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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1517102
This article is part of the Research Topic Comprehensive Boxer Profile: Performance, Training, and Health in Boxing View all articles
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This study examines the relationships between external and internal loads in female collegiate boxers during training and competition, focusing on variations during menstruation and non-menstruation periods. It also evaluates the effectiveness of different monitoring techniques in these contexts, providing guidance for coaches and athletes in load management. Twenty-one healthy female collegiate boxers participated, recording data across 18 training sessions and 6 competitions over six menstrual cycles. The metrics collected included session-RPE (sRPE), Banister's Trimp, Stagno's Trimp, moving distance, high-intensity moving distance, physical load, and the ratio of body weight loss. Correlation analysis revealed that internal and external loads are consistently positively correlated during training and competition. Apart from the training phase, where the correlation between sRPE and Stagno's Trimp was not statistically significant (r=0.181, p>0.05), correlations between sRPE and other indicators during both training and competitionshowed medium to high strength (r=0.426~0.880, p<0.05). During menstruation, the correlations of all metrics were lower than in non-menstruation periods. The study highlights that the subjective load sRPE can effectively predict and assess the internal load of female boxers, and is more sensitive to internal loads regardless of menstruation status. However, its application to external loads is limited, and objective measurements are recommended during menstruation.
Keywords: Combat sport, Menstruation, Physical load, Weight loss ratio, Session-RPE
Received: 25 Oct 2024; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 XU, Liu, Mao and Xi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
QingLou XU, Zhejiang Guangsha Vocational and Technical University of Construction, Dongyang, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
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