Author(s): GONZALEZ-ARTETXE, A., ESNAL-ARRIZABALAGA, O., GARCÍA-TABAR, I., LOMBARDERO, S., LOS ARCOS, A., Institution: FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND SPORT, UNIVERSITY OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY, UPV/EHU, Country: SPAIN, Abstract-ID: 393

INTRODUCTION:
The rating of perceived exertion (PE) provides a simple, non-invasive, no-cost, and valid method for assessing internal workload of the training sessions (1). Since this gestalt could represent an oversimplification of the psychophysiological construct (2), several studies suggested the deconstruction of PE to assess training related perceptual sensations in male footballers (3,4). Respiratory and muscular PEs (i.e., PEres and PEmus) were recently assessed in female football (5,6). However, the differences between PEres and PEmus within and between training sessions remained unclear in female players (6). It was therefore deemed necessary to further clarify and analyse the quantification of the perceived training load differentiating between PEres and PEmus in female young footballers.
METHODS:
Sixteen female trained footballers (age: 17 ± 1 years; range: 15 to 21) belonging to the third team of a Spanish first-division club declared their PEres and PEmus after each training session (3,4) during seven weeks of the in-season competitive period. They performed three training sessions during the habitual week: I) Tuesday: football specific training, II) Thursday: strength and football specific training, and III) Friday: football specific training. Only the players that completed all training sessions were considered.
RESULTS:
Observations registered were 104 per each type of training, and 5-7 per player in each type of training. Players declared greater PEres than PEmus for all type of trainings: I) Tuesday (PEres: 4.94 ± 0.82, PEmus: 3.64 ± 0.79; p < .001, Cohen’s d = 1.21), II) Thursday (PEres: 4.13 ± 0.76, PEmus: 3.52 ± 1.12; p = .031, Cohen’s d = 0.60), and III) Friday (PEres: 3.63 ± 0.69, PEmus: 2.90 ± 0.54; p = .003; Cohen’s d = 0.89). Players declared greater PEres after Tuesday training in comparison to Thursday (p < .001, Cohen’s d = 1.36) and Friday (p < .001, Cohen’s d = 1.82), and after Thursday in comparison to Friday (p = .005, Cohen’s d = 0.83). Players declared greater PEmus after Tuesday (p = .002; Cohen’s d = 0.95) and Thursday (p = .021; Cohen’s d = 0.65) trainings in comparison to Friday, but significant differences were not found between Tuesday and Thursday sessions (p = .540; Cohen’s d = 0.16).
CONCLUSION:
Training PEres was always greater than PEmus, being the differences higher for the hardest training session. This suggests that the deconstruction of PE provides additional information about the female footballers’ internal workload. These outcomes are of interest for the strength and conditioning staff to adjust conditional specific contents, especially strength exercises, during the training week in this population. Furthermore, the internal workload decreased as the match got closer.
REFERENCES
1. Foster et al. 2001
2. Hutchinson and Tenenbaum 2006
3. Los Arcos et al. 2014
4. Los Arcos et al. 2015
5. Romero-Moraleda et al. 2023
6. Wright et al. 2020