11/05/2020
Load monitoring is one method used to help balance ⚖️ training & injury risk.
What we know:
💪 To increase physical performance, we need to apply stress (or “load”) to the human system. This stimulates adaptation through ‘𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱’
✅ We adapt positively to what is required of us 𝗜𝗙 the stress is sufficient 𝗔𝗡𝗗 we have enough recovery! 𝘚𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘥, 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 ➕ 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 ➖ 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘳𝘺
↘️ To reduce risk of injury, we need sport-specific research about:
- Injury risk factors
- Workload & injury relationships
- Risk ‘moderators’ – factors influencing each person’s resilience within a sport
⚠️Increased injury risk is linked to:
- Low training loads 🔻 (e.g. time off before going back to hard training too quickly)
- Big spikes 🔺 in training loads - Moderators like strength, aerobic fitness, age, previous injury, training history, sleep, nutrition 🥑, psychological stress etc.
For example, see pic 2 for an example on ACL injuries in ballet 🩰 It shows how moderators can affect risk of injury: there is no one direct relationship between injury and load. In climbing, we’re learning about moderators for certain injuries but we have more research to do!
Load monitoring is one key way of staying healthy through training. It involves tracking
- Fitness, &
- Fatigue 😓
over time 🗓
This data can help inform how hard to train and when, to
- Keep adapting in a helpful way🔝, &
- Reduce the risk of being poorly prepared for performance (when injuries can occur⛔️)
Different approaches exist, each with pros 👍 and cons 👎 – watch out for the next post for info on using these principles at home! 🧗🏽♀️
