Training Load And Cardiovascular Stress Differ In Practice And Competition Settings In Female Collegiate Basketball

Collegiate basketball involves rigorous practice and competition schedules. Heart rate and GPS tracking devices permit comparison of the two performance settings. PURPOSE: To assess exercise load and cardiovascular stress among female collegiate basketball players during practices and competitions. METHODS: We monitored 14 female Division-1 basketball players from September 16, 2020, through March 5, 2021. During this period, each player wore a Polar Team Pro device for all practices (n = 80) and games (n = 16). We exported total distance traveled, maximum heart rate (HR), maximum speed, and the Polar calculations for training load and cardio load. We used paired-samples t-tests to measure differences between each player's average practice and game performances. Linear regressions across all observations analyzed the effect of game number, practice number, and duration of rest prior to performance on training load. RESULTS: In practice settings, players ran a total distance of 2.7 ± 1.4 miles, achieved a maximum speed of 14.1 ± 3.6 mph, had a maximum HR of 202.0 ± 18.9 bpm, a training load score of 135.3 ± 77.0, and a cardio load score of 169.6 ± 80.6. In games, players ran 55.4% farther (4.2 ± 1.5 miles; p < 0.001), 9.0% faster (15.3 ± 1.4 mph; p = 0.001), had a 1.0% higher maximum HR (204.0 ± 20.5 bpm; p = 0.461), a 19.6% higher training load (161.7 ± 99.0; p = 0.101), and a 30.1% higher cardio load (220.6 ± 92.7; p = 0.009). Rest prior to performance was 10.1% longer before games (p = 0.068). Simple linear regression estimating the effect of performance setting on training load found games to be 26.4 points (19.5%) higher than practices (p < 0.001; 95% CI: 12.851, 39.895). However, when including day of the season and number of rest days prior to performance, each successive day of the season predicted a 0.2-point increase in training load (p < 0.001; 95% CI: 0.123, 0.334), each additional rest day predicted a 3.1-point increase (p = 0.002; 95% CI: 1.163, 4.966), and whether it was a game or practice was no longer significant (p = 0.523). CONCLUSIONS: During games, players ran farther, achieved faster speeds, and had higher cardio loads than they did during practices. Although games had greater workloads, the difference was statistically accounted for by additional rest prior to games and improvements in workload capacity as the season progressed.