Use the rating of perceived exertion to evaluate load in collegiate male soccer player, validity and influencing factors

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of session rating of perceived exertion (SRPE) in collegiate male soccer players and to identify the factors that influence SRPE, with the aim of developing a predictive model. Fifteen Chinese collegiate soccer players (age 19.6 ± 0.8 y, height 179.1 ± 5.4 cm, weight 70.8 ± 4.9 kg, body mass index 22.1 ± 1.7 kg/m², body fat 10.9 ± 2.3%, heart rate rest 56.6 ± 8.0, heart rate max 194.9 ± 7.3) participated in the study. Global position system (GPS) wearable devices, pre-session well-being questionnaire [sleep, fatigue, delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), stress and energy] and SRPE was carried out to collect training load (TL) and well-being variable, 977 observations from training and competition during 7 months were recorded. Moderate to very large correlations were found between SRPE and heart rate-based load Banister TRIMP (0.58 ± 0.14, 0.38 ≤ r ≤ 0.78, p < 0.05) and Edwards TL (0.59 ± 0.14, 0.37 ≤ r ≤ 0.83, p < 0.05). The stepwise multiple regression show that in all courses, total distance (TD), fatigue, Edwards TL, sleep, sprint distance (> 24 km/h), inertial movement analysis (IMA) can explain 32.4% of the adjusted R² of SRPE (y = - 152.672 + 0.034 TD + 49.101 Fatigue + 0.834 Edwards TL + 36.012 sleep + 0.538 SD + 0.871 IMA), and the variance inflation factors are 2.470, 1.011, 2.386, 1.011, 1.181, 1.143 respectively. Moderate to very large correlations demonstrate that SRPE is an effective method for quantifying collegiate male soccer players. Multiple regression model showed that internal load, external load and pre-training well-being status affect SRPE, demonstrating that SRPE is a global method for assessing internal load in collegiate male soccer players.