This post is prepared by West 4th Physiotherapy associate Peter Francis
How about a practical workload monitoring example?
Let’s take a real life example and help apply it by using an elderly person in our general population who simply wants to stay mobile. Some older adults might keep a walking log, so here’s how we can take a brisk walk to the next level! There are only two columns that the individual needs to fill in (1) distance of blocks walked at a brisk pace and (2) session’s rating of perceived exertion (sRPE) rated by the individual as 0-10. The rest is automatically calculated. The calculations are the summation measure = blocks multiplied by sRPE. The workload ratio is simply the current week total measure divided by the average total of the last four weeks.
Day | Date | Distance (blocks) | sRPE 0-10 | Summation Measure | Acute:Chronic Workload Ratio |
Sun | Mar 5, 2017 | 10 | 5 | 50 | |
Mon | Mar 6, 2017 | 12 | 6 | 72 | |
Tue | Mar 7, 2017 | 16 | 8 | 128 | |
Wed | Mar 8, 2017 | 14 | 8 | 112 | |
Thu | Mar 9, 2017 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Fri | Mar 10, 2017 | 10 | 5 | 50 | |
Sat | Mar 11, 2017 | 12 | 6 | 72 | |
Week 1 | 484 | 1.0 | |||
Sun | Mar 12, 2017 | 12 | 4 | 48 | |
Mon | Mar 13, 2017 | 14 | 5 | 70 | |
Tue | Mar 14, 2017 | 14 | 6 | 84 | |
Wed | Mar 15, 2017 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Thu | Mar 16, 2017 | 14 | 5 | 70 | |
Fri | Mar 17, 2017 | 16 | 5 | 80 | |
Sat | Mar 18, 2017 | 17 | 6 | 102 | |
Week 2 | 454 | 0.97 | |||
Sun | Mar 19, 2017 | 18 | 8 | 144 | |
Mon | Mar 20, 2017 | 21 | 9 | 189 | |
Tue | Mar 21, 2017 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Wed | Mar 22, 2017 | 17 | 6 | 102 | |
Thu | Mar 23, 2017 | 18 | 8 | 144 | |
Fri | Mar 24, 2017 | 18 | 9 | 162 | |
Sat | Mar 25, 2017 | 19 | 9 | 171 | |
Week 3 | 912 | 1.48 | |||
Sun | Mar 26, 2017 | 16 | 5 | 80 | |
Mon | Mar 27, 2017 | 18 | 6 | 108 | |
Tue | Mar 28, 2017 | 20 | 7 | 140 | |
Wed | Mar 29, 2017 | 10 | 3 | 30 | |
Thu | Mar 30, 2017 | 12 | 5 | 60 | |
Fri | Mar 31, 2017 | 16 | 6 | 96 | |
Sat | Apr 1, 2017 | 18 | 7 | 126 | |
Week 4 | 640 | 1.03 |
As you can see in week 3, this person increased the intensity of walking a lot and the ratio was near 1.5 so could be at risk of overtraining or getting injured. Using this simple table can help an individual to rate how they were feeling based on a given activity completed and monitor week to week for reasonable progression. The difference for an elite athlete might mean a drop in performance but for the older adult a drop in mobility can be debilitating. Working too hard one week can result in taking the next week off because of soreness/fatigue and walking too little can lead to deconditioning. Slow and progressive wins the race!
Peter Francis, Registered Physiotherapist
MPT, BKin, Dip. Sports Science
Main Street Physiotherapy Clinic
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