The quantification of within-week session intensity, duration, and intensity distribution across a season in Australian Football using the session rating of perceived exertion method

Purpose: Training in team sports requires the daily manipulation of intensity, duration andfrequency with pre-season focusing on meeting the demands of in-season competition and inseason on recovery from competition. In order to provide information about daily training inAustralian Football (AF), this study aimed to quantify session duration, intensity anddistribution across a full season.Methods: Intensity (Ratings of Perceived Exertion, RPE) and duration were collected fromforty-five professional male AF for every training session and game. Each RPE wascategorized into the corresponding intensity zone; Low (Results: The distribution of the mean session intensity across the season was 29% low-, 57%moderate- and 14% high-intensity. While 96% of games were high-intensity, 44% and 49%of skills training sessions were low- and moderate-intensity, respectively. Running had thehighest proportion of high-intensity training sessions (27%). Pre-season displayed highertraining session intensity and duration, while in-season game intensity and duration werehigher.Conclusion: By using a cost-effective monitoring tool, this study provides information aboutthe intensity and duration of all training types across different phases of the season, thusallowing a greater understanding of the training and competition demands of AustralianFootballers