The aim of this study was two-fold: (a) to describe the in-season variations of training
monotony (TM), training strain (TS), and acute: chronic workload ratio (ACWR) through
fatigue, stress, muscle soreness and sleep quality; (b) to compare those variations
between player status and player positions. Seventeen professional players from an
European First League team participated in this study. Regarding player status,
participants were divided in two groups: starters (n=9), and non-starters (n=8).
Additionally, they were divided according to player positions: four central defenders,
three wide defenders, four central midfielders, three wide midfielders, and three
strikers. They were monitored daily over a 40-week period of competition through the
Hooper index. Then, TM, TS, and ACWR were calculated for each Hooper index
categories, respectively. Data were analysed across ten mesocycles (M: 1 to 10). Results
revealed variations over the season with respect for both player status and positions.
There was a tendency of higher values for all TM, TS, and ACWR calculated from Hooper
categories, for starters compared to non-starters. Regarding player positions, there
were variations over the season but only significant differences in stress between wide
defenders vs central midfielders for monotony (p=0.033, ES=5.16) and central defenders
vs wide defenders for ACWR (p=0.044, ES=4.95), and in sleep between wide defenders
and strikers for TM (p=0.015, ES= 5.80). The present study showed that a comprehensive
analysis of players' wellness parameters can provide clear information to the coaches tp
complement training monitoring of the players.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
