Do you know how many minutes it takes you to run each kilometer, or your heartbeat when you are at the limit of your effort capacity? Are you training below your capacity or are you at risk of training too much and having an injury? Surely you can know these data, and many more, thanks to your smart watch or electronic bracelet. Physical exercise is experiencing a small technological revolution, which makes it much easier to measure and control our progress.
The most advanced models, and perhaps the one you wear on your wrist right now, are incorporating a very interesting fact: the training load. Whether you are an elite athlete or a casual exerciser, understanding training load can make a significant difference in how you approach your fitness training program, and help you avoid injury and recover better. But what exactly is training load and how can it help you perform better by exercising?
Training load and performance
We may like to go running, or train with weights, or play paddle tennis, but there are times when we do a long and gentle exercise, other times more intense and shorter. Training load refers to the amount of physical stress placed on the body for the duration of the exercise, and depends on these two factors.
Training load is defined as the product of the intensity and duration of physical activity and is used to measure the stress to which the body is subjected over a given period, usually over several days. Effort, tension and fatigue accumulate, and knowing the load each day allows you to find a balance between the demands on the body to improve performance and avoid overtraining and injuries.
Training load can be classified into two types: external load and internal load.
- External load measures the physical work performed during a training or competition session. This could include metrics such as distance traveled, power output, or speed.
- Internal load is the physiological and psychological response to that external workload. It can be measured by monitoring heart rate, perceived exertion and other biomarkers such as lactate levels or cortisol concentrations.
How is training load calculated?
There are several methods to calculate training load, depending on the type of sport and available resources. The two most used metrics are:
- Session-RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion): this method combines the duration of the session with the athlete’s subjective rating of how hard the session seemed to them on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is total rest and 10 is effort. maximum. For example, if a 60-minute session is rated 7/10 in terms of effort, the training load would be 60 x 7 = 420. This simple method is widespread and used throughout the world in different sports.
- TRIMP (Training Impulse) model: it is based on the frequency of your heartbeat, specifically using heart rate zones, which is a more objective measure and does not depend on how you feel after training. The zones normally range from zone 1 to zone 5, but can be simplified into three zones. To know when we pass the zone, the lactate threshold is used, the point at which we pass from aerobic or anaerobic, something that we can feel because it is impossible for us to speak. For example, the coefficient is 1 when we are below the aerobic threshold, 2 in the intermediate zone and 3 above the aerobic threshold. Thus, if we have been running below the lactate threshold for 10 minutes, at the threshold for 20 minutes and then we have done a two-minute sprint at full speed, the total calculation would be 10 x 1 + 20 x 2 + 2 x 3 = 56 .
Additionally, slightly different measurements are used for each sport. For example, GPS is commonly used in team sports such as football, rugby and basketball to measure distance traveled and speed. Portable heart rate monitors track internal load by measuring the effort made by the heart. Power meters are most commonly used in cycling, as they measure the amount of power (in watts) a cyclist produces during a ride. This allows the external load to be accurately calculated in the form of power-to-weight ratios and how the load changes over different terrain and time periods.
Smart watches and fitness bracelets have algorithms to estimate training load based on heart rate and duration of physical activity. For example, Garmin’s Training Load feature uses a combination of heart rate, VO2 max (maximum oxygen consumption), and session duration to estimate the load on your body.
How to use training load in your routines
The most important thing is to understand that the training load is not a single day of exercise, but the accumulated load in the medium term. Thus we speak of acute load as the training load that has accumulated in the last week, and chronic load as the average training load during the last four weeks.
What is this for? To know how we have our “energy tank” to do sports. If one day we train very hard and for a long time, it is clear that the next day we will not be able to maintain the same intensity, or in other words, we have less load available for the rest of the week.
To train using training load as a measure, it is necessary to follow these principles:
- Establish and maintain adequate training loads, neither too intense nor easy.
- Avoid sharp (large) peaks and decreases in load, that is, very intense days and very weak days. Both overtraining and undertraining can increase the risk of injury.
- You must be aware of the latency periods that follow any increase or decrease in load. Injuries can occur up to four weeks after peak training increasing risk
- Minimize weekly fluctuations.
- Establish a floor and a ceiling of safety. Identify your minimum and maximum training loads and try to stay within these limits
- Make sure the training loads applied are appropriate for your current situation. Take into account your age, bone and joint condition, and training history.
How is this put into practice in our fitness bracelet or watch? Usually there is a training load indicator that tells us if we are above average, below, or in the optimal zone. It is advisable not to be below (we will not progress) and not to be above for many days, since we will have to compensate with less intensity later. Over time, training in this area produces adaptations that make us progress, with more strength and more speed.
In endurance sports, training load tracking helps athletes progressively increase their workload without overtraining. For example, marathon runners can use heart rate monitoring to stay in the proper training zones during long runs.
In team sports, such as soccer, where athletes often undergo bursts of high-intensity activity followed by recovery periods, training load management helps coaches monitor players’ readiness. . For example, a first division team in Brazil calculated the appropriate training load for the team so that performance in matches was maximum. Additionally, studies have shown that training load management reduces the risk of soft tissue injuries, such as hamstring or ligament tears.
* Darío Pescador is editor and director of the Quo magazine and author of the book your best self Posted by Oberon.
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