Hydration Status in Adolescent Judo Athletes Before and After Training in the Heat

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Hydration Status in Adolescent Judo Athletes Before and After Training in the Heat

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Hydration Status in Adolescent Judo Athletes Before and After Training in the Heat

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Access the profile card for user: Hickel Woolery Hickel Woolery

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October 27, 2013 7:19 PM

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Rivera, B., Anita, M., De Felix, D., & Roberto, A. (2012). Hydration status in adolescent judo athletes before and after training in the heat. International Journal of Sports Physiology & Performance, 7(1), p39 8p.

Purpose of study

Adolescent who train in tropical climates may be in persistent state of dehydration since they restrict fluid intake during training sessions to maintain or reduce their body weight and are not given enough opportunity to drink enough fluid. The main purpose of this study is to determine the hydration status of adolescent judo athletes before. Immediately after and 24 h after a training session and to document sodium loss in sweat and other symptoms of dehydration

Methods and materials

Twenty-four  adolescent judo athletes (athletes =14,female =10) between the ages of 12 and 17y, who were naturally acclimatized to hot and humid environmental conditions were the subjects of this study.

This study. Before pre-training session started the subjects had to urinate into a preweighed container,a electronic scale accurate to 20g was used to determine nude body weight.They then dressed in a Judo kimono. The forehead was cleaned with distilled water and An absorbent patch was then placed on their foreheads, this is the least likely site for the patch to fall off during a judo training session. Urine color was graded on a scale from 1 to 8, on a scale developed by Armstrong et al.1 on the scale is very pale yellow and gets darker with 8 being greenish brown. The specific gravity was determined by using a hand-held refractometer. The urine color and specific gravity measures were used to determine the hydration status of the subjects.

Training session. Training session was aproimately 90min which consisted of 15min warm-up followed by 60min of training and 15 minutes of cool-down and stretching. The training session included falls,immobilization and strangulation techniques. The trainining session were held at the same time from august to September. The environmental conditions was measured before, every 30min and at the end of the practice session  a QUESTemp 32 placed 6feet away from  the training mat. Dry bulb (DB), wet bulb (WB),globe temperature (GT) and relative humidity(RH) were measured during the training session. The only water available was at a water fountain, the experimenters did not introduce any kind of fluid in an attempt to capture the true drinking behavior pattern of the judo athletes,who were asked to report how many gulps they drunk with each water break, the patch from the forehead was removed when saturated and placed in a plastic tube.

Posttraining session. immediately following the completion of the training session the subjects were asked  to answer (yes or no) if they are experienced any symptoms such as thirst, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, cramps, headache, irritability or chills which are some of the main symptoms of dehydration. They then urinated in a preweighed container after which they dried off and weighed nude once again.  Urine color,gravity and volume were documented to highlight hydration status of the subjects. Sweat samples were obtained from the sweat patch and analyzed using an ion electrolyte analyzer to determine the concentration of sodium. Dehydration was calculated using the formula: (body mass pre-training-body mass post-training)/body mass pre-training.

Summary of results /Conclusion

The majority of the subjects started training at high level of dehydration .during the training session, mid- pubertal subjects lost 1.3(+/-)0.8% of their pre-training body mass whereas Late pubertal subjects lost 1.9(+/-)0.5% (p<0.05). Sweat sodium concentration was 44.5 +/- 23.3 mmol/Subjects. Subjects also reported symptoms of dehydration during the practice session.There were no significant differences between males and females in any of the variables studied and data for males and female when combined in one group. Based on the values for the specific gravity 21 of the 24 subjects started training with significant level of dehydration USG between 1.021 and 1.030g/ml, with 3 of the subjects started their training in a serious state of dehydration defined as USG> 1.030g/mL. the average USG pre-training value was greater in mid-pubertal subjects compared to late-pubertal subjects (MP=1.029 +/- 0.004;=1.024+/-0.005,P=0.045).

 All the subjects experienced fluid loss during the training session. Late pubertal subjects lost more body mass compared to Mid-pubertal subjects, estimation for each gulp was 15ml of water, and the the average fluid intake was 257.0 plus/minus 245.7mL and 171.7 plus/minus 166.7mL for late-pubertal and Mid-pubertal respectively. Sweat rate was twice as high for LP compared with MP. Based on the given data it is concluded that the subjects did not hydrate properly before during or after the exercise session. It is therefore necessary for instructors of judo to educate their pupil on proper hydration pre-training and during training sessions.

Critique of the Study

There was no mention of the negative impact the lack of fluid had on the Judo subjects ability to fight, whether it impacted their reaction time or overall ability to sustain a sparring session with each other. Collecting sweat from only the forehead can also be deceiving since the sweat rate from different body parts might differ from individual to individual. There also need to be a better way of collecting the amount of fluid the subject’s intake since measuring Gulp per individual is not very reliable. Overall it was a very interesting study and is very applicable to the judo and martial arts world.

Practical Application of the study

Hydration is key to maintain good performances and to prevent dehydration. Many athletes are not properly hydrated, especially adolescents who take hydration for granted because of a lack in education on the topic. A general plan should be set up to help young athletes become aware of the benefits of good hydration, using urine color as an index on hydration status.

Attachment:  Hydration Status in Adolescent Judo Athletes Before and After Training in the Heat.pdf (204.647 KB)

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