Training Sessions’ RPE in Professional Football is Influenced by Playing Position

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate if professional football players’ RPE reported after training sessions is influenced by their playing positions.Professional football players (n = 28) from afirst division Brazilian club had RPE collected after training sessions during 10 weeks of the regular season. Athleteswere divided in groups according to their playing positions (GK, n = 3; CB, n = 4; FB, n = 5; CMF n = 5; AMF, n = 4; WMF n = 4; andFWD; n = 4).Descriptive analysis of the sample was followed by the application of the Welch’s F-Test with Games-Howell post-hoc for RPE analysis of variance across positions. All playing positions reported “moderate” as mean- and mode-RPE (GK=3,190,64; CB=3,851,29; FB=3,871,39; CMF=3,991,28; AMF=3,781,25; WMF=3,591,18; FWD = 3,701,08), open field positions perceived effort in all intensity zones, while GKperceived sessions within a narrower range of intensities. GK reported significant lower RPE than any other playing position (FGOL, FWD = 18,61; p<0,0001), and CMF reported higher RPE than all others open-field positions, although the difference is only significant with respect to WMF (p<0,05).In conclusion,RPE is influenced by playing position and the physical activity profile performed. GK’ lower RPE may be caused by the participation in open-field activities with the group of players as these activities are known to be less demanding than the position-specific training. Therefore, collecting GK’ RPE also after the positionspecific training block can contribute with goalkeepers’ coaches in their training planning and load monitoring. Additionally, differences in RPE of CMF and WMF shed a light on the influence of running activity on perceived exertion and its relationship with tactical roles.