Autoregulation in Resistance Training: Addressing the Inconsistencies

Abstract

Autoregulation is a process that is used to manipulate training based primarily on the measurement of an individual’s performance or their perceived capability to perform. Despite being established as a training framework since the 1940s, there has been limited systematic research investigating its broad utility. Instead, researchers have focused on disparate practices that can be considered specific examples of the broader autoregulation training framework. A primary limitation of previous research includes inconsistent use of key terminology (e.g., adaptation, readiness, fatigue, and response) and associated ambiguity of how to implement different autoregulation strategies. Crucially, this ambiguity in terminology and failure to provide a holistic overview of autoregulation limits the synthesis of existing research findings and their dissemination to practitioners working in both performance and health contexts. Therefore, the purpose of the current review was threefold: first, we provide a broad overview of various autoregulation strategies and their development in both research and practice whilst highlighting the inconsistencies in definitions and terminology that currently exist. Second, we present an overarching conceptual framework that can be used to generate operational definitions and contextualise autoregulation within broader training theory. Finally, we show how previous definitions of autoregulation fit within the proposed framework and provide specific examples of how common practices may be viewed, highlighting their individual subtleties.

Effects of subjective and objective autoregulation methods for intensity and volume on enhancing maximal strength during resistance-training interventions: a systematic review

“…In its most basic form, this is known as the fitness-fatigue model, which was originally developed by Banister et al (1975) . However, Banister et al (1975) model just account for that changes in performance could be attributed only to training ( Greig et al, 2020 ). This is not the case in the real world, because daily stressors such as nutrition, sleep, illness could influence performance.…”

“…This is not the case in the real world, because daily stressors such as nutrition, sleep, illness could influence performance. Greig et al (2020) argued that this can be viewed synonymously with the concept of readiness. Therefore, the three key concepts of daily fluctuation in performance could be the sum of fitness, fatigue, and readiness.…”

“…Where fitness could be described as positive effects on performance and adaptations from training. Fatigue could be described as the negative effects on performance from training, and readiness is the stochastic variation in performance attributed to non-training daily stressors ( Greig et al, 2020 ).…”

Precision strength training: Data-driven artificial intelligence approach to strength and conditioning

“…In strength training, concept of personalised training (referred also as autoregulation [276]) has existed for some time, in which the training load and recovery status of an individual athlete are continuously monitored, and the exercise continuously adapted by a human coach (subjective decision making) using the monitored parameters output [61,135,537].…”

“…In precision medicine literature, personalised and precision medicine are sometimes used inter- in the literature [276], and the approach described in this review ts to existing loose denition, but we wish to stress the quantitative modeling aspect with our precision prex, inspired by the precision medicine literature. In brief, precision medicine is interested in developing disease progression models [902], prescriptive modeling with individualised treatment eects [78,141,473,625], phenotyping patients [593,832,866], and acquiring patient similarity measures [729].…”