Perceived load, fatigue and recovery responses during congested and non-congested micro-cycles in international football tournaments

Noor, Denny; McCall, Alan; Jones, Mark; Duncan, Craig; Ehrmann, Fabian; Meyer, Tim; Duffield, Rob

Abstract

Objectives
To describe the perceived load, fatigue and recovery profiles during congested and non-congested schedules in international football tournaments.

Design
Retrospective single-cohort observational study.

Methods
Internal load (session-rating of perceived exertion [s-RPE]) and perceived ratings of fatigue, muscle soreness, psychological status, sleep quality, and sleep duration were recorded daily from 37 national team footballers during the competition phase of 3 international tournaments. ANOVA and Effect Size (ES) analyses compared individualised internal load and perceived response profiles between congested and non-congested acute 2-match schedules. Conditions included Acute Congestion (≤4 days between two matches), Non-Congestion (>4 days between two matches), Single-Match, and No-Match.

Results
Significantly higher s-RPE match loads (p < 0.001) within the single- and multi-match conditions resulted in significantly worsened (p < 0.05) subjective ratings of perceived fatigue, muscle soreness and sleep duration in the 24–48 h post-match. Internal load profiles were not different between the Acute-Congestion or Non-congestion conditions (p > 0.05); though Acute-Congestion had significantly worsened pre-match subjective ratings compared to Non-Congestion on both MD1 (p = 0.040; ES = 0.94) and MD2 (p = 0.033; ES = 0.94). However, between-match differences in Acute-Congestion showed no further impairments in perceived response between the first and second matches (p > 0.05).

Conclusions
During international tournaments, internal load and perceived fatigue/recovery profiles are largely determined by their exposure (or lack thereof) to match-play. Periods of acute match congestion impaired players pre-match perceived status when compared to non-congested microcycles. However, acute match congestion does not appear to exacerbate players post-match fatigue/recovery response within the context of international football tournaments.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 4, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Jul 9, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021-12
• Deposit Date: Nov 30, 2021
• Journal: Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport
• Print ISSN: 1440-2440
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 12
• Pages: 1278-1283
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2021.07.001
• Keywords: Training load, Fatigue, Recovery Monitoring, National team, International football
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2824263