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

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.

Monitoring Psychometric States of Recovery to Improve Performance in Soccer Players: A Brief Review

“…These measures are used to express the subjective state of a player or team during training or competition [ 15 , 16 , 24 ]. HI subscores (i.e., sleep quality, overall stress, fatigue, and DOMS) and TQR scores are significant predictors of performance in soccer athletes [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 11 , 22 , 25 ], with increasing HI and TQR scores significantly associated with heavy training loads [ 8 , 11 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 21 , 25 , 26 ]. Correspondingly, lack of recovery, poor quality of sleep from the previous night, and increased levels of stress, fatigue, and DOMS [ 4 , 21 , 23 , 25 ] during training can negatively impact athletic performance [ 11 , 16 , 21 ].…”

“…Correspondingly, lack of recovery, poor quality of sleep from the previous night, and increased levels of stress, fatigue, and DOMS [ 4 , 21 , 23 , 25 ] during training can negatively impact athletic performance [ 11 , 16 , 21 ]. Thus, monitoring psychometric states of recovery in soccer players via the HI and TQR may allow coaches and trainers to properly program and adapt training loads in order to maximize performance and reduce the risk of injury, overtraining, and nonfunctional overreaching [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ].…”

Efficacy and Safety of TurmXTRA® 60N in Delayed-onset Muscle Soreness in Healthy, Recreationally Active Subjects: a Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Trial

“…(19) Further, it is found sensitive to variations within and between weeks. (20) The Hooper & MacKinnon questionnaire was later updated by MacLean in 2014. (21) The adapted version of the Hooper & MacKinnon questionnaire provides a subjective assessment of the impact of DOMS in the domains of fatigue, sleep quality, general muscle soreness, stress level and mood on a scale of 1-5, with higher scores denoting the better results (Table 2).…”

Wellness Forecasting by External and Internal Workloads in Elite Soccer Players: A Machine Learning Approach

“…Similarly, Perri et al (2021) reported that the wellness index (overall wellbeing perception determined by summing the 5-point Likert scale of different areas: fatigue, sleep quality, muscle soreness, stress levels, mood) is affected by the training load (rate of perceived exertion x training duration) performed the days before. Additionally, Nobari et al (2020) , Fernandes et al (2021) , Nobari et al (2021) , and Nobari et al (2022) showed that high training intensity negatively affects the wellbeing status of male adult semi-professional, female elite, and male young soccer players. Moreover, several items usually assessed in the wellness questionnaires, e.g., sleep quality, fatigue, and social stress, were reported to be predictive to reduction of performance in the following weeks ( Coutts and Reaburn, 2008 ).…”