Monitoring training and recovery responses with heart rate measures during standardized warm-up in elite badminton players

Purpose: To investigate short-term training and recovery-related effects on heart rate during a standardized submaximal running test.

Methods: Ten elite badminton players (7 females and 3 males) were monitored during a 12-week training period in preparation for the World Championships. Exercise heart rate (HRex) and perceived exertion were measured in response to a 5-min submaximal shuttle-run test during the morning session warm-up. This test was repeatedly performed on Mondays after 1-2 days of pronounced recovery ('recovered' state; reference condition) and on Fridays following 4 consecutive days of training ('strained' state). In addition, the serum concentration of creatine kinase and urea, perceived recovery-stress states, and jump performance were assessed before warm-up.

Results: Creatine kinase increased in the strained compared to the recovered state and the perceived recovery-stress ratings decreased and increased, respectively (range of average effects sizes: |d| = 0.93-2.90). The overall HRex was 173 bpm and the observed within-player variability (i.e., standard deviation as a coefficient of variation [CV]) was 1.3% (90% confidence interval: 1.2% to 1.5%). A linear reduction of -1.4% (-3.0% to 0.3%) was observed in HRex over the 12-week observational period. HRex was -1.5% lower (-2.2% to -0.9%) in the strained compared to the recovered state, and the standard deviation (as a CV) representing interindividual variability in this response was 0.7% (-0.6% to 1.2%).

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that HRex measured during a standardized warm-up can be sensitive to short-term accumulation of training load, with HRex decreasing on average in response to consecutive days of training within repeated preparatory weekly microcycles. From a practical perspective, it seems advisable to determine intra-individual recovery-strain responses by repeated testing, as HRex responses may vary substantially between and within players.