International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 2014, 9, 882-883 http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2014-0010 © 2014 Human Kinetics, Inc.
www.IJSPP-Journal.com INVITED COMMENTARY
The Usefulness of Session Rating of Perceived Exertion for Monitoring Training Load Despite Several Influences on Perceived Exertion Monoem Haddad, Johnny Padulo, and Karim Chamari Despite various contributing factors, session rating of perceived exertion has the potential to affect a large proportion of the global sporting and clinical communities since it is an inexpensive and simple tool that is highly practical and accurately measures an athlete’s outcome of training or competition. Its simplicity can help optimize performance and reduce negative outcomes of hard training in elite athletes. Keywords: quantifying internal training load, session intensity, contributing factors, training follow-up, athletes feedback, training program Session rating of perceived exertion is a simple and practical tool for quantifying internal training load (TL) and competition load,1 monitoring rehabilitation training programs, and preventing nonfunctional overreaching and overtraining.2 This method is based on the individual rating of perceived exertion (RPE) representing session intensity and requiring a simultaneous simple measure of the same session duration.3 RPE is derived from a psychophysical process combining multiple sensations and feelings of physical stress, discomfort, and fatigue that a person undergoes during exercise or physical activity. It has been defined by Meeusen4,p2063 as “a subjective interpretation of an integrative signal, which probably resides from peripheral and central mechanisms.” The physiological bases of RPE are considered the initial determinants for the intensity perception; however, this perception of exertion might be related to determinants other than afferent feedback from physiological (cardiovascular, muscular, pulmonary) and neural (central pattern generator) systems.4 The use of RPE to monitor physiological variables during unusual activity (eg, when athletes are performing aquatic sports, which is less common than walking or running) demonstrates the latter statement.5 Indeed, the central pattern generator modulates the coordination of the lower limbs as during running6 or cycling7 and reorganizes physiological muscle responses in relationship to a new motor-control task. Moreover, the brain’s neurotransmission manipulation during exercise in the heat is an example showing that RPE is not only the translation of peripheral input.4 It is obvious that physiological and neural determinants do not fully explain the variation of RPE8; other factors influence it, as well. Sociological factors, for instance, such as the presence and the type of coactor at the moment of RPE collection, in addition to personalHaddad is with the Sport Science Program, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar. Padulo is with the Tunisian Research Laboratory “Sports Performance Optimization,” National Center of Medicine and Science in Sport, Tunis, Tunisia. Chamari is with the Athlete Health and Performance Research Center ASPETAR, Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar. Address author correspondence to Karim Chamari at [email protected]. 882
ity factors, extraversion, neuroticism, depression, and anxiety, have been proposed to affect RPE.8,9 Moreover, subject characteristics such as gender, age, fitness level, and expertise level might influence RPE, as well. Other influences appear with environmental factors such as listening to music; image and video watching; feedback and instructions about exercise; RPE-scale variation; hypnosis; environmental temperature; altitude; glycemia; the consumption of pharmacological and/or doping products, caffeine, energy drinks, alcohol, or milk chocolate; Ramadan fasting; and mobilization of attentional resources.10 Moreover, Haddad et al11 have suggested that the time spent in high-intensity exercise and, only marginally, the session duration influence RPE. The same group12 recently showed that the reliability of an RPE scale’s translation to another language (other than English, French in that case) is affected despite keeping good internal consistency.12 However, the subject’s perception of fatigue, stress, delayed-onset muscle soreness, and sleep are not major contributors to RPE for a 10-minute submaximal effort during training with nonexcessive training loads.13 However, the influence of those factors could be observed during high-intensity training or overtraining. This still has to be researched. These various factors could somewhat alter the perception of exercise intensity; however, scientific literature14,15 supports the validity of RPE as an indicator of exercise intensity despite any possible influence of contributing factors. The good reliability and internal consistency of RPE in several sports and physical activities with men and women of different age categories (children, adolescents, and adults) among various expertise levels clearly show the usefulness of the session-RPE method.11,13 Indeed, this method has been validated in team (football, rugby, basketball, handball), individual (taekwondo, karate, tennis, gymnastics) and aquatic (swimming, diving) sports using objective methods (heart rate,16 oxygen consumption, lactate, global position systems [GPS], accelerometers).10 By simply asking an athlete to rate the global intensity of the exercise or competition bout and then multiplying it by the duration of the session bout, a daily exercise score can be obtained. The TL is represented in arbitrary units (au). This can be put into the form of an exercise diary, which can reveal the overall weekly pattern of exercise sessions. From this, further simple scores of training
Monitoring Training Load 883
monotony and strain can be calculated, potentially providing in index of the likelihood of untoward training or rehabilitation outcomes. The concept of monotony has been found to be related to the onset of overtraining when monotonous training is combined with high TL.17 Training monotony, assessing training homogeneity, is calculated from the average daily TL divided by the standard deviation of the daily TL calculated over a microcycle (usually 7–10 d). An index of training strain can also be calculated as the multiplication or product of TL and training monotony. This measure has been shown to be related to overtraining and illness in elite athletes.17 The daily, weekly, and monthly training loads, monotony, and strain calculated using these formulas can be presented graphically, allowing technical staff (coaches and fitness coaches) or sports-medicine staff (physicians and physiotherapists) to have a visual time course of the periodization plan as experienced by the athletes. Therefore, despite the contributing factors mentioned herein, the session-RPE method has the potential to affect a large proportion of the global sporting and clinical communities since it is an inexpensive and simple tool that is highly practical and accurately measures an athlete’s outcome of training and competition. Its simplicity can help optimize performance and reduce negative outcomes of hard training in elite athletes.
References 1. Foster C, Hector LL, Welsh R, Schrager M, Green MA, Snyder AC. Effects of specific versus cross-training on running performance. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1995;70(4):367–372. PubMed doi:10.1007/BF00865035 2. Haddad M, Behm D, Tebben M, Chamari K. Monitoring training load, recovery, overtraining and upper respiratory infection in taekwondo. In: Haddad M, ed. Performance Optimization in Taekwondo: From Laboratory to Field. Henderson, NV: OMICS Group International. In press. 3. Foster C, Florhaug JA, Franklin J, et al. A new approach to monitoring exercise training. J Strength Cond Res. 2001;15(1):109–115. PubMed 4. Meeusen R. Perception of effort: it is what we think we know that keeps us from learning. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2009;106(6):2063; author reply 2067. 5. Chen MJ, Fan X, Moe ST. Criterion-related validity of the Borg ratings of perceived exertion scale in healthy individuals:
a meta-analysis. J Sports Sci. 2002;20(11):873–899. PubMed doi:10.1080/026404102320761787 6. Padulo J, Powell D, Milia R, Ardigo LP. A paradigm of uphill running. PLoS ONE. 2013;8(7):e69006. PubMed doi:10.1371/journal. pone.0069006 7. Padulo J, Di Capua R, Viggiano D. Pedaling time variability is increased in dropped riding position. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2012;112(8):3161–3165. PubMed doi:10.1007/s00421-011-2282-8 8. Morgan WP. Psychological factors influencing perceived exertion. Med Sci Sports. 1973;5(2):97–103. PubMed 9. Morgan WP. Psychological components of effort sense. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1994;26(9):1071–1077. PubMed doi:10.1249/00005768199409000-00001 10. Haddad M. Factors Influencing Perceived Exertion [dissertation]. Bizete, Tunisia: Biology Department, Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte, Carthage University; 2013. 11. Haddad M, Chaouachi A, Wong del P, et al. Influence of exercise intensity and duration on perceived exertion in adolescent Taekwondo athletes. Eur J Sport Sci. 2014;14 Suppl 1:S275–S281. PubMed doi: 10.1080/17461391.2012.691115 12. Haddad M, Chaouachi A, Castagna C, et al. Validity and psychometric evaluation of the French version of RPE scale in young fit males when monitoring training loads. Sci Sports. 2013;28(2):e29–e35. doi:10.1016/j.scispo.2012.07.008 13. Haddad M, Chaouachi A, Wong DP, et al. Influence of fatigue, stress, muscle soreness and sleep on perceived exertion during submaximal effort. Physiol Behav. 2013;119:185–189. PubMed doi:10.1016/j. physbeh.2013.06.016 14. Haddad M, Chaouachi A, Castagna C, Wong del P, Behm DG, Chamari K. The construct validity of session RPE during an intensive camp in young male Taekwondo athletes. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2011;6(2):252–263. PubMed 15. Tabben M, Sioud R, Haddad M, et al. Physiological and perceived exertion responses during international karate kumite competition. Asian J Sports Med. 2013;4(4):263–271. 16. Haddad M, Chaouachi A, Castagna C, Wong del P, Chamari K. The convergent validity between two objective methods for quantifying training load in young taekwondo athletes. J Strength Cond Res. 2012;26(1):206–209. PubMed doi:10.1519/JSC.0b013e31821ef7e8 17. Foster C. Monitoring training in athletes with reference to overtraining syndrome. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1998;30(7):1164–1168. PubMed doi:10.1097/00005768-199807000-00023
www.IJSPP-Journal.com INVITED COMMENTARY
The Usefulness of Session Rating of Perceived Exertion for Monitoring Training Load Despite Several Influences on Perceived Exertion Monoem Haddad, Johnny Padulo, and Karim Chamari Despite various contributing factors, session rating of perceived exertion has the potential to affect a large proportion of the global sporting and clinical communities since it is an inexpensive and simple tool that is highly practical and accurately measures an athlete’s outcome of training or competition. Its simplicity can help optimize performance and reduce negative outcomes of hard training in elite athletes. Keywords: quantifying internal training load, session intensity, contributing factors, training follow-up, athletes feedback, training program Session rating of perceived exertion is a simple and practical tool for quantifying internal training load (TL) and competition load,1 monitoring rehabilitation training programs, and preventing nonfunctional overreaching and overtraining.2 This method is based on the individual rating of perceived exertion (RPE) representing session intensity and requiring a simultaneous simple measure of the same session duration.3 RPE is derived from a psychophysical process combining multiple sensations and feelings of physical stress, discomfort, and fatigue that a person undergoes during exercise or physical activity. It has been defined by Meeusen4,p2063 as “a subjective interpretation of an integrative signal, which probably resides from peripheral and central mechanisms.” The physiological bases of RPE are considered the initial determinants for the intensity perception; however, this perception of exertion might be related to determinants other than afferent feedback from physiological (cardiovascular, muscular, pulmonary) and neural (central pattern generator) systems.4 The use of RPE to monitor physiological variables during unusual activity (eg, when athletes are performing aquatic sports, which is less common than walking or running) demonstrates the latter statement.5 Indeed, the central pattern generator modulates the coordination of the lower limbs as during running6 or cycling7 and reorganizes physiological muscle responses in relationship to a new motor-control task. Moreover, the brain’s neurotransmission manipulation during exercise in the heat is an example showing that RPE is not only the translation of peripheral input.4 It is obvious that physiological and neural determinants do not fully explain the variation of RPE8; other factors influence it, as well. Sociological factors, for instance, such as the presence and the type of coactor at the moment of RPE collection, in addition to personalHaddad is with the Sport Science Program, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar. Padulo is with the Tunisian Research Laboratory “Sports Performance Optimization,” National Center of Medicine and Science in Sport, Tunis, Tunisia. Chamari is with the Athlete Health and Performance Research Center ASPETAR, Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar. Address author correspondence to Karim Chamari at [email protected]. 882
ity factors, extraversion, neuroticism, depression, and anxiety, have been proposed to affect RPE.8,9 Moreover, subject characteristics such as gender, age, fitness level, and expertise level might influence RPE, as well. Other influences appear with environmental factors such as listening to music; image and video watching; feedback and instructions about exercise; RPE-scale variation; hypnosis; environmental temperature; altitude; glycemia; the consumption of pharmacological and/or doping products, caffeine, energy drinks, alcohol, or milk chocolate; Ramadan fasting; and mobilization of attentional resources.10 Moreover, Haddad et al11 have suggested that the time spent in high-intensity exercise and, only marginally, the session duration influence RPE. The same group12 recently showed that the reliability of an RPE scale’s translation to another language (other than English, French in that case) is affected despite keeping good internal consistency.12 However, the subject’s perception of fatigue, stress, delayed-onset muscle soreness, and sleep are not major contributors to RPE for a 10-minute submaximal effort during training with nonexcessive training loads.13 However, the influence of those factors could be observed during high-intensity training or overtraining. This still has to be researched. These various factors could somewhat alter the perception of exercise intensity; however, scientific literature14,15 supports the validity of RPE as an indicator of exercise intensity despite any possible influence of contributing factors. The good reliability and internal consistency of RPE in several sports and physical activities with men and women of different age categories (children, adolescents, and adults) among various expertise levels clearly show the usefulness of the session-RPE method.11,13 Indeed, this method has been validated in team (football, rugby, basketball, handball), individual (taekwondo, karate, tennis, gymnastics) and aquatic (swimming, diving) sports using objective methods (heart rate,16 oxygen consumption, lactate, global position systems [GPS], accelerometers).10 By simply asking an athlete to rate the global intensity of the exercise or competition bout and then multiplying it by the duration of the session bout, a daily exercise score can be obtained. The TL is represented in arbitrary units (au). This can be put into the form of an exercise diary, which can reveal the overall weekly pattern of exercise sessions. From this, further simple scores of training
Monitoring Training Load 883
monotony and strain can be calculated, potentially providing in index of the likelihood of untoward training or rehabilitation outcomes. The concept of monotony has been found to be related to the onset of overtraining when monotonous training is combined with high TL.17 Training monotony, assessing training homogeneity, is calculated from the average daily TL divided by the standard deviation of the daily TL calculated over a microcycle (usually 7–10 d). An index of training strain can also be calculated as the multiplication or product of TL and training monotony. This measure has been shown to be related to overtraining and illness in elite athletes.17 The daily, weekly, and monthly training loads, monotony, and strain calculated using these formulas can be presented graphically, allowing technical staff (coaches and fitness coaches) or sports-medicine staff (physicians and physiotherapists) to have a visual time course of the periodization plan as experienced by the athletes. Therefore, despite the contributing factors mentioned herein, the session-RPE method has the potential to affect a large proportion of the global sporting and clinical communities since it is an inexpensive and simple tool that is highly practical and accurately measures an athlete’s outcome of training and competition. Its simplicity can help optimize performance and reduce negative outcomes of hard training in elite athletes.
References 1. Foster C, Hector LL, Welsh R, Schrager M, Green MA, Snyder AC. Effects of specific versus cross-training on running performance. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1995;70(4):367–372. PubMed doi:10.1007/BF00865035 2. Haddad M, Behm D, Tebben M, Chamari K. Monitoring training load, recovery, overtraining and upper respiratory infection in taekwondo. In: Haddad M, ed. Performance Optimization in Taekwondo: From Laboratory to Field. Henderson, NV: OMICS Group International. In press. 3. Foster C, Florhaug JA, Franklin J, et al. A new approach to monitoring exercise training. J Strength Cond Res. 2001;15(1):109–115. PubMed 4. Meeusen R. Perception of effort: it is what we think we know that keeps us from learning. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2009;106(6):2063; author reply 2067. 5. Chen MJ, Fan X, Moe ST. Criterion-related validity of the Borg ratings of perceived exertion scale in healthy individuals:
a meta-analysis. J Sports Sci. 2002;20(11):873–899. PubMed doi:10.1080/026404102320761787 6. Padulo J, Powell D, Milia R, Ardigo LP. A paradigm of uphill running. PLoS ONE. 2013;8(7):e69006. PubMed doi:10.1371/journal. pone.0069006 7. Padulo J, Di Capua R, Viggiano D. Pedaling time variability is increased in dropped riding position. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2012;112(8):3161–3165. PubMed doi:10.1007/s00421-011-2282-8 8. Morgan WP. Psychological factors influencing perceived exertion. Med Sci Sports. 1973;5(2):97–103. PubMed 9. Morgan WP. Psychological components of effort sense. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1994;26(9):1071–1077. PubMed doi:10.1249/00005768199409000-00001 10. Haddad M. Factors Influencing Perceived Exertion [dissertation]. Bizete, Tunisia: Biology Department, Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte, Carthage University; 2013. 11. Haddad M, Chaouachi A, Wong del P, et al. Influence of exercise intensity and duration on perceived exertion in adolescent Taekwondo athletes. Eur J Sport Sci. 2014;14 Suppl 1:S275–S281. PubMed doi: 10.1080/17461391.2012.691115 12. Haddad M, Chaouachi A, Castagna C, et al. Validity and psychometric evaluation of the French version of RPE scale in young fit males when monitoring training loads. Sci Sports. 2013;28(2):e29–e35. doi:10.1016/j.scispo.2012.07.008 13. Haddad M, Chaouachi A, Wong DP, et al. Influence of fatigue, stress, muscle soreness and sleep on perceived exertion during submaximal effort. Physiol Behav. 2013;119:185–189. PubMed doi:10.1016/j. physbeh.2013.06.016 14. Haddad M, Chaouachi A, Castagna C, Wong del P, Behm DG, Chamari K. The construct validity of session RPE during an intensive camp in young male Taekwondo athletes. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2011;6(2):252–263. PubMed 15. Tabben M, Sioud R, Haddad M, et al. Physiological and perceived exertion responses during international karate kumite competition. Asian J Sports Med. 2013;4(4):263–271. 16. Haddad M, Chaouachi A, Castagna C, Wong del P, Chamari K. The convergent validity between two objective methods for quantifying training load in young taekwondo athletes. J Strength Cond Res. 2012;26(1):206–209. PubMed doi:10.1519/JSC.0b013e31821ef7e8 17. Foster C. Monitoring training in athletes with reference to overtraining syndrome. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1998;30(7):1164–1168. PubMed doi:10.1097/00005768-199807000-00023
