Abstract
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Throwing events are full kinetic chain activities, where training load monitoring are 2 crucial in assessing an athlete’s adaptation while minimizing the risk of long-lasting 3 fatigue and injury. This study aimed to determine external load using work calculations 4 and to compare them to current session internal workload metrics as heart rate (HR), and 5 rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and to monitor workload using physical parameters over 6 a 9-week period. The final objective was to evaluate the relationships between internal 7 and external workloads. 8
Internal training load was measured through HR monitoring during a training session to 9 determine the peak and average heart rates reached during the session, as well as the 10 exercise intensity experienced, and this was done by multiplying the athletes’ RPE by the 11 duration of the training session. External training load was calculated as the product of 12 throw distances and implement weight. Average work was calculated as the sum of work 13 divided by the number of throws performed. Acute to chronic workload ratio (ACWR) 14 was calculated by dividing the acute workload by the chronic workload. Data are 15 presented as median (interquartile range). Correlations were calculated between internal 16 and external loads for a single training session. ANOVA were computed for workloads 17 and ACWR for the training season. A Significance level of p<0.05 was enforced. 18
Twenty-five throwing athletes (age: 19 (3) years; height: 1.82 (0) m; mass: 93 (19) kg) 19 completed 11 (7) throws in a single field session, during which throwing work was 20 calculated (Throw distance: 40.87 (17.54) m; s-RPE: 198 (269) AU; Total work: 8719.37 21 (13960.6) J; Average work: 726.61 (1877.92) J). Correlations (p<0.05) were found 22 between s-RPE and average work (r=0.433); session duration and total (r=0.433) and 23 average workload (r=0.523). Negative correlations exist between average HR and total 24 work (r=-0.435), average work (r=-0.442) and duration (r=-0.483). Workloads and 25 ACWR differed over the 9-week period (p=0.025). 26
Significant correlation was found between an athlete’s sRPE and the amount of work 27 performed. Overall, session duration may be an important variable to track for workload 28 monitoring. Additionally, ACWR showed fluctuations and a noticeable decline as the 29 season came to an end, which suggest that workload management is a crucial aspect of 30
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training and performance optimization, especially for youth athletes who may not have 31 reached their full physical potential. 32
Keywords: acute chronic; hammer throw; javelin; physical work; youth athletes