The effectiveness of the Total Quality Recovery (TQR) scale for elite badminton players during periods of intense training

Abstract

This study investigated the efficacy of the Total Quality Recovery (TQR) scale (Kentta & Hassmen, 1998) for elite badminton players at two High Performance Centres (HPC). Nine male (age 24.4 ± 3.4yrs) and three female badminton players (age 20.0 ± 2.0yrs) were recruited on the basis that they were members of the HPC and were undertaking multiple training sessions on a daily basis. The hypothesis tested was that there would be an imbalance between Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) (Borg 1998) and actual (TQRact) scores during recovery The study was a repeated measures design involving daily recording of Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE), perceived recovery (TQRper) and recovery action score (TQRact) during a five day training cycle. Nutritional intake, amount of sleep and rest, relaxation modalities employed and level of warm down completed were recorded in player handbooks. Agreement between the RPE, TQRper and TQRact was assessed using the Friedman ANOVA and Spearman correlation coefficient. The TQR scale category differences were assessed by the Friedman ANOVA technique with appropriate Mann Whitney U test post-hoc analysis with Bonferroni adjustments applied for the repeated measures. Results showed a significant imbalance between perceived effort and actual recovery score (p= 0.006) indicating players recovery activities were not sufficient for the level of training undertaken. The results also indicate that key areas for improvement would be to increase carbohydrate intake, to utilise different recovery modalities such as massage and cryotherapy, and to ensure completion of an appropriate warm down. It is concluded that the TQR scale is a useful tool for coaches and players to monitor training and recovery but that HPC badminton players need to focus more attention on recovery actions to avoid overtraining and optimise their training.