HAVE YOU SWEAT TESTED YOUR ATHLETES?

From our applied research, we have identified that an athlete with a high sweat rate and / or high sodium concentration in their sweat, is more likely to experience muscle cramping.

WHY YOU SHOULD SWEAT TEST YOUR ATHLETES?

By knowing an athletes numbers you can help them address their unique requirements and be better equipped to customise their energy and hydration strategies to perform at their best. Sweat rate, sodium concentration and calorie expenditure is essential when planning a nutrition strategy and the higher the intensity, the more important these numbers become.

A Sweat Test will provide important information about each athletes:-

- Sodium concentration in their sweat (mg/l)

- Sweat rate (l/h)

- Calorie expenditure

HOW TO SWEAT TEST?

The test consists of a one-hour workout ideally on a stationary bike, treadmill or intensive training session. Ideally the test is performed at an intensity as close to competition pace as possible. Apart from learning the concentration of sodium in each athletes sweat, the reason for the one-hour test is to identify the volume of sweat lost, which will give you a better understanding of the sweat rate per hour of your athletes.

WHAT INFORMATION WILL I RECEIVE FROM EACH SWEAT TEST?

You will learn the volume of sweat each athlete loses based on the intensity and the environmental conditions the test is performed in. Remembering an athletes sweat rate will change as intensity and the environmental conditions change.

You will learn the concentration of sodium that is present in each athletes sweat. This is recorded in milligrams per one litre of sweat. The sodium concentration of sweat is unique to the athlete and it doesn’t change, which is why you only need to do the sodium test once. When you combine sweat rate and sodium concentration you can calculate the accumulative amount of sodium each athlete loses per hour.

While the concentration of sodium lost doesn’t change, the accumulative loss of sodium changes based on how much sweat the athlete is losing. Put simply as sweat rate increases in warmer conditions, so to does the amount of sodium the athlete loses.

Conversely when temperatures are cooler sweat rates are lower and so is the amount of sodium they lose.

Therefore the amount each athlete drinks is dictated by their unique physiological makeup and the conditions they are experiencing at the time.

Another important reason for the test being one-hour is to learn how many calories they are expending based on the intensity they do the test at. Knowing their calorie expenditure per hour provides you with the information you need to plan their calorie intake accordingly.

YOUR CUSTOMISED HYDRATION & FUELLING PLAN

After testing is completed, our KODA team will analyse the sweat and arrange a time to go through the results. This will include providing you with a detailed report which will include a customised hydration and fuelling plan for each athlete unique to their physiological requirements.

WHAT'S NEXT?

For additional information or to purchase an individual Sweat Testing Kit click here OR email us where one of our team will be in touch to customise and discuss a Sweat Testing plan for your athletes. E: info@kodanutrition.com