Training patterns and illness during a men's collegiate basketball season

This study was designed to follow training patterns and the incidence of injury and illness in members of the 1998-99 University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team during a competitive playing season. Additionally, a Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) and a heart rate (HR) based method of monitoring training intensity were compared. Adult male athletes (18-23 yr) participated in the study (N = 14). The relationships among illnesses/injuries, training load (weekly average), training monotony (daily mean/standard deviation), and training strain (load*monotony) were determined. The HR scores were summated into 5 training zones and converted into points. They were then compared to the points generated from the session RPE method. It was observed that a high percentage of illness/injury occurred during the first 2 weeks of the basketball season, possibly due to high values of both training load and strain at this time. The HR method for monitoring training load paralleled the RPE method of recording exercise training intensities. These results suggest that the use of the RPE and HR method are both valid and useful tools to monitor exercise training intensity, not only in individual sports, but also in team sports (e.g., basketball)