Internal and external training load in men’s professional padel players: A positional comparison in the Premier Padel circuit

Abstract

Significant positional differences exist between left- and right-side players in professional padel, particularly in movement patterns and shot selection during competition. However, little is known about how these roles influence internal and external training load. As training is key to optimizing performance, monitoring both physiological and physical stress is essential. This study compared training load responses between left- and right-side professional male padel players in the Premier Padel circuit. Thirty-four top-60 right-handed players wore Polar Team Pro sensors during 15 training sessions. Internal load was assessed through heart rate (HR; time in zones 50–60%, 60–70%, 70–80%, 90–100% HRmax), while external load was evaluated from acceleration and deceleration zones (0.50–0.99, 1.00–1.99, 2.00–2.99, 3.00–50.00 m/s²), speed zones (3.00–5.99, 6.00–8.99, 9.00–11.99, 12.00–14.99, ≥ 15.00 km/h), and distance per minute. The results showed no significant differences (p < 0.05) and small effect sizes in external load, although internal load revealed small and medium effect-size differences: left-side players performed more continuous efforts, both in volume and intensity, compared to right-side players, who engaged in intermittent effort of higher intensity but with lower involvement. On average, left- vs. right-side players recorded mean HRs of 72.42 ± 5.83% vs. 74.20 ± 5.82% HRmax, spent 31.7% vs. 27.4% of training time in zone 3 and 23.0% vs. 29.7% in zone 4, covered 22.31 ± 4.43 vs. 22.26 ± 4.49 m/min, and performed 6.61 ± 1.44 vs. 6.78 ± 0.71 accelerations/min. These positional benchmarks may guide future research and inform position-specific conditioning programs in professional padel.