Optmising training load is the pursuit of all athletes in order to achieve the highest level of performance and to avoid injury. Usually these two things go together, in order to perform as an athlete you need to avoid injury. Injury and illness derail training more quickly than anything else. Consistent, uninterrupted training is usually the key to success. Some research shows that errors with training loads increase the risk of injury. This makes sense when you consider that all physical training puts stress on your body and if that stress exceeds the bodies ability to tolerate it, then breakdown and injury will follow. This overtraining is sometimes referred to as a training error.

Most overuse injuries occur as a result of training error. One type of training error occurs when training load is increased more rapidly than the athlete can tolerate. The human body needs time to adapt to a given training load and rapid changes in training intensity or volume can lead to pathological overload of tissues. This will lead to breakdown and injury of connective tissue such as bone, tendon, muscle, ligament or fascia.

Load management is about controlling training loads to optimise performance and reduce the risk of injury. Too little or too much training can result in failure to perform. The challenge is to consistently apply a training load that you can comfortably adapt to and then gradually progress these loads. The gradual progression is referred to as progressive overload. This progression in training loads should increase lead to an increase in capacity over time so that greater amounts of training can be performed which should lead to an improvement in performance.

Training load is a measure of type, volume, intensity, and frequency of training. The first step in managing training loads is to measure and record it. There are many methods that can be used to measure loads, some simple and some complex. One commonly used method is to record the time and intensity of each training session. The intensity can be measured using a Rating of Perceived Exertion or RPE scale of 1-10 (1 being the easiest and 10 being the hardest). If training time is multiplied by RPE then you have a measure of the load for that session. You can then calculate training load for each week, month, etc. For example, if you go for a 60 minute run at an easy intensity that you rate as a 2/10 RPE then the training load could be expressed as 60 multiplied by 2 = 120. If you went for a 60 minute run at a hard effort which you rated as a 7/10 RPE then the training load could be expressed as 60 multiplied by 7 = 420. The hard effort of 60 minutes is clearly a much greater stress on the body than the easy effort and therefore has a much higher value.

Recording this and then analysing the training loads whilst checking in to see how your body is coping with the training goes a long way towards reducing training errors and reducing your risk of overuse injury. Sports Physiotherapists are well versed in training load, training error, overuse injuries, and injury risk reduction. If you have been unsuccessful in avoiding overuse injuries or if you are not achieving your training goals, then perhaps you should consult a Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist.