The intensity of sports training is key to many positive consequences. This study aimed to know how motivation, self-perceived physical fitness, and self-perceived performance correlate with the intensity that young sports people showed in a session. The sample consisted of 79 athletes with ages between 10 and 16. After the right procedure (bioethical) sports people filled out a short questionnaire about their current perceived motivation, and they trained with an inertial device and heart rate monitor, placed on their body, to measure external (Player Load per minute) and internal (heart rate) intensity. They also answered another scale about their contextual motivation, perception of their performance and perception of their physical fitness. The results showed a relationship between both contextual intrinsic and identified motivation with athletes' external intensity, which also correlated with, self-perceived physical fitness and self-perceived performance. Self-perceived physical fitness was 49% predictive of Player Load per minute (r = 0.71; r2 = 0.49; Cohen’s f2 = 0.96, large; RMSE = 0.19; F(1,77) = 76.7; p < 0.001). Coaches can influence athletes' motivation to improve external intensity in sports training and their performance
Buñuel et al. (Wed,) studied this question.