Load Monitoring With Consumer Wearables in Amateur Endurance Athletes: A Review of Signal, Noise, and Behaviour Change
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22549062Keywords:
Wearable technology, Training load, Heart rate monitoring, Physical activity tracking, Behaviour change, Endurance athletesAbstract
Consumer wearable devices are now used routinely by amateur endurance athletes to estimate training
load through step counts, heart rate, energy expenditure, and GPS-derived pace and distance, yet
validation studies consistently find measurement error that varies substantially by metric, device, and
exercise intensity, with wrist-worn optical heart-rate accuracy in particular degrading markedly during
high-intensity effort. A separate and distinct evidence base addresses whether wearable feedback actually
changes training behaviour, generally finding a modest short-term increase in physical activity that
attenuates over months of continued use. This review synthesises the device-validation and
behaviour-change literature relevant to consumer wearable load monitoring in amateur endurance
athletes, distinguishing genuine physiological signal from measurement noise and situating both within
the separate question of whether wearable data sustainably changes training behaviour.
References
Duking P, Hotho A, Holmberg HC, Fuss FK, Sperlich B. "Comparison of non-invasive individual monitoring of the training and health of athletes with commercially available wearable technologies". Front Physiol 7(2016):71.
Halson SL. "Monitoring training load to understand fatigue in athletes". Sports Med 44(2014):S139-S147.
Bourdon PC, Cardinale M, Murray A, et al. "Monitoring athlete training loads: consensus statement". Int J Sports Physiol Perform 12(2017):S2161-S2170.
Gabbett TJ. "The training-injury prevention paradox: should athletes be training smarter and harder?". Br J Sports Med 50(2016):273-280.
Fuller D, Colwell E, Low J, et al. "Reliability and validity of commercially available wearable devices for measuring steps, energy expenditure, and heart rate: systematic review". JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 8(2020):e18694.
Evenson KR, Goto MM, Furberg RD. "Systematic review of the validity and reliability of consumer-wearable activity trackers". Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 12(2015):159.
Peake JM, Kerr G, Sullivan JP. "A critical review of consumer wearables, mobile applications, and equipment for providing biofeedback, monitoring stress, and sleep in physically active populations". Front Physiol 9(2018):743.
Impellizzeri FM, Marcora SM, Coutts AJ. "Internal and external training load: 15 years on". Int J Sports Physiol Perform 14(2019):270-273.
Saw AE, Main LC, Gastin PB. "Monitoring the athlete training response: subjective self-reported measures trump commonly used objective measures: a systematic review". Br J Sports Med 50(2016):281-291.
Vanrenterghem J, Nedergaard NJ, Robinson MA, Drust B. "Training load monitoring in team sports: a novel framework separating physiological and biomechanical load-adaptation pathways". Sports Med 47(2017):2135-2142.
Shcherbina A, Mattsson CM, Waggott D, et al. "Accuracy in wrist-worn, sensor-based measurements of heart rate and energy expenditure in a diverse cohort". J Pers Med 7(2017):3.
Wallen MP, Gomersall SR, Keating SE, Wisloff U, Coombes JS. "Accuracy of heart rate watches: implications for weight management". PLoS One 11(2016):e0154420.
Cadmus-Bertram L. "Using fitness trackers in clinical research: what nurse practitioners need to know". J Nurse Pract 13(2017):34-40.
Ferguson T, Olds T, Curtis R, et al. "Effectiveness of wearable activity trackers to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary time: a systematic review and meta-analysis". Lancet Digit Health 4(2022):e615-e626.
Brickwood KJ, Watson G, OBrien J, Williams AD. "Consumer-based wearable activity trackers increase physical activity participation: systematic review and meta-analysis". JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 7(2019):e11819.
Jo A, Coronel BD, Coakes CE, Mainous AG 3rd. "Is there a benefit to patients using wearable devices such as Fitbit or health apps on mobiles? A systematic review". Am J Med 132(2019):1394-1400.
Sperlich B, Holmberg HC. "Wearable, yes, but able...? It is time for evidence-based marketing claims!". Br J Sports Med 51(2017):1240.
Seshadri DR, Li RT, Voos JE, et al. "Wearable sensors for monitoring the physiological and biomechanical profile of the athlete". NPJ Digit Med 2(2019):71.
Piwek L, Ellis DA, Andrews S, Joinson A. "The rise of consumer health wearables: promises and barriers". PLoS Med 13(2016):e1001953.
Case MA, Burwick HA, Volpp KG, Patel MS. "Accuracy of smartphone applications and wearable devices for tracking physical activity data". JAMA 313(2015):625-626.
Duking P, Fuss FK, Holmberg HC, Sperlich B. "Recommendations for assessment of the reliability, sensitivity, and validity of data provided by wearable sensors designed for monitoring physical activity". JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 6(2018):e102.
Malone JJ, Lovell R, Varley MC, Coutts AJ. "Unpacking the black box: applications and considerations for using GPS devices in sport". Int J Sports Physiol Perform 12(2017):S218-S226.
Windt J, Gabbett TJ. "How do training and competition workloads relate to injury? The workload-injury aetiology model". Br J Sports Med 51(2017):428-435.
Foster C, Florhaug JA, Franklin J, et al. "A new approach to monitoring exercise training". J Strength Cond Res 15(2001):109-115.
Aroganam G, Manivannan N, Harrison D. "Review on wearable technology sensors used in consumer sport applications". Sensors (Basel) 19(2019):1983.
Li RT, Kling SR, Salata MJ, Cupp SA, Sheehan J, Voos JE. "Wearable performance devices in sports medicine". Sports Health 8(2016):74-78.
Nelson BW, Low CA, Jacobson N, Arean P, Torous J, Allen NB. "Guidelines for wrist-worn consumer wearable assessment of heart rate in biobehavioral research". NPJ Digit Med 3(2020):90.
Bunn JA, Navalta JW, Fountaine CJ, Reece JD. "Current state of commercial wearable technology in physical activity monitoring 2015-2017". Int J Exerc Sci 11(2018):503-515.
Hicks JL, Althoff T, Sosic R, et al. "Best practices for analyzing large-scale health data from wearables and smartphone apps". NPJ Digit Med 2(2019):45.
Gabbett TJ, Nassis GP, Oetter E, et al. "The athlete monitoring cycle: a practical guide to interpreting and applying training monitoring data". Br J Sports Med 51(2017):1451-1452.
