Relationship between internal and external load in elite female youth basketball players

Introduction: Monitoring load has been a key point in team sports during last years. This study aimed to determine the relationship between the external and internal training load during full basketball practices in elite female youth basketball players. Material and methods: Thirteen elite female youth basketball players (age 16.3±1 years, height 181.7±5.8cm and body mass 71.2±9.6kg) had physical and physiological monitored over seven weeks. Players’ internal load was assessed using the session-rating of perceived exertion (sRPE), the Edward's summated heart rate zones model (SHRZ) and, the Banister's training impulse (TRIMP_B). The external load was determined through: 1) total accelerations (TA); the sum of all accelerations and decelerations; 2) maximal accelerations and decelerations (TAMax); 3) total accelerations per minutes (TA·min⁻¹); 4) accelerations per minute (Acc·min⁻¹); and 5) decelerations per minute (Dec·min⁻¹). Heart rate-based and accelerometry models were assessed via Polar Pro technology. Results: Correlations between variables revealed different magnitudes. SHRZ model showed a positive correlation with TA (0.63); the TRIMP_B model showed a high degree of correlation with TA (0.78); the sRPE model also presented a high correlation with TA (0.62). Conclusion: Our study establishes different levels of association between external and internal load models in elite female youth basketball players. However, we cannot assume that a high relationship between internal and external loads exists, as both models should be considered as different constructs.