Training load and well-being status variations of elite futsal players across a full season: Comparisons between normal and congested weeks
Introduction
The analysis of the effect of training stimuli on players has been progressively growing in the last decade in an attempt to identify loads imposed on players in team sports training sessions [1]. Knowledge about the real effects of the training load on players allows for the management of the variation of stimuli, the optimization of the training individualization, a reduction in injury risk, the early detection of bad overreaching, and the minimization of the possibility of overtraining syndrome [2]. Based on that, training monitoring is now a commonly used process during training sessions [3]. Usually, training load can be characterized as either internal or external [4]. Internal load describes the physiological effects of training (e.g., effects of heart rate, blood lactate concentrations, or perceived exertion). External load usually represents the physical impacts of training on players (e.g., distances covered at different speed thresholds, accelerations, decelerations, or jumps) [4].
The monitoring of training loads' consequences on players is also important [5]. For that reason, psychometric scales that track well-being perceptions of muscle soreness, fatigue, stress, sleep quality, and mood have been introduced in the context of team sports [6]. Training load and well-being are related and can be sensitive to different stressful periods during a season [7]. In the particular case of professional team sports, weeks with two or more matches may lead to different recovery and training strategies to minimize the effects of high loads in players, aiming to keep high performance and competitive levels [8,9]. Usually, these specific situations are called ‘congested weeks’ [10].
The effects of congested weeks on soccer players are well-documented [11,12], however no study have presented evidence about such topic on futsal, as far we know. Futsal (also treated as five-side indoor football in some countries) is a high-intensity intermittent sport with a high frequency of accelerations/decelerations, changes of direction and speed [13]. It is usually found during matches values around 90% of maximal heart rate during 70% of the playing time and very small periods of low-intensity or rest [14]. The research on training load quantification on futsal have been increasing in the last years [15,16], however, as far we know, there is no study comparing normal versus congested weeks. In the case of soccer, some findings on the topic reveal no meaningful changes in match performance, possibly because of the high capacity of professional players to cope with these stressful periods [17]. However, congested weeks seem to significantly increase the risk of injury during soccer match play (43.3 injury rate per 1000 h exposure) in comparison to non-congested period (18.6 injury rate per 1000 h exposure) [10], promote changes in well-being perceptions of soccer players (namely, significantly increasing the muscle soreness, fatigue and stress perception) [5], and lead to meaningful changes in the collective organization of the soccer teams [12].
In the particular case of futsal [18], the training periodization in conditions of high load has been reported [19,20]. In a study conducted in twelve elite young players, it was found that during a 4-week period of intensive training, there was a progressive decrease in weekly training load [20], although there were no meaningful changes in salivary immunoglobulin A or salivary cortisol. Interestingly, in that study, there was an increase in upper respiratory tract infection [20]. In another study which was conducted on female players, it was found that levels between ~343 and ~419 AU (arbitrary units) were associated with an increase in stress symptoms and levels above ~435 AU were associated with a decrease in stress and hormonal markers [21]. Only regarding the training load was it found that the perception is inversely and largely correlated with aerobic capacity; for that reason, a better fitness level may reduce the negative effects of high-load periods on players [22].
While studies have analyzed the effects of congested periods in futsal players, how training load varies between normal and congested weeks has not been tested, to the best of our knowledge. Such an analysis may help to characterize the periodization profile and how it may vary based on the specific stressful context. Moreover, within-week changes in training load and well-being have been analyzed in only one study, as far we know [23]. The within-week training load and well-being changes may also be important for identifying the effects of training load in the posterior well-being status. Based on these limitations and opportunities, the purpose of this study was two-fold: (i) to analyze the variations of internal load (IL) and well-being between normal and congested weeks in professional futsal players and (ii) to analyze the variations of training days (MD-1, MD-2, and MD-3 [matchday −1, −2, and − 3, respectively]) within weeks. We hypothesize that the MD-1 will present the lower load in both type of weeks and that normal weeks will present greater loads per each training day.
Section snippets
Participants
Twenty male professional futsal players (age: 27.8 ± 5.7 years old; height: 173.8 ± 5.6 cm; weight: 71.5 ± 7.9 kg) that participated in the first futsal league of Portugal were monitored in training sessions and matches during a full season. For players to be included in the data analysis, they had to meet the following criteria: (i) They must have participated in >80% of weekly training sessions, and (ii) they must have begun the week with medical clearance to compete. An additional criterion
Results
Comparisons of perceived load and Hooper categories between normal and congested weeks can be found in Table 2.
Fig. 1 presents the standardized differences of perceived categories between training days during normal weeks. Analysis of variation was made by using standardized differences (Cohen).
Fig. 2 presents the standardized differences of perceived categories between training days during congested weeks. Analysis of variation was made by using standardized differences (Cohen).
Discussion
One main purpose of this study was to compare perceived internal load and well-being in normal weeks vs. congested weeks. The results revealed that internal load (session-RPE) on MD-3 was largely greater in normal weeks than in congested weeks. Despite of some research in training load on futsal [15,16], there is no study comparing within-weeks variations, in the best of our knowledge. However, in the case of soccer has found that mid-week sessions are usually higher in terms of the load
Conclusions
The main evidence of this experiment revealed that normal weeks lead to large increases in muscle soreness and fatigue on all studied training days and that internal load is moderately higher on MD-2 and largely higher on MD-1 during normal weeks than during congested ones. Within-weeks observations during normal weeks revealed that MD-1 had a largely lower internal load than other days and that MD-3 had largely lower muscle soreness and fatigue levels than other days. In the case of congested
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