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. 2021 Dec 5;18(23):12817.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph182312817.

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

Renato Fernandes  1   2   3 , João Paulo Brito  1   2   4 , Luiz H Palucci Vieira  5 , Alexandre Duarte Martins  1   2   6 , Filipe Manuel Clemente  7   8 , Hadi Nobari  9   10   11   12 , Victor Machado Reis  3   4 , Rafael Oliveira  1   2   4
Affiliations

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

Renato Fernandes et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

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.

Keywords: fatigue; female; muscle soreness; perceived exertion; sleep; stress; training monotony; training strain.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Description of weekly DOMS, stress, sleep and fatigue during the 10 weeks in AU (arbitrary units).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Description of training monotony and training strain during the 10 weeks.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Description of ACWR during the 10 weeks in AU (arbitrary units).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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