Relationships between perceived measures of internal load and wellness status during overseas futsal training camps

Exercise and sport practitioners frequently utilize rating of perceived exertion (RPE) to evaluate the players’ psychophysiological strains during training sessions. The subjective rating of physical exertion level during sports training has been shown to have a reciprocal relationship with wellness status during periodic training or competitive seasons. However, the relationship between subjective physical exertions and wellness status during short-term overseas training camps (OTCs) has not been extensively investigated. This study aimed to examine the perceived responses of physical exertions [session-RPE (sRPE), training monotony, and training strain] and wellness status (fatigue, sleep, delayed onset muscle soreness, stress, and mood) measures in elite young adult futsal players from four separate OTCs with different training tasks. Twenty-seven U-20 male national team futsal players voluntarily participated in this study. The players recruited for OTCs were based on their performance during domestic training camps and the tactical demand of the team. The task of each OTCs was defined as: 1) 1st OTC = game-based camp (n = 14); 2) 2nd and 3rd OTC = training-based camp (n = 20 and n = 17, respectively); and 3) 4th OTC = pre-tournament camp (n = 14). The OTCs consisted of 11 training sessions (18.9 hours) and 16 friendly matches (23.8 hours). During daily training sessions and friendly matches, sRPE was used to quantify training load (TL). Additionally, a five-elements general wellness questionnaire was used to evaluate daily wellness status in the morning. The results demonstrated that the mean and sum sRPE in the game-based OTCs were significantly lower compared to the mean sRPE [p