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2022.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).




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