The Monitoring Of Performance Progress Due To Long-Term Physical Activity By Paper-Based Training Diaries: Do Training Diaries Reflect Training Progress?

Out of 109 hobby athletes who were instructed to work out for 8 months with a calculated training pulse, 98 participants completed the study. Training workload (intensity and time) was recorded with special training diaries. In order to assess the objective performance gain/change, bicycle stress tests were performed at the beginning and the end of the study.  Surrogate parameters, which are associated with increased physical activity, were also recorded.  Results: Those participants who had a performance gain of at least 3.0% (mean gain about 12%)  in the bicycle stress tests, worked out between 547 and 576 minutes per month in moderate, and between 14 and 187 minutes per /month in high intensity. There was neither a correlation concerning the duration of moderate training with performance gain nor concerning intensive training with performance gain.  Conclusions: Paper-based training diaries might serve as accompanying tool in the monitoring of a training progress. But because of the discrepancy between reported training loads and objectively measured training progress, they are not suitable to replace regular bicycle stress tests for an exact determination of a performance gain in hobby athletes. Probably new devices such as fitness trackers/watches present better alternatives.