The Dose-Response Relationship Between Training Load and Aerobic Fitness in Academy Rugby Union Players
in International Journal of Sports Physiology and PerformanceClick name to view affiliation
Purpose: To identify the dose-response relationship between measures of training load (TL) and changes in aerobic fitness in academy rugby union players. Method: Training data from 10 academy rugby union players were collected during a 6-wk in-season period. Participants completed a lactate-threshold test that was used to assess VO2max, velocity at VO2max, velocity at 2 mmol/L (lactate threshold), and velocity at 4 mmol/L (onset of lactate accumulation; vOBLA) as measures of aerobic fitness. Internal-TL measures calculated were Banister training impulse (bTRIMP), Edwards TRIMP, Lucia TRIMP, individualized TRIMP (iTRIMP), and session RPE (sRPE). External-TL measures calculated were total distance, PlayerLoad™, high-speed distance >15 km/h, very-high-speed distance >18 km/h, and individualized high-speed distance based on each player’s vOBLA. Results: A second-order-regression (quadratic) analysis found that bTRIMP (R2 = .78, P = .005) explained 78% of the variance and iTRIMP (R2 = .55, P = .063) explained 55% of the variance in changes in VO2max. All other HR-based internal-TL measures and sRPE explained less than 40% of variance with fitness changes. External TL explained less than 42% of variance with fitness changes. Conclusions: In rugby players, bTRIMP and iTRIMP display a curvilinear dose-response relationship with changes in maximal aerobic fitness.
Taylor, Sanders, Myers, and Akubat are with the Sport, Exercise and Health Research Centre, Newman University, Birmingham, United Kingdom. Abt is with the Dept of Sport, Health and Exercise Science, University of Hull, Hull, United Kingdom. Taylor is with the Div of Health Sciences, Warwick University, Coventry, United Kingdom.
© 2023 Human Kinetics