When to use this
When you are setting up, or fixing, the hydration routine your staff runs at every practice and meet.
- Preseason heat weeks, two-a-days, or the first hot invitational of the year.
- Athletes keep cramping, fading late, or reporting headaches and nobody can say who is actually drinking.
- The current system is one speech in August and a cooler someone remembers most days.
Advanced lab
A weigh-in-free monitoring system that runs itself
The sheet covers the daily habits. This is the layered system for staffs that want real monitoring without scales, clipboards of body data, or public call-outs.
This system tracks behavior, never body weight — team weigh-ins create more problems than they solve at this level. For a heavy sweater or an athlete with repeated heat illness, get an individual plan from a sports dietitian and keep the medical calls with the trainer and physician.
Evidence sources
These references support the handout’s general education. Individual medical, supplement, laboratory, or injury questions should be handled by the appropriate qualified clinician.
- Sawka MN, Burke LM, Eichner ER, et al. (2007) ACSM position stand: Exercise and fluid replacement. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 39(2):377-390.
- McDermott BP, Anderson SA, Armstrong LE, et al.(2017) National Athletic Trainers' Association position statement: Fluid replacement for the physically active.
Where to go next
