Acute to Chronic Workload Ratio and Training Monitoring Problems with the Science and Practice

Athlete monitoring can be used to inform coach decision-making and improve the training process. When designed appropriately and implemented effectively, athlete monitoring systems have been suggested to reduce ‘training errors’, increase athlete training availability (reduce injury) and improve performance. Despite these common views (and practices), there is presently little evidence to support the contention that athlete monitoring systems by themselves meet these goals. One possible explanation for the absence of evidence to support for these beliefs is that there are absence of controlled trials examining this issues. Another reason is the inappropriate introduction of athlete monitoring tools and metrics. Without doubt, the metric that has received the most attention in the literature, and as a result has been endorsed by the International Olympic Committee and adopted widely by sport, has been the acute to chronic work load ratio (ACWR). Due to concerns regarding the impact that the blind adoption of the ACWR as a primary decision-making tool in athlete monitoring systems, this presentation will examine have a historical account of the development of athlete monitoring, with specific focus on the rise of the ACWR. This presentation will critically examine the conceptual basis and methodological weaknesses in studies supporting the ACWR and will also highlight the biased process generating several unsupported claims and international and national recommendations. We will examine problems in current research to demonstrate lessons that can be learned and applied to future research and practice in this area.

Presenter

Professor Aaron Coutts, PHD, Distinguished Professor Aaron Coutts is Head of the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation and Director of the Human Performance Research Centre at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). For the past 25 years Aaron’s research has focused on developing evidence-based methods for improving the performance and health of athletes. Much of Aaron’s research has been to understand the training and competition requirements of high-performance athletes and developing methods that can be applied to optimize the training process.  Aaron has more than 250 publications and has supervised over 35 PhD students. Further to his academic roles, Aaron has worked as a sport scientist consulting with leading sporting organisations within Australia and globally. Many of these organisations have partnered with UTS to develop research and educations programs.  Aaron is currently a Director of Exercise and Sport Science Australia (ESSA), the peak national body for sport and exercise scientists and clinical exercise physiologists. In this role, he led the introduction or professional accreditation requirements for sport scientists and high-performance managers working in Australia sport in response to the supplement’s saga in the AFL and NRL early last decade.  Finally, Aaron is also member of the International Nike Sport Research Laboratory Advisory Board. 

Host

Sports & Exercise National Group

Date of Live Event

18/08/2022 

CPD Hours

1.0 Hours

Please note: The content of this Lecture on Demand (LOD) was captured via a recording of a live lecture at the APA premises. Due to the nature of the event and the recording method, this LOD may not have captured some of the questions/comments from live audience. Your purchase of this module indicates your acceptance of this.