Does education improve adherence to a training monitoring program in recreational athletes?

Monitoring athletes' training may help prevent negative consequences such as overtraining and burnout. However, acceptance or willingness of athletes to participate is a barrier to an effective training monitoring program. Educational strategies may potentially increase adherence. Therefore, our aims are to i) assess the impact of training monitoring education on adherence to a monitoring program; ii) determine the effect of the education intervention on burnout, stress, and recovery, and; iii) qualitatively investigate athlete perspectives of the education and training monitoring experience. Recreational athletes (18 male/17 female; age = 42.6 +/- 12.0) were randomised to either a control (n = 19) or education (n = 16) group and completed daily training monitoring through a smartphone application over 10 weeks. Pre-post assessments using the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire, the Acute Recovery Stress Scale, and a perceived knowledge of training monitoring questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews were performed. Adherence was low, with no differences between the control group ([mean +/- SD]; 43.0 +/- 38.8%) and the education group (45.8 +/- 36.7%). There were also no differences (p >0.05) between the groups on the standardised inventories. There was a significant effect of time (p <0.001) on participant's perceived understanding of training monitoring tools (scored out of 42) at the end of the washout period (Control: 24.4 +/- 6.6; Education: 28.5 +/- 5.6) and post-study (Control: 32.1 +/- 7.5; Education: 35.1 +/- 6.0) compared to the pre-study (Control: 21.5 +/- 7.3; Education: 21.9 +/- 7.7). Interviews revealed participants wanted more education on modifying their training, and feedback on their data. Our findings suggest this specific educational approach was not enough to increase adherence; other aspects of education and individual feedback needs to be further explored.

Automated summary

In this study, the impact of training monitoring education on adherence to a monitoring program and the effect of the education intervention on burnout, stress, and recovery were assessed. The results showed no significant differences in adherence and standardized inventories between the education group and the control group. However, there was a significant improvement in participants' perceived understanding of training monitoring tools after the education intervention.