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Resistance Training/Periodization

(24) PERCEPTUAL RECOVERY STATUS AS A MARKER TO TRACK RECOVERY OF PERFORMANCE FOLLOWING STRENGTH-BASED RESISTANCE EXERCISE

Thursday, July 13, 2023
2:00 PM – 3:30 PM East Coast USA Time
Location: Milano III-IV
Abstract Details: Monitoring recovery is of the utmost importance to strength and conditioning coaches, as maximizing adaptation requires striking a balance between training-induced stress and recovery from training. While a variety of recovery assessments exist, they are often fatiguing or cost/time ineffective, making them unfeasible in a field setting. Perceptual recovery status (PRS) is a quick, cost-effective, psychophysiological tool for coaches to monitor athlete recovery. While previous research has shown the relationship between PRS and recovery of performance with repeated sprinting and high-volume exercise, no study has quantified the relationship following high-intensity resistance training.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the ability of PRS to track performance recovery measures up to 72 hours following a high-intensity back-squat protocol.

Methods: Ten resistance-trained men (Age= 21.5 ± 1.2 y, Mass= 88.6 ± 16.4 kg, Squat 1-repetition maximum [1RM]= 172.6 ± 31.8 kg) reported to the laboratory on five occasions. The first session was used to establish 1RM and familiarize participants with a testing battery consisting of three countermovement jumps (CMJ) with hands fixed to the hips and three repetitions of a barbell back squat at 70%1RM. A linear transducer was attached to the barbell to determine mean bar velocity (MBV) for each attempt with participants being told to complete the concentric portion of a repetition as quickly as possible. Participants returned to the lab 48-72 hours later to complete a bout of exercise consisting of five sets of five repetitions of barbell back squats at 85%1RM interspersed with five minutes of recovery between sets. The testing battery took place immediately prior to, 24, 48, and 72 hours following the fatiguing bout of barbell back squats to establish recovery of performance. PRS was asked at the beginning of every exercise session both before and after a standardized warm-up. Repeated measures correlations were used to assess the association between recovery metrics (CMJ and MBV) and PRS while considering multiple observations from each participant. Additionally, Wilcoxon-signed rank tests, adjusted for multiple comparisons were used to establish differences in pre- vs post-warm-up scores at equivalent timepoints.

Results: Repeated measures correlations revealed a moderate to large correlation between MBV and pre- (r=.52; p < 0.01) and post-warm-up PRS (r=.54; p< 0.01). A weak relationship was observed between CMJ and pre-warm-up PRS (r=.20; p=0.29) and post-warm-up PRS (r=.20; p=0.29). Lastly, alpha-adjusted Wilcoxon-signed rank tests revealed no effect of warm-up on PRS scores at equivalent timepoints.

Conclusions: The current findings suggest that PRS scores can be gathered before or after a warm-up. PRS scores following high-intensity exercise also appear to be related more closely with higher force, lower velocity movements as the correlation with MBV was considerably higher than CMJ. However, there was still a great deal of unexplained variability in performance recovery that PRS itself could not explain. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Daily PRS can be used alongside other measures that are collected less frequently to build a more holistic picture of the recovery construct. However, individual variability should be considered when looking at PRS scores as these should be interpreted within the individual rather than compared between individuals.

Acknowledgements: None