Workload Monitoring, Performance Enhancement and Injury Risk - Prof Nassis

Invited Session at ECSS MetropolisRuhr 2017 "Achieving Top Performance and Injury Prevention in Football: From Science to Practice - Sponsored by Aspetar "
Workload Monitoring, Performance Enhancement and Injury Risk
Nassis, G.
Aspetar
Workload monitoring has been used for many years in individual sports as a means to optimize athlete’s fitness and minimize the risk of muscle injury. This practice is relatively new in football. Following the introduction of the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) in football, this (RPE) is the most popular method across different levels of play (Casamichana et al., 2013; Malone et al., 2015). RPE
scale is not without limitations and this should be taken into account when planning a workload monitoring strategy. At high level football both external and internal load measures are collected and a plethora of variables is analyzed (Akenhead and Nassis, 2016). Perhaps, this plethora of variables prevents the sports scientists from focusing on what is really important. This lack of work efficiency highlights the need for a consensus, which does not exist, on the most appropriate tools to be used for workload monitoring in elite football (Nassis and Gabbett, 2017). The aim of this presentation will be to: 1) critically present the current practices in workload assessment in football, and 2) discuss an evidence-based applied, integrated model and workflow on training load and wellness assessment in football players. Initially, the methods for the internal and external load assessment will be discussed and some challenges in data interpretation will be highlighted. For instance, although the RPE-based training load assessment is very popular one should acknowledge that it is a subjective rating scale and external factors, like the opponent’s level and the previous match result, might affect the outcome (Brito et al., 2016). Other tools such as heart rate and GPS-derived parameters are also used but so
far there is no clear evidence as to which is the best one to quantify training load. Following these points, the association of workload with injuries will be discussed. Finally, an integrated model for the assessment of players’ readiness to play will also be presented. This model and the data interpretation of workload monitoring will be discussed in the context of football match, a highly complex activity (Paul et al., 2015).
References
Akenhead R, Nassis GP (2016). Int J Sports Physiol Perform, 11, 587-593.
Brito J, Hertzog M, Nassis GP (2016). J Strength Cond Res 30, 393-399.
Casamichana D, Castellano J, Calleja-Gonzalez J, San Roman J, Castagna C (2013). J Strength Cond Res 27, 369-374.
Malone JJ, Di Michele R, Morgans R, Burgess D, Morton JP, Drust B. (2015). Int J Sports Physiol Perform 10, 489-497.
Paul DJ, Bradley PS, Nassis GP (2015). Int J Sports Physiol Perform, 10, 516-519.
Nassis GP, Gabbett T (2017). Br J Sports Med, 51, 486-487.