When progressing training loads, what are the considerations for healthy and injured athletes?

Abstract

Every sport requires specific physical capacities to enable success and minimise injury risk. For instance, a competitive runner requires adequate muscular force production to counter ground reaction forces for a single step at a given speed ( local tissue capacity), and the muscular and cardiovascular endurance to tolerate the accumulation of steps for the time and distance of the event ( sport-specific capacity). Failing to adequately develop these physical qualities may result in underperformance and/or increased injury risk. In this editorial we explore how to optimally monitor and progress training loads to improve local tissue and sport-specific capacity. When referring to load capacity, sport-specific capacity is defined as the athlete’s ability to perform (and withstand) the demands of training and competition, whereas local tissue capacity is defined as a specific structure’s ability to withstand tissue-specific cumulative load.1 In healthy athletes, training load quantification focuses on the athlete’s sport-specific capacity and not on one’s specific local tissue capacity. Progressively applied sport-specific training load improves an athlete’s physical capacities (eg, strength, power and endurance) and performance.2 Conversely, injury risk increases if training loads grossly exceed the athlete’s current local tissue capacity.3 Thus, increasing local tissue capacity as a component of the training cycle can decrease injury risk. Loading for healthy athletes is designed to improve sport-specific …

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