Maximizing Player Performance

Two-A-Days: Tackle the Heat
by: AFM Editorial Staff
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Every year in the month of August thousands of coaches from around the country prepare their players for yet another season of football. And every year thousands of football players are at risk of succumbing to the threat of heat illness linked to dehydration.

In recent years several athletes from high school to the professional ranks have died from heat stroke, causing many to take a closer look at the importance of proper cooling and hydration techniques for preventing heat illness in football.

This year, the NCAA enacted a new law regulating the use and frequency of two-a-day practices. Teams may no longer hold consecutive two-a-day practices, thus reducing the threat of overexertion and heat illness during the hottest month of the year. However, high schools are not governed by the NCAA.

“High school coaches should proactively design a plan for hydrating and protecting their athletes and stick to it,” said Claudia Wilson, R.D., C.D., a sports nutritionist for the University of Utah Athletics. “They shouldn’t practice risk management, they should practice preventative management.”

Preventing Heat Illness

There are two ways to stay out of harm’s way: hydration and cooling. During exercise, contracting muscles generate heat. Meanwhile, the body can also take on heat from the environment, particularly on a hot summer day. In order to keep core body temperature at a safe operating level, the body must rid itself of this excess heat. Evaporation of sweat is the most common way the body eliminates extra heat.

However, high humidity complicates matters because it creates a tougher environment for sweat evaporation. This forces the body to sweat more to make up for its reduced capacity to lose heat through evaporating sweat.

During one practice or game on a hot and humid day, a football player can lose up to a gallon of fluid through sweating. Dehydration occurs when an athlete does not drink enough to replace what’s lost through sweat. Dehydration resulting from inadequate fluid replacement sets the player up for poor performance and increases the risk for heat illness. The reason: dehydration forces an athlete’s heart to work harder to pump blood throughout the body. This makes it more difficult for the muscles to perform at their peak and for the core body temperature to remain at a safe level.

“Dehydration is very, very serious if left unchecked,” said Claudia Wilson. “The main thing to remember, however, is that heat illness and dehydration are preventable. Coaches must institute or mandate fluid breaks.”

“The two main points of staying out of harms way are hydration and cooling.”

How does an athlete know when they are dehydrated?

Often they don’t. Usually an athlete will not realize they are dehydrated until it is already too late. Further, players may be arriving to practice or games already dehydrated, putting them at a disadvantage before they ever step on the field. Some of the signs of dehydration are:

• Thirst • Fatigue • Dizziness • Headaches
• Dark Urine Color • Irritability • Muscle Cramps • Weakness

Any of these signs can throw an athlete off his game and possibly lead to a serious condition if not immediately treated. Symptoms of dehydration, like muscle cramping, can take away your winning edge and take your player out of the game.

It’s common for athletes to dehydrate by 2-6% of their body weight during practices or games, even when fluid is adequately available. Indeed, mild dehydration (1-2% body weight loss) can hinder performance and thermoregulatory function. Thus, two-a-days are an especially difficult time for players and for the coaches and trainers charged with keeping them safe.

To minimize the risks of dehydration and heat illness during two-a-days, athletes must maintain adequate levels of hydration before, during and after practice. Staying cool is also key. Remove helmets when on the sidelines and during non-contact drills or walk-throughs. Rest in cool shaded areas whenever possible. Coaches and/or athletic trainers should set up “cool zones” with fans, misters and cold tubs for emergency purposes.

How can dehydration be avoided?

By knowing a simple equation. Athletes should keep track of their weight before and after physical exertion. If an athlete is drinking enough, weight loss should be minimal. If significant weight loss does occur, the athlete should learn to increase fluid intake during activity to minimize weight loss.

It’s easy to calculate how much an athlete sweats and how much fluid is needed to replace sweat loss:

The amount of weight lost during exercise (in ounces*)
+
The amount of fluid consumed during exercise (in ounces)
=
Sweat loss or How much the athlete SHOULD be drinking

* one pound = 16 ounces

When calculating sweat rates, keep in mind that amounts can vary based on the weather, intensity of exercise and type of padding or equipment worn at the time. An athlete’s sweat rate during 2-a-days may be different than mid-season sweat rates. Therefore, it’s important to check sweat rates at various times during the season to make sure athletes are getting the right amount of fluid for the conditions they face.

“Two-a-day practices have been around since as long as football and we have a tendency to not allow enough time or resources for athletes to recover and rehydrate.

With all the publicity surrounding the recent tragedies in the football industry that we have had concerning dehydration, safety has certainly moved to the forefront, but it has always been ultra important to athletic trainers everywhere,” said T. Pepper Burruss, head athletic trainer for the Green Bay Packers. “Dehydration is the one preventable sports injury in that if you keep your athletes full of fluid they’re less likely to dehydrate.”

While water is good, it is simply not enough. An athlete’s body uses carbohydrates for energy and loses electrolytes, like sodium and potassium, through sweating - none of which are replaced by simply drinking plain water. Sports drinks, like Gatorade, provide energy from carbohydrates as well as sodium, potassium and chloride to help maintain electrolyte levels. Water, electrolytes and carbohydrates are essential for proper hydration and performance. Moreover, since water lacks flavor and sodium, an athlete will usually stop drinking before their fluid needs are met.

According to Wilson, “some athletes have a high concentration of sodium in their sweat (so-called “salty sweaters”). These athletes have a greater tendency for whole body muscle cramping and should consider sports drinks rather than water because sports drinks will help replace the sodium lost in sweat”.

In the past, salt pills were prevalent in combating dehydration and cramping, however, athletes were not consuming enough fluid along with the salt pills. Therefore the use of sports drinks, like Gatorade, is much more optimal because they can help replenish not only the water, but also the electrolytes the body needs function under hot and humid conditions.

So called “energy drinks” have become popular and prevalent, although they may not be the best choice for fluid replacement during hot and sweaty occasions. Generally, they contain too high of a concentration of carbohydrate. This slows the rate at which fluids can enter the body. Often this can produce feeling of nausea or upset stomach during activity. Further, some have stimulants that can “rev” the body up but this also heats the body up. Excess body heat is the last thing an athlete needs when working out or competing on a hot humid day.

Limited budget resources can put some high schools at a real disadvantage when combating heat illness in their athletes, but they are issues that must be addressed and solved because severe dehydration and heat illness can have grave consequences.

“Tragedies involving the deaths of football players due to dehydration will not go without some good coming from them, because it will peak our interest in education which will help identify weaknesses in the system,” said Burruss. “The day of withholding fluids to toughen an athlete is long gone. Coaches are really charged for the health and well-being of someone’s child, and this is a serious issue and not something that should be approached casually.”

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