Examples of measurement tools to monitor external and internal load
| Load type | Examples of measurements |
|---|---|
| External load | Training or competition time (seconds, minutes, hours or days)36 |
| Training or competition frequency (eg, sessions or competitions per day, week, month)37 | |
| Type of training or competition38 | |
| Time-motion analysis (eg, global positioning system analysis)39 | |
| Power output, speed, acceleration40 | |
| Neuromuscular function (eg, jump test, isokinetic dynamometry and plyometric push-up)41 | |
| Movement repetition counts (eg, pitches, throws, bowls, serves and jumps)42 43 | |
| Distance (eg, kilometres run, cycled or swam)44 | |
| Acute:chronic load ratio45 | |
| Internal load | Perception of effort (eg, rating of perceived exertion and RPE)46 |
| Session rating of perceived effort (eg, session duration (min)×RPE)28 | |
| Psychological inventories (eg, profile of mood states (POMS),47 recovery-stress questionnaire for athletes (REST-Q-Sport),48 daily analysis of life demands for athletes (DALDA),49 total recovery scale (TQR),17 life events survey for collegiate athletes (LESCA),50 multicomponent training distress scale (MTDS),51 the hassle and uplift scale,52 brief COPE,53 the Swedish universities scales of personality (SSP),54 state trait anxiety inventory (STAI),55 sport anxiety scale (SAS),56 athletic coping skills inventory-28 (ACSI-28),57 body consciousness scale,58 perceived motivational climate in sport questionnaire (PMCSQ)59 and commitment to exercise scale (CtES))60 | |
| Sleep (eg, sleep quality and sleep duration)61 | |
| Biochemical/hormonal/immunological assessments18 26 | |
| Psychomotor speed62 | |
| HR63 | |
| HR to RPE ratio64 | |
| HR recovery (HRR)65 | |
| HR variability (HRV)66 | |
| Training impulse (TRIMP)67 | |
| Blood lactate concentrations68 | |
| Blood lactate to RPE ratio69 |
HR, heart rate; RPE, ratings of perceived exertion.