Dehydration is a serious detrimental factor for athletic performance. Training on daily bases in worm conditions at high altitude may cause dehydration problem. The aim of this study was to evaluate the hydration status of swimmers during a high altitude training camp period fo 3 weeks. Methods: 17 national team swimmers (11 male and 6 female) were joined to this 3 weeks training program which performed in Pretoria - South Africa at February 2012 (aged 19.4 ± 3.1; height 176.6 ± 10.0 cm, body mass 71.6 ± 10.7 kg [mean±SD]). Swimmers were trained for 6 days per week and 2 sessions per day; each session was divided to dry land and swimming trainings. Total swimming time for each training session was about 90 minutes. Ambient temperature under the sunshine and in shadow area was recorded as 36.5 ± 3.7 and 24.3 ± 4.4°C, respectively. Water temperature was measured as 26°C at the middle of the day and recorded as 21 °C at the very early morning . All swimmers had free access to drinking liquids from the individual bottles assigned to them. All drink bottles were weighed on an electric scale before and at the end of the training to determine the volume consumed by each swimmer. Body mass measurements were performed just before and immediately after the training session with an electronic scale to calculate sweat rate. Hydration statuses of the swimmers were analyses from the early morning and late night urine samples specific gravity measurements by a refractometry (ATAGO). All statistical analyses were performed using SPSSv13.0. Results: Swimmers drunken 409 ± 294 ml of liquid per training (maximum - 1960; minimum - 0 ml). Their sweat rates were calculated as 675 ± 549 ml (maximum - 2740; minimum - + 640 ml). Early morning and late night urine specific gravity were measured as 1023 ± 6 and 1023 ± 8 respectively. Minimum and maximum urine specific gravity values were recorded as 1002 and 1045. Conclusions: The swimmers training at high altitude in warm environmental conditions are under the risk of dehydration. Daily measurement of urine specific gravity is an important step to protect these athletes from any possible deleterious effect of dehydration. The possibility of swallowing water during swimming may cause underestimation of sweat rate. It is important to keep in mind that, because of the individual variability, each swimmer deserves personal evaluation in terms of dehydration.
© Copyright 2012 Journal of Sports Science & Medicine. Department of Sports Medicine - Medical Faculty of Uludag University. All rights reserved.