THE season is now in full flow with the Covid-19 restrictions being lifted. But like the beginning of any season, the injuries start to stack up.

This is more apparent following a lengthy lay-off due to training restrictions.

Normally players will have a few weeks of pre-season training to build up strength and speed before the season starts.

With limited time to prepare, it is more important to consider your ‘training load’.

Why measure training load?

Quantifying how hard your training sessions are will allow you to judge if you are under or over training.

The ideal situation is that you are continually training in the ‘sweet spot’.

By training within the sweet spot, you will also reduce the chance of picking up injuries.

This is applicable to all involved in the planning and implementation of training; including players, managers, coaches, strength and conditioning coaches, performance analysis and medical personnel.

What is training load?

World renowned Sports Scientist Dr Tim Gabbett defines training load as: “A balance between the minimum training load required to elicit an improvement in fitness and the maximum training load tolerable before sustaining marked increases in injury.”

You want to be training hard enough to improve physically, but not too much so that the body starts to break down.

External versus internal load

Training loads can be quantified and grouped into either external or internal loads.

Examples of external training loads include distance covered and speed. These are measured using global positioning systems (GPS) devices.

Internal training loads include perceived effort and heart rate.

The internal load is more relevant to individual players. For example, take two players who ran a total of six kilometres (external load) in a training session.

Player A has been training on his own during the off-season but Player B hasn’t done much until now and he found the session very difficult (internal load).

This would mean the session was fine for Player A but too much for Player B, placing him in a position of picking up an injury or feeling the negative effects of over training.

For this reason, we use rating of perceived exertion (RPE) to monitor training load.

How do I calculate my training load?

There are two ways to calculate and use training load. Firstly, you need to score your rate of perceived exertion (RPE) for a given training session, gym session or match, on a scale of 1-10:

The training load is calculated by:

Session RPE x duration of session = training load

For example: Your training session effort was 7/10 and the session was 90 minutes long: 7 x 90 = 630 units

Dr Gabbett’s research has shown that a total weekly training load of 3000-5000 units in pre-season results in a 50-80% increased risk in picking up an injury.

During the in-season, this weekly threshold dropped to 1300-3000 units.

What to do with this information?

From knowing your weekly training load, you can plan your training for the following week or weeks.

A study with Australian Rules Football players showed that increasing the load by more than 10% from the previous week resulted in 40% more injuries.

In a different study but using the same sport, it showed that an increase of 1750 units of training load from the previous week, resulted in a greater risk of injury.

The ideal change according to research, is no more than a 5% reduction or a 10% increase from the following week.

Obviously there has to be a solid starting point in the pre-season, such as 60 minutes.

It would be unrealistic to start with a 30-minute training session and gradually increase by 10% (three minutes) at the next session.

This calculation can be used further to calculate the acute:chronic workload ratio:

Weekly load ÷ average weekly load of previous four weeks = acute:chronic ratio

For example: The weekly average load of the previous four weeks was 2000 units. The weekly average of the current week was 2200 units. This would give an acute:chronic ratio of 1.1.

This ratio number means the following:

• less than 0.8 = under training and higher risk of injury.

• 0.8-1.3 = optimal workload and lowest risk of injury, the sweet spot.

• more than 1.5 = over training and higher risk of injury.

Bringing it all together

The information and calculations may sound complex. The best way is to start with a notebook and write down your session RPE and length of time every training or match lasted.

You will start to build up a picture and may notice patterns or trends.

Ideally, you don’t want big fluctuations from week to week, just a steady load.

You could go one step further and set up a spreadsheet that will automatically do the calculations and keep a record.

Are you frustrated with injury?

Jonny Kelly is a chartered Sports Physiotherapist and owns Physio Performance in Belfast.

He has helped get world-class athletes back on the pitch and performing at their best.

Contact us for a complimentary Get Back On The Pitch Quick consultation at www.physioperformance.co.uk