Workload monitoring and athlete management

Workload monitoring and athlete management

All members of a sport performance team, including coaches, strength and conditioning and medical staff, are interested in the optimum dose of training required to achieve specific performance levels. On the one hand, too much training may leave the athlete predisposed to excessive fatigue, while too little training may result in the athlete being underprepared for the demands of competition. Until recently, the optimum training load to maximize performance and minimize injury risk has largely been a theoretical concept. Recently, we have presented the acute:chronic workload ratio as a means of safely progressing athlete training programs. Our findings have shown that maintaining an acute:chronic workload ratio between 0.8 and 1.3 results in minimal injury risk, whereas large fluctuations (including spikes and troughs) in workload result in large increases in injury risk. This chapter discusses the evidence relating to athlete workloads and injury. Specifically, the benefits of building high chronic workloads to produce robust athletes capable of performing the most demanding passages of competition are discussed. Finally, practical strategies for applying the acute:chronic workload ratio to a wide range of athletic populations are also presented.