Changes in performance markers and wellbeing in elite senior professional rugby union players during a pre-season period : analysis of the differences across training phases

Grainger, A; Neville, R; Ditroilo, M; Comfort, P

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the magnitude of change and association with variation in training load of two
performance markers and wellbeing, over three pre-season training blocks, in elite rugby union athletes.
Design: Observational.
Methods: Twenty-two professional players (age 25 ± 5 years; training age 6 ± 5 years; body mass,
99 ± 13 kg; stature 186 ± 6 cm) participated in this study, with changes in lower (CMJ height) and upper
body (bench press mean speed) neuromuscular function and self-reported wellbeing (WB) assessed
during an 11-week period.
Results: There was a small increase in CMJ height (0.27, ±0.17 – likely substantial; standardised effect
size, ±95% confidence limits – magnitude-based inference) (p = 0.003), bench press speed (0.26, ±0.15 –
likely substantial) (p = 0.001) and WB (0.26, ±0.12 – possibly substantial) (p < 0.0001) across the pre-season
period. There was a substantial interaction in the effect of training load on these three variables across
the three training phases. A two-standard deviation (2SD) change in training load was associated with:
a small decrease in CMJ height during the power phase (−0.32, ±0.19 – likely substantial) (p = 0.001); a
small reduction in bench press speed during the hypertrophy phase (−0.40, ±0.32 – likely substantial)
(p = 0.02); and a small reduction in WB during the strength phase (−0.40, ±0.24 – very likely substantial)
(p < 0.0001). The effects of changes in training load across other phases were either likely trivial, only
possibly substantial, or unclear.
Conclusions: The effect of training load on performance can vary both according to the type of training
stimulus being administered and based on whether upper- or lower-body outcomes are being measured.

Citation

Grainger, A., Neville, R., Ditroilo, M., & Comfort, P. (2020). Changes in performance markers and wellbeing in elite senior professional rugby union players during a pre-season period : analysis of the differences across training phases. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 23(1), 20-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2019.08.012

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 11, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Aug 17, 2019
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Nov 7, 2019
• Journal: Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport
• Print ISSN: 1440-2440
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 20-26
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2019.08.012
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2019.08.012
• Related Public URLs: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-science-and-medicine-in-sport