Training Load, Athlete State, and Training Response in Sports
A special issue of Sports (ISSN 2075-4663).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 258
Editors
2. CIFI2D, Centre of Research, Education, Innovation, and Intervention in Sport, University of Porto, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal
3. COD, Center of Sports Optimization, Sporting Clube de Portugal, 1600-464 Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: training load; athlete monitoring; athlete state; training response; recovery; neuromuscular fatigue; strength and conditioning; high-performance sport; team sports; volleyball; readiness assessment; performance optimization; figure skating
2. CIFI2D, Centre of Research, Education, Innovation, and Intervention in Sport, University of Porto, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal
3. COD, Center of Sports Optimization, Sporting Clube de Portugal, 1600-464 Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: training load monitoring; athlete state markers; training response; external load; internal load; fatigue management; recovery strategies; physiological adaptations; neuromuscular fatigue; performance optimization; injury risk reduction; youth athlete development
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue entitled “Training Load, Athlete State, and Training Response in Sports”.
Understanding how athletes respond to training remains a central challenge in sports science and applied practice. Although training load is now widely monitored, load alone does not fully explain the substantial variability in athlete responses observed between athletes and across contexts over time. A broader perspective that examines how training load interacts with athlete state to shape training response may improve the understanding of adaptation, fatigue, recovery, readiness, performance, and health in sports.
This Special Issue aims to bring together high-quality research that advances knowledge on the relationships between training load, athlete state, and training response across a range of sporting contexts. Original research articles and review papers are welcome. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, external and internal load, perceptual and physiological responses, neuromuscular fatigue, recovery, training adaptation, injury risk management, performance optimization, athlete monitoring technologies, longitudinal athlete monitoring, and statistical or practical approaches for interpreting meaningful change over time.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. André Rebelo
Dr. João Valente-dos-Santos
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sports is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- training load
- athlete monitoring
- athlete state
- training response
- readiness
- recovery
- fatigue
- adaptation
- performance
- injury risk
- sports physiology
- sports biomechanics
- wearables
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
