Integrated Readiness Monitoring Based on Post-Competition Fatigue in Team Sports: A Longitudinal Study Comparing Male and Female Athletes

The study aimed to assess the utility of a fatigue-monitoring protocol for determining athletes’ readiness post-competition and to present sex-related variation in its use. Methods included a subjective assessment of specific dimensions of perceived readiness (dRIs) and an objective evaluation of the physical readiness (RDs). dRIs evaluated fatigue upon waking up, sleep quality, mood, and muscle soreness, while RDs consisted of 3 field tests. Twenty-one male and 23 female athletes were tested 4 days per week, starting from the match day (MD): MD+2, MD+3, MD+5. Results indicated no significant differences in dRIs among females, whereas for males, fatigue upon waking was lower at MD+2, MD+3, and MD+5 than at MD, and muscle soreness was higher at MD+5 than on the other days. For RDs, only a significant difference in adductor strength was found in females between MD and MD+2, as well as between MD+2 and MD+3, whereas no notable changes were evidenced in males. Between sexes, the dRIs comparison showed significant differences on MD; for RDs, a difference was found only for the Adductor Squeeze Test on MD+3. In conclusion, sex differences in the utility of dRIs have been noted: they appear less suitable in females, whereas in males they reflect the expected fatigue pattern. Instead, in terms of RDs, they seemed limited in fatigue detection in both sexes; they serve as useful tools for assessing physical readiness with eventual differences in ROM and strength.