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Effects of training and competition load on neuromuscular recovery, testosterone, cortisol, and match performance during a season of professional football
Amber E. Rowell Robert Aughey W. G. Hopkins Alizera Esmaeili Brendan H. Lazarus Stuart Cormack
Amber E. Rowell
Robert Aughey
W. G. Hopkins
Alizera Esmaeili
Brendan H. Lazarus
Stuart Cormack
Abstract
Introduction: Training load and other measures potentially related to match performance are routinely monitored in team-sport athletes. The aim of this research was to examine the effect of training load on such measures and on match performance during a season of professional football.
Materials and Methods: Training load was measured daily as session duration times perceived exertion in 23 A-League football players. Measures of exponentially weighted cumulative training load were calculated using decay factors representing time constants of 3–28 days. Players performed a countermovement jump for estimation of a measure of neuromuscular recovery (ratio of flight time to contraction time, FT:CT), and provided a saliva sample for measurement of testosterone and cortisol concentrations 1-day prior to each of 34 matches. Match performance was assessed via ratings provided by five coaching and fitness staff on a 5-point Likert scale. Effects of training load on FT:CT, hormone concentrations and match performance were modeled as quadratic predictors and expressed as changes in the outcome measure for a change in the predictor of one within-player standard deviation (1 SD) below and above the mean. Changes in each of five playing positions were assessed using standardization and magnitude-based inference.
Results: The largest effects of training were generally observed in the 3- to 14-day windows. Center defenders showed a small reduction in coach rating when 14-day a smoothed load increased from –1 SD to the mean (-0.31, ±0.15; mean, ±90% confidence limits), whereas strikers and wide midfielders displayed a small increase in coach rating when load increased 1 SD above the mean. The effects of training load on FT:CT were mostly unclear or trivial, but effects of training load on hormones included a large increase in cortisol (102, ±58%) and moderate increase in testosterone (24, ±18%) in center defenders when 3-day smoothed training load increased 1 SD above the mean. A 1 SD increase in training load above the mean generally resulted in substantial reductions in testosterone:cortisol ratio.
Conclusion: The effects of recent training on match performance and hormones in A-League football players highlight the importance of position-specific monitoring and training.
Keywords
team sport performance, mixed modeling, countermovement jump, salivary hormones, load monitoring
Date
2018
Type
Journal article
Journal
Frontiers in Physiology
Book
Volume
9
Issue
668
Page Range
1-11
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Behavioural and Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access
Open