Quantifying Internal Load in Pre-Professional Contemporary Dancers: The Association Between Objective Heart-Rate Derived Outcome Measures and Subjective Dancers' and Teachers' Perceptions

BACKGROUND: Monitoring heart rate is one of the most common methods used to quantify internal training load (ITL) in athletes. The aim of this study was to determine whether subjective measurements can be used as a simple, non-invasive, and inexpensive method for assessing ITL in pre-professional contemporary dancers.
Method: A total of 16 first-year contemporary dance students participated in this study. Students wore heart rate monitors during 56 training sessions. After each session, students completed the rate of perceived exertion (RPE) scale and teachers completed the rate of observed exertion (ROE) scale. For each session, we calculated the session-RPEs (sRPE), session-ROEs (sROE), and heart-rate-derived ITLs [i. e., Banister TRaining IMPulse method (TRIMP) and Edwards TRIMP]. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to determine the association between sRPE, sROE, Banister TRIMP, and Edwards TRIMP.
Results: Between-individual correlation between Banister TRIMP and subjective dancers' (sRPE) and teachers' perceptions (sROE) were moderate (r = .49, p < 0.01) to large (r = .57, p < 0.01). Between-individual correlations between Edwards TRIMP and the subjective perceptions (sRPE and sROE) were very large (r = .74, p < 0.01; and r = .79, p < 0.01). There was a statistically significant large (r = 0.52, p < 0.01) to almost perfect (r = 0.93, p < 0.01) within-individual correlation between the sRPE and the two measured TRIMP methods. There was a statistically significant small (r = .29, p < 0.01) to almost perfect (r = .92, p < 0.01) within-individual correlation between the sROE and the two measured TRIMP methods.
Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the sRPE is a simple, non-invasive, inexpensive, and valid method for quantifying ITL in pre-professional dancers.