A Balancing Act: Managing Training Loads for Improved Sport Performance & Decreased Injury Risks
By Emily Pappas, MS
For a female athlete trying to improve her lacrosse game, adding another 2 nights of practice to her schedule may not actually get her the results she wants...
For a female athlete who just rolled her ankle at softball practice... taking 3 entire days off may not get her back on the field as fast as intended.
LESS IS NOT ALWAYS MORE…. and MORE IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER.
The relationship between training load, injury, and performance is much too complex to simplify in a ‘DO MORE’ or ‘DO LESS’ statement. Rather, we have to consider the bigger picture when working towards a certain sport goal.
This is where managing an athlete’s TRAINING LOAD is key to help drive performance and decrease injury risks!
So what does this mean for the female athlete’s who play HIGH volume sports?
In this article we discuss:
How TRAINING both enhances performance & detracts from it
The relationship between STRESS & injury risks
How to manage a female athlete’s TRAINING LOAD
The ONE TOOL that helps develop a higher capacity for stress
Lets dive in:
Training is a NECESSARY STRESS
Training is a necessary stress that creates a need for improvement or adaptation.
Without training, there is no need for an athlete’s body to improve.
Think if an athlete wants to build stronger legs so she can run faster, she needs to LIFT WEIGHTS (with a progressive overload) to stimulate her muscles to adapt and GROW STRONGER
OR if she wants to improve her free-throw percentage, she needs to ADD MORE free throw practice into her training schedule to help her body to ADAPT and acquire the enhanced skill of shooting!
But is more training always the answer?
In the world of sport science, training load is a fancy way of describing how many hours an athlete engages in physical activity, often measured on a week to week basis
With more training, an athlete is able to enhance her performance by stimulating her body to adapt in the desired way (strength train to get stronger, run more to improve her endurance ETC)
BUT training is a stressor, and with more stress comes fatigue. And with too much fatigue, the less an athlete is able to perform.
This is because “FATIGUE MASKS FITNESS”
When an athlete is stressed TOO MUCH, without the appropriate time for recovery, her body is UNABLE to perform at the high level she is capable of performing (3)!
If she consistently adds to her training load and never allows for a decrease in fatigue, her body will never show your improved “fitness”
Even worse, if she adds to her training load TOO FAST, she is at a HEIGHTENED risk of injury!
The relationship between STRESS & INJURIES
Injuries occur when too much load or stress is applied to a tissue than it has the capacity to handle (1,2,5,6,7)
This stress can be ACUTE- think a blow to the leg causing a break
Or it can be CUMULATIVE - think overuse injuries like elbow tendonitis that starts to nag after 3 intense practices, 2 games, and no days off in between
Remember, the total amount of stress the female athlete experiences over time also includes stressors OUTSIDE of her training.
This means 3 intense practices, 2 games, no days off + a calc exam + breaking up with her boyfriend + being home sick is a RECIPE for an overly fatigued athlete.
When fatigue is high, her risk of injury increases.
Adding MORE training to an athlete that is already high fatigue spells trouble. She is heading straight for decreased performance AND increased injury risk!
But why can some athlete’s handle more “stress” than others”
For many athletes, lower capacities to handle stress are often related to
Their initial strength levels (think tissue tolerance for stress)
Their ability to RECOVER between bouts of training
Every tissue in the human body has a certain capacity to handle stress before it reaches its mechanical breaking point (7,9).
Think about a cup representing this capacity
With every soccer match, speed and agility session, and weight room session, the cup is filled.
Once the cup is filled to the brim and begins to overflow, performance can breakdown and injuries can occur.
However, by maintaining adequate recovery (4,10) via:
8-10 hours of sleep per night
Eating ENOUGH food (especially protein and carbs)
And taking 1 FULL DAY of rest
...the level in the cup starts to decrease!
In order to REDUCE the chance of injuries, the female athlete MUST improve her body’s capacity to handle loads (9).
Or think the female athlete needs a BIGGER CUP.
Research (8) has indicated STRENGTH TRAINING is a SUPERIOR dose dependent measure that not only helps to improve tissue capacity for stress, but also IMPROVE future sport performances….
This means strength training alone can help develop a “bigger cup” to handle the high training loads seen in sports like soccer, softball, field hockey, lacrosse, and volleyball
This means a GREATER capacity for stress! This is necessary for the adolescent athlete who aspires to play at a higher level one day, where training loads are VERY HIGH!
For an athlete who has experienced an injury in the past, strength training is even MORE important (2). This is because during the period of injury, her body’s capacity to handle stress DECREASED.
Remember, the athlete experienced an injury because her current capacity was TOO LOW to handle the stress she exposed to it.
Although the athlete may be eager to return to sport, she must remember without ENHANCING their capacity for stress BEYOND their pre-injury level, she is at a high risk of re-injury.
This is because her “cup” has not gotten any bigger!!
In fact, her cup may have gotten smaller due to the de-training effect that often results when athletes decrease their training volume on sideline with an injury (2).
For the female athlete who has experienced injuries in the past and wishes to return to her same level and volume of play, she MUST enhance their capacity for stress.
This means strength training must be a PRIORITY within her schedule.
MANAGING TRAINING LOADS
Remember, training load is describes how many hours an athlete engages in physical activity, often measured on a week to week basis
With more training, an athlete experiences MORE STRESS.
When stress is high, an athlete experiences HIGH levels of fatigue.
When fatigue is high, an athlete’s performance doesn’t drop because she is getting worse. It drops because her fatigue is masking her fitness level.
If fatigue remains high, this drop in performance could however become permanent.
This is why introducing proper recovery techniques and dropping training volumes is NECESSARY to allow your body to not only recover, but to SHOWCASE those improvements when it matters most!
Does she have a big game on Friday and on Monday she is feeling run down, achy, and maybe running slower on the soccer field than usual?
Time to implement a decrease in her training load & emphasize recovery..
By dropping both the time and intensity she devotes to her sport training while also focusing on things that promote recovery (such as sleep and nutrition) she will decrease her levels of fatigue.
Less fatigue means greater ability to showcase her athletic skills come game day on Friday!
BUT there is a limit to how low she can drop your training load before she starts to see a DECREASE in performance (3).
Think of this limit as her MINIMUM TRAINING VOLUME….or the minimum amount of training stimulus she needs to maintain her performance & capacity to handle stress!
Drop below this amount for too long and she will start to see a regression in her fitness level (and a reduction in her cup size!) ….
This is where the saying “if you do not use it, you lose it” holds true.
For many athletes who start to experience HIGH TRAINING loads during their sport, they many consider dropping strength training out of their schedule.
BUT without a strength training stimulus, her body will LOSE her lean tissue and accompanying strength & power output that has helped her perform in her sport.
Even worse, without this stimulus, her body DECREASES its capacity to handle stress. This means by dropping strength training, she drastically INCREASES her risk of injury during her season (7,8,9).
But what should an athlete do if she is sidelined with an injury?
If an athlete sprains her ankle or pulls a hamstring and sits out for 3 weeks, her training load (or number of hours she engages in physical activity) drastically DECREASES.
Once this athlete is feeling better and jumps back into training, her training load SPIKES.
Often, this athlete finds herself on the sideline again with the same or another injury. This is because during the period her training load decreased, her body de-trained or lost its capacity to handle certain amounts of stress.(read more about it here!)
Rather that complete rest, it is in the athlete’s best interest to implement pain-free training during the injury recovery process so that:
the athlete is able to return to play FASTER (and her injury is able to catch up to the rest of her body sooner…thanks to the crossover effect!)
The athlete’s risk of injury DECREASES because her work capacity did not diminish (1)
Of course after a larger injury like an ACL tear that requires surgery, initially full rest of her leg is needed to give her tissues time to repair. But studies (1) show that early loading can improve return to play time and gradually progressing that loading throughout the recovery process can provide protection from future re-injury.
Preparing for HIGH training loads in sport!
Tell, me if this story sounds familiar….
A female athlete enjoys a summer filled with relaxation and a LOW training load (think maybe 1-2 practices a week and a short run). Come august, her life becomes filled with 2x a day training and…... those dreaded shin sprints
In training load language, this athlete went from 4-6 hours a week to now 15-20 hours a week of training. This SPIKE in training load has been repeatedly demonstrated (4,5,7) to heighten an athlete’s chance of experiencing an injury. And for this athlete, her injury is now a painful shin splint.
Fortunately for this athlete, this risk can easily be attenuated by GRADUALLY increasing her training load throughout the summer and sustaining a high training load via different modalities during her sport season.
This is where resistance training can be used as a tool to help build a higher capacity (think bigger cup) for athletes further away in the season….and help MAINTAIN that cup size when her sport season hits!
Remember, training is a stressor that pushes the female athlete’s body to want to adapt and improve.
During the time furthest away from the sport season, an athlete is PRIMED to increase her strength training FREQUENCY to help prepare her body for the HIGH loads coming her way in her sport season (8).
This means she can build a BIGGER CUP through:
high training volumes
high fatigue,
and strength gains!
BUT….as she approaches her season, the goals & frequency of her training must change!
When it is time to PERFORM the goal of her training shifts from improving strength to maintaining it! (read more about in season training here)
As the season hits and daily games, practices, and tournaments increase her sport volume, the athlete can maintain her strength and manage her training load by slowly decreasing frequency of resistance training, however she should NEVER eliminate it.
Remember, if she does not “use it”, she LOSES IT”
Rather, maintaining a moderate strength training frequency is necessary to help the athlete maintain her tissue capacity and reduce her chance of injury during the season when stress & training loads are HIGH (9)!
Remember, ”a minimum or maintenance volume” is the amount of training is NECESSARY to help maintain the strength and work capacity the athlete built during the off season.
This maintenance volume of strength training will introduce intensities that stimulate her body to maintain her “cup size”, allow her to manage her levels of fatigue, reduce her chance of injury, and promote high levels of performance!!
Sounds like a well spent 1-2 hours of week in the weight room!
As playoffs hit, dropping strength training frequency as low as 1x a week is all the athlete needs to stay strong, maintain lean tissue, and decrease her chance of getting injured when play time matters most!
Remember, playing sport is NOT the same stimulus as strength training (9).
By maintaining resistance training throughout the season, female athletes not only drastically DECREASE their chance of getting injured, but they can also drastically IMPROVE their sport performance!
A BALANCING ACT Of Training, Injury Risks, And Performance
When it comes to performance, athletes (and their coaches) need to remember athletes cannot train to improve and perform at the same time.
Numerous studies have shown a direct relationship between drastically INCREASES or SPIKES in training load and the occurrence of injuries.
Meanwhile, such studies have also indicated higher training loads are NECESSARY to help tissues develop the capacity to handle the high loads present in the sports like soccer, volleyball, or field hockey
For this reason, management of the athlete’s training load is necessary to help enhance her performance and decrease her risk of injury
By designating certain periods of the year where training is focused on ENHANCING the athlete’s capacity, and other periods of training focused on maintaining this capacity, more female athletes will stay off the sidelines and perform their BEST in their season when it matters most!
REFERENCES
Colby MJ, Dawson B, Peeling P, et al. Repeated exposure to established high risk workload scenarios improves non-contact injury prediction in Elite Australian footballers. Int J Sports Physiol Perform2018;15:1–22.
Fulton, Jessica et al. “Injury risk is altered by previous injury: a systematic review of the literature and presentation of causative neuromuscular factors.” International journal of sports physical therapy vol. 9,5 (2014): 583-95.
Gabbett TJ, Hulin BT. Activity and recovery cycles and skill involvements of successful and unsuccessful elite rugby league teams: a longitudinal analysis of evolutionary changes in National Rugby League match-play. J Sports Sci2018;36:180–90.
Gabbett TJ. Debunking the myths about training load, injury and performance: empirical evidence, hot topics and recommendations for practitioners J Sports Med Published Online First: 26 October 2018. Doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2018-099784
Gabbett, Tim J. “The Training—Injury Prevention Paradox: Should Athletes Be Training Smarterandharder?” British Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 50, no. 5, 2016, pp. 273–280., doi:10.1136/bjsports-2015-095788.
Harrison PW, Johnston RD. Relationship between training load, tness, and injury over an Australian Rules Football Preseason. J Strength Cond Res2017;31:2686–93.
Kalkhoven, Judd Tyler, et al. “A Conceptual Model and Detailed Framework for Stress-Related, Strain-Related, and Overuse Athletic Injury.” 2019, doi:10.31236/osf.io/vzxga.
Lauersen, Jeppe Bo, et al. “Strength Training as Superior, Dose-Dependent and Safe Prevention of Acute and Overuse Sports Injuries: a Systematic Review, Qualitative Analysis and Meta-Analysis.” British Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 52, no. 24, 2018, pp. 1557–1563., doi:10.1136/bjsports-2018-099078.
Malone, Shane, et al. “Can the Workload–Injury Relationship Be Moderated by Improved Strength, Speed and Repeated-Sprint Qualities?” Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, vol. 22, no. 1, 2019, pp. 29–34., doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2018.01.010.
Milewski MD, Skaggs DL, Bishop GA, et al. Chronic lack of sleep is associated with increased sports injuries in adolescent athletes. J Pediatr Orthop2014;34:129–33.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emily holds a M.S. in Exercise Physiology from Temple University and a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Drexel University. Through this education, Emily values her ability to coach athletes with a perspective that is grounded in biomechanics and human physiology. Outside of the classroom, Emily has experience coaching and programming at the Division I Collegiate Level working as an assistant strength coach for an internship with Temple University’s Women’s Rugby team.
In addition, Emily holds her USAW Sport Performance certification and values her ability to coach athletes using “Olympic” Weightlifting. Emily is extremely passionate about the sport of Weightlifting, not only for the competitive nature of the sport, but also for the application of the lifts as a tool in the strength field. Through these lifts, Emily has been able to develop athletes that range from grade school athletes to nationally ranked athletes in sports such as lacrosse, field hockey, and weightlifting.
Emily is also an adjunct at Temple University, instructing a course on the development of female athletes.