Jason Ulmer

Date of Award

January 2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Kinesiology & Public Health Education

First Advisor

John S. Fitzgerald

Abstract

Due to the unique demands of ice hockey and limited reliability data, the utility of the heart rate derived variables TRIMP and Training Effect for assessing internal training load in ice hockey players is not clear. Having a reliable measure of internal training load with the capability of quantifying and detecting meaningful change, especially between on-ice training sessions, would help coaches program exercise training. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of TRIMP and Training Effect during on-ice training sessions in ice hockey players. Twenty-two Division I collegiate male ice hockey players (aged 18-23 years) wore HR monitors during two on-ice practice sessions (n=12) and two off-ice circuit training workouts (n=19) and HR data was collected and analyzed. TRIMP and Training Effect, along with other descriptive HR variables were compared between the sessions. TRIMP and training effect demonstrated acceptable reliability during on-ice training sessions. Systematic errors, quantified as standardized bias were negligible to small (-0.19-0.23). Random errors quantified as the % TE were moderate (10.9-12.2%). Test-retest ICCs were very strong (0.70-0.75). Reliability results were similar for the lower-body circuit training sessions. Our results indicate that TRIMP and Training Effect are suitable measures of internal training load during on-ice evaluation in male collegiate hockey players. The results from our study can be used to determine the threshold for meaningful change in TRIMP and Training Effect, which may aid in informing decisions by coaches and strength training staff regarding on-ice training session difficulty and composition.

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