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Heat Forces Texans Trainers to Adapt

CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
Updated: Thursday, 18 Aug 2011, 1:01 PM CDT
Published : Thursday, 18 Aug 2011, 10:04 AM CDT

By The Wall Street Journal

HOUSTON - The Houston Texans training facility is playing host to the hottest training camp in the NFL and, possibly, the hottest in the league for the last 30 years, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Temperatures have reached triple digits for 16 days in a row in Houston, the longest streak in the city since the heat wave of 1980.

Faced with the searing temperature, Texans players lost a collective average of 450 pounds of fluid during each two-hour routine practice last week, or about 54 gallons of water -- as much as one might use during a 20-minute shower. That was despite the players consuming about 1,600 pounds of ice, 50 cases of Gatorade and 100 gallons of water.

While other teams in hot climates opt for cooler spots, the Texans opted to stay home and hold morning practices outdoors in the full sunlight. The team said that practicing in the heat will help the players stay fresher during early-season games, which are often hot. The Texans play at Miami in the upcoming season's second week.

Before Wednesday morning's practice, Texans left tackle Duane Brown said he was feeling good. He weighed himself before practice, and he was 318 pounds.

By the time practice ended two hours later, temperatures were around 100 degrees and Brown's weight was 311. His muscles began to seize up, and it took 15 minutes of him lying on the ground to be able to move them again, the result of his electrolytes being depleted. Later, Brown was hooked up to an IV to replenish his fluids.

The heat is "out of control," Brown said. Still, he added, it is a point of pride that the Texans have the hottest camp in the NFL. "It's a mental thing. It helps your psyche knowing you toughed it out," he added.

To keep players from withering away, Geoff Kaplan, the Texans head athletic trainer, and Roberta Anding, the team's head dietician, devised a plan that combines careful monitoring with cutting-edge nutrition.

They ordered shipments of electrolyte-filled coconut water; filled the team buffet with foods like squash, tomatoes and other vegetables packed with large amounts of potassium, magnesium and other electrolytes; and prescribed players jugs of extra-salty energy drinks like Gatorade before bed. In cases of extreme fluid loss, players have been hooked up to IV drips of a saline mix.

To monitor fluid loss, the Texans weigh each player before and after practice, which is now standard practice in the NFL. For each pound lost, Texans players are told to drink 20 ounces of fluid -- usually, it is a sugary energy drink like Gatorade.

But Kaplan said some players have lost up to 14 pounds in morning practices. (In the afternoon, the team works out inside an inflated bubble that brings the temperature down to about 80 degrees.) Energy drinks alone cannot replenish all the electrolytes in the body. So the Texans use food to combat the problem.

This year, they have been salting the food prepared for players as much as possible without giving it an unbearable taste. Some players have asked about the risks of high blood pressure, but the Texans say new research shows that combining sodium with vegetables like sweet potatoes and fruits like watermelon, which are high in potassium and calcium, cancel out the negative effects of the salt.
One advantage is there is no need to have any urinals around the practice field.:kitten:
 

SAMURAITEXAN

All Pro
I understand that toughed it out in the heat helps your mental aspects of it but, world is getting warmer every year and would it be a wise idea to practice more in a bubble than outdoors? I am not saying that all of practice should be done in a bubble but more portion of practice. NFL's hottest training camp is not much to brag about and didn't help us any in the past. Players' health is my main concern.

Go Texans!!!
 

CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
lose 14 pounds in one day. Damn I did not know that was possible, that sure sounds unhealthy.
Yes, it does.
That's almost all water loss. Even if you starve yourself, it's not possible to lose anymore than approximately 1.5 pounds of true (non-water) body weight in one day, Keep in mind, that to lose one pound of fat, you must burn approximately 3500 calories over and above what you already burn doing daily activities.

Fighters commonly use coffee and other diuretics like asparagus and brussel sprouts and spinach, and cathartics and avoidance of liquid intake and fruit prior to weigh in, in order to weigh in way below their normal weight to be matched with lighter opponents. Then they rehydrate to their higher normal weight prior to the fight. The difference can put them in an entirely different weight class than what they should be placed.
 

jaayteetx

All Pro
That's almost all water loss. Even if you starve yourself, it's not possible to lose anymore than approximately 1.5 pounds of true (non-water) body weight in one day, Keep in mind, that to lose one pound of fat, you must burn approximately 3500 calories over and above what you already burn doing daily activities.

Fighters commonly use coffee and other diuretics like asparagus and brussel sprouts and spinach, and cathartics and avoidance of liquid intake and fruit prior to weigh in, in order to weigh in way below their normal weight to be matched with lighter opponents. Then they rehydrate to their higher normal weight prior to the fight. The difference can put them in an entirely different weight class than what they should be placed.
Thats why weigh ins should be done the day of the fight, preferabably an hour or so before.
 

EllisUnit

Vote RED!!!
Wonder if this heat has anything to do with all the hamstring and groin injuries ....
def, i know when i did work in the field all day in the oilfield, 16 hour days with no breakes, a lot of us would even feel like we pulled a hamstring/groin, but they were just cramping up. hell last month we had 25+ people fall out from the heat at my yard alone, a total of well over 140+ company wide. it gives ur muscles a beating. i never got an IV but i missed a week of work after falling out, all my leg muscles would cramp up all day and night for the whole week, it sucked pretty bad.
 

EllisUnit

Vote RED!!!
Don't the coaches know this? I can't imagine why they wouldn't practice in the bubble every single practice as a simple way to avoid the kinds of injuries that occur during this kind of heat.
u can get used to the heat up to a point, like the article says they are preparing for some early HOT games they play this season. Kinda good to get them a little used to it instead of the whole team going down with cramps/muscle pulls.
 

TexansFanatic

Extremist
u can get used to the heat up to a point, like the article says they are preparing for some early HOT games they play this season. Kinda good to get them a little used to it instead of the whole team going down with cramps/muscle pulls.
I suppose that makes some kind of sense.

But I remember when the Oilers had to go into Pittsburgh in December and the press asked Bum why he didn't have the team practicing in the snow and ice. Bum said : "You can't practice being miserable."
 

EllisUnit

Vote RED!!!
I suppose that makes some kind of sense.

But I remember when the Oilers had to go into Pittsburgh in December and the press asked Bum why he didn't have the team practicing in the snow and ice. Bum said : "You can't practice being miserable."
haha well if bum would of won us a few superbowls maybe, take it for what its worth, but trust me, its much easier to work out in the sun ALL day after doing it a week than it is if its ur first day in the sun.
 

EllisUnit

Vote RED!!!
If any NFL games are played in 90 or above degree weather it is just stupid.
dont agree these guys get paid a lot of money, we have people that work out there in the hot sun all day long and dont make 1/1,000 of what some of these guys make. they can go 3 hours, with fans, breaks and plenty cold drinks to drink.
 

badboy

Hall of Fame
dont agree these guys get paid a lot of money, we have people that work out there in the hot sun all day long and dont make 1/1,000 of what some of these guys make. they can go 3 hours, with fans, breaks and plenty cold drinks to drink.
WHen does what other people do have anything to do with NFL? We built a multi-million dollar stadium
& can push a button to close roof & crank the air. Just do it.
 

EllisUnit

Vote RED!!!
WHen does what other people do have anything to do with NFL? We built a multi-million dollar stadium
& can push a button to close roof & crank the air. Just do it.
what about outside stadiums ? Like Miami, should they cancel the games if its above 90 ? 90 is not hot, hell to me 110 is not hot. And it has to do with it is their job, so if the game is outside they shouldnt cancel the game cause of heat, they dont cancel work for me, our any one else i know.
 

Kimmy

RealGirls LvFB!
what about outside stadiums ? Like Miami, should they cancel the games if its above 90 ? 90 is not hot, hell to me 110 is not hot. And it has to do with it is their job, so if the game is outside they shouldnt cancel the game cause of heat, they dont cancel work for me, our any one else i know.
That's a good point :thinking: Makes sense, but I am VERY glad they do close the roof!
 

TexansFanatic

Extremist
Looks like the Miami game is really the only game on the schedule that takes place in an outdoor stadium during the hot time of the season. Seems like a lot of hell the Texans are going through preparing for a single three hour stretch in the heat.
 

Scooter

Funky
question for doc and the athletes/body conscious here ... do the pros of working in extreme heat outweigh the cons? i'm as ignorant as they come, especially as an oddity who loves triple digit weather, but it seems to me that the burden placed on athletes' bodies in that kind of setting is a risk - not something to simply power through or get used to. would it not be more beneficial, productive and all around safer to be in a more moderate climate? assuming so, why dont the texans spend more time in the bubble or even inside reliant?

edit: as for playing games in the heat, we should all remember the steelers at reliant. there's no such thing as burning out a good team ... besides, it's 105 degrees as our guys walk to their cars, heat is the norm.
 

michaelm

vox nihili
They're only holding the morning practices outside, right?
I know it's still hot in the AM, but at least they are in the bubble in the afternoon for the worst heat of the day.
 

IDEXAN

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
Looks like the Miami game is really the only game on the schedule that takes place in an outdoor stadium during the hot time of the season. Seems like a lot of hell the Texans are going through preparing for a single three hour stretch in the heat.
Texans played at Miami in 2009, but it was late in the year after the heat
had subsided somewhat in Houston but not in Miami, and they talked afterwards about how the heat affected them that game (November or December). Can you imagine how tough it must be on a division rival like NE or Buffalo that comes down to Miami to play in September ?
 

CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
Otisbean and I dialogued about some of the problems regarding injuries. If you are interested, you might want to review our handful of posts beginning at #614 in the Re: Training Camp Practice Updates thread.

I’ll try to give you somewhat of an overview to what I think should answer some of your other questions.

Humidity is not your friend The rate of sweating is higher in humid conditions but the cooling is less. The reason is that because the air is already very saturated with water, sweat can't evaporate. Sweat that beads up and rolls off doesn't function in the cooling process. However, this what we call "futile sweat" does deplete the body of vital water and salt. As dehydration progresses cooling becomes more difficult. Performance drops and heat injury becomes a real threat. Deaths have occurred when the air temperature was less than 75 degrees F (24 degrees C) but the relative humidity was above 95%.

Adapting to the heat, one tried and true piece of advice is, "Make no new changes on game day". The same applies to environment. Heat acclimatization is a process by which the body makes adjustments to promote better cooling in hot environments. Sweat becomes more dilute. The threshold at which sweating begins is lowered and the sweat rate is increased. These, and other, changes take time to fully complete -- about 10 days of exercise in the heat -- and will only work if you are well hydrated.

Some medications interfere with cooling Certain drugs may cause dehydration or interfere with sweating. Antihistamines and some blood pressure medications decrease sweating. Caffeine and alcohol are diuretics and thus cause your body to lose water. You should avoid their use for several days prior to the practice/game. I will make book with you that many of the players love their alcohol too much to adhere to this simple restriction......and they eventually pay for it.

Hyperhydration just before the start of practice or game becomes important. Drinking approximately 400 - 600 ml (13 - 20 ounces) of cold water or an electrolyte solution can help delay the process of dehydration.

It may seem obvious to drink during the practice/game, but many people underestimate the magnitude of their fluid loss. It is very difficult to avoid dehydration during especially the longer game in the heat because the rate of sweat loss usually exceeds the rate of absorption of ingested fluids. The maximum rate of fluid absorption by the gastrointestinal (GI) tract during exercise is approximately 800 ml per hour (27 fluid ounces/hr). The rate of fluid loss through sweating may average as high as 1.5 - 2 liters per hour (50 - 68 fluid ounces per hour). Thus often, despite the best fluid intake, dehydration will occur. For some people, drinking a lot causes discomfort and a feeling of being "bloated". Thus guzzling a liter once per hour will likely cause problems. Also realize that the more dehydrated you get the harder it is for your GI system to absorb what you drink. Dehydration also causes a variety of GI symptoms (nausea, cramping, and diarrhea).

Type of replacement drink is also important. Carbohydrate content in the range of 4 - 8% is best. Levels above 10% are poorly absorbed and can cause diarrhea. Most sports drinks have a sodium content in the range of 10 - 20 mmol/liter (Gatorade is 23 mmol/liter = 1.3 grams of salt per liter). Higher levels are better for salt replacement, but tend to be less palatable. There doesn't appear to be any advantage gained from adding other electrolytes (e.g.. potassium, magnesium) since the diet is usually adequate to replace these.

Salt replacement is important. Sweat contains between 2.25 to 3.4 grams of sodium chloride per liter. A sweat rate of 1 liter per hour would thus cause a salt loss of 9-12 grams for a 4 hour game. Failing to replace salt during the race can result in hyponatremia (low salt concentration in the blood). It is also advisable to increase salt intake for several days before an actual longer game (as opposed to shorter practice).

Another important principle. The higher the intensity of exercise the greater heat production by the muscles. Overheating causes more sweat production.

Personally, I find it difficult to understand the need to be practicing in extreme heat and humidity, except for the 10 days to two weeks before ONE game that will recreate those conditions , such as the Miami game.

Bottom line is that excessive heat and humidity even with best attempts at compensation are likely to affect changes that will lead to FATIGUE, foggy brain, muscle group strength imbalance and function changes, GI problems.......all of which contribute to neuromuscular discoordination (where the brain interacts with the muscles abnormally)...........and higher incidence of injuries.

I will leave you with this thought from my one of my previous posts:

Not to answer for Otisbean, but when you lose overall body energy (total body fatigue), you lose some neuromusclar COORDINATION. This type of discoordination can lead to all sorts of muscular injuries.........with the muscles yinging when they should be yanging.
[Keep in mind that muscle problems can easily lead to any of the other serious injuries such as ligament and tendon tears/ruptures and fractures.]
 
question for doc and the athletes/body conscious here ... do the pros of working in extreme heat outweigh the cons? i'm as ignorant as they come, especially as an oddity who loves triple digit weather, but it seems to me that the burden placed on athletes' bodies in that kind of setting is a risk - not something to simply power through or get used to. would it not be more beneficial, productive and all around safer to be in a more moderate climate? assuming so, why dont the texans spend more time in the bubble or even inside reliant?

edit: as for playing games in the heat, we should all remember the steelers at reliant. there's no such thing as burning out a good team ... besides, it's 105 degrees as our guys walk to their cars, heat is the norm.
I workout outside, triple digits and all. I love it. I have to drink water like a fish but to me, it's worth it. Work out inside, in a/c is nice and comfortable but outside, it's WORK. You do have to be careful and very conscious of when to stop, when to break, your breathing, etc. It's a whole different element to working out though. I've seen the cons of heat rear it's ugly head and boy, it's ugly. I thought I was witnessing somebody die right in front of me. You've GOT to know yourself pretty well, where your limits are.
 

Trail.Blazr

Hooked up to a Kool-Aid IV
In my mind, it's absolutely absurd to think that electing to force extreme heat conditions on these professional athletes is good for anything that will contribute to better performance on the field. Compared to ordinary joe, these guys are fine italian sports cars. You wouldn't empty the radiator on one of them and burn off a tank of gas at high performance conditions and expect it not to cause damage. Losing the kind of weight indicated by Duane Brown on a daily basis is NOT good for his body. Taking 15 minutes before you can actually have the motor skills to get up and go get an IV??? are you kidding me? There's no way his physical punishment is being outweighed by some "mental conditioning" to say I've killed myself over and over, so I can do this now, in the middle of this game. Stupid. Plain and simple, Stupid.

Given the schedule references that Miami will be the only game this concept of mental conditioning would come into play, they should be treating their high performance bodies like temples, and letting the extreme condition be something that if can't be totally managed out, to only makes an occasional impact on their physical health. No way you can convince me that frequent physical abuse contributes to a better outcome that treating your body as well as you can ALL the time.

For those extreme games, should they occur, if there is a mental wuss on the team, hire Red Foreman to inspire them with his foot in their @ss!
 

badboy

Hall of Fame
what about outside stadiums ? Like Miami, should they cancel the games if its above 90 ? 90 is not hot, hell to me 110 is not hot. And it has to do with it is their job, so if the game is outside they shouldnt cancel the game cause of heat, they dont cancel work for me, our any one else i know.
Just to continue the debate...do you wear the pads, uniform and helmet and run around like crazy at your job? Do you lose 7-10 lbs a day? We are not playing Miami and like someone above posted Bum said you can't prcatice feeling miserable. Texans should practice in the bubble regardless of where they will play next game. Just my opinion and probably the minority.
 

Scooter

Funky
Adapting to the heat, one tried and true piece of advice is, "Make no new changes on game day". The same applies to environment. Heat acclimatization is a process by which the body makes adjustments to promote better cooling in hot environments.
8 of our games this season will be between 60 and 90 degrees for field temp at reliant, two away dome games at similar temps, and 4 outdoor games north of tennessee. only one will pass 95 degrees outside - week 2 against miami, (unless november in florida is unusually warm for jags and bucs). would it not be safer and more accurate for our players to prepare themselves for high-temp dome settings? the practice bubble and inside reliant seem to be the best practice grounds as i understand it. 115 ground temps just seem dangerous for the machines that professional football players are.

remember, we're not talking about 103 degrees in houston, we're talking about an index on the ground of 110-120, and in full body armor.
 

ChampionTexan

Hall of Fame
In my mind, it's absolutely absurd to think that electing to force extreme heat conditions on these professional athletes is good for anything that will contribute to better performance on the field. Compared to ordinary joe, these guys are fine italian sports cars. You wouldn't empty the radiator on one of them and burn off a tank of gas at high performance conditions and expect it not to cause damage.
No, I wouldn't empty the radiator and burn a tank of gas, but I also wouldn't attach a 2,000 pound trailer to it, drive it around the block 10 times, add 100 pounds and do it again expecting that over the long-term, this would increase the power of my car, however, this type of activity seems to benefit some football players and other athletes. I wouldn't wash a crumpled fender on my Porsche and expect it to heal itself, any more than I would expect an athlete to have a transplanted finger attached because the old one was cut or bruised.

The analogy just doesn't do anything to further my understanding of this issue.
 

Trail.Blazr

Hooked up to a Kool-Aid IV
No, I wouldn't empty the radiator and burn a tank of gas, but I also wouldn't attach a 2,000 pound trailer to it, drive it around the block 10 times, add 100 pounds and do it again expecting that over the long-term, this would increase the power of my car, however, this type of activity seems to benefit some football players and other athletes. I wouldn't wash a crumpled fender on my Porsche and expect it to heal itself, any more than I would expect an athlete to have a transplanted finger attached because the old one was cut or bruised.

The analogy just doesn't do anything to further my understanding of this issue.
I would argue the point in extreme heat conditions. you are now speaking to physical conditioning with a goal, which can be achieved through better means. But through the course of this conditioning you drop 7 lbs in 2 hrs resulting in 15 minutes of incapacitation, THEN being able to get to an IV treatment... That's not a goal.. That's dumb, on the side of taking a goal too far.

The analogy wasn't intended to further understanding, as they are completely unrelated, with the exception of a smart man would no sooner do one than the other.
 

CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
8 of our games this season will be between 60 and 90 degrees for field temp at reliant, two away dome games at similar temps, and 4 outdoor games north of tennessee. only one will pass 95 degrees outside - week 2 against miami, (unless november in florida is unusually warm for jags and bucs). would it not be safer and more accurate for our players to prepare themselves for high-temp dome settings? the practice bubble and inside reliant seem to be the best practice grounds as i understand it. 115 ground temps just seem dangerous for the machines that professional football players are.

remember, we're not talking about 103 degrees in houston, we're talking about an index on the ground of 110-120, and in full body armor.
All Good points.

Most people don't realize it, but Miami temperatures don't reach 100 degrees like in Houston. The hottest month in Miami is, no surprise, August. The average high temperature in August is 89.8 F. The highest temperature ever recorded in Miami was 100 degrees in July 1942.

Even so, the Dolphins built a bubble practice facility just like ours. This is where they hold most of their afternnon practices. Morning practices are held in temps that seldom reach 80 degrees.

The other thing to keep in mind is that Sun Life Stadium was built in a splayed out "open flower" configuration in order to allow a constant air flow onto the seating and the field areas (especially with the help of an ocean breeze), not in a vertical configuraion like Reliant, where there is little to no breeze and poor heat dissappation.

The Dolphins prepare to adapt for their summer heat........while the Texans appear to be preparing for Hell.
 

silvrhand

All Pro
Just to continue the debate...do you wear the pads, uniform and helmet and run around like crazy at your job? Do you lose 7-10 lbs a day? We are not playing Miami and like someone above posted Bum said you can't prcatice feeling miserable. Texans should practice in the bubble regardless of where they will play next game. Just my opinion and probably the minority.
It's all about mental toughness as well, long as you are properly being watched after, stretching and warming up there is no reason you can not work in the heat. You just do not go out day one and run hard as you can, it takes time to build up.

If you can work in the heat, be completely exhausted, and still be able to focus enough to remember you assignment and execute no matter how stressed you or your body are you are now ready for football.

You think the cold weather teams don't do the exact same thing, get used to the cold and learn to function in it. It's part of the home field advantage.
 

CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
I'm confused ? I thought it was abnormally cold weather which was conducive for muscle pulls and that hot and humid conditions were less likely to cause such injurys ?
The muscle problems brought about by extreme cold temperatures follows a different mechanism. Cooling a muscle causes it to become weaker and lose pliability. It is well established that both muscle shortening velocity and power can decrease significantly when the temperature of the muscle is lowered. The direct effects of cold on muscle is that of contraction. Constriction of the blood vessels leading to decreased warm blood supply to the muscles which causes the same effects on the muscle. When the muscles are cramped in a contracted state and are suddenly stretched, that’s when muscle tears and tendon ruptures are likely to occur.

Players use certain tricks to maintain body and muscle warmth.

*Extra warming garments are worn to conserve warmth.

*On exposed skin areas such as the arms, they commonly apply petroleum jelly. Some players refuse to wear long-sleeved shirts in the cold since the opposition can grab onto them and gain leverage. In extreme cold temperatures, the refs look past very thin applications for containing warmth. They do not accept it if it is plastered on there for tactical purposes.

*Products such as Warm Skin are specifically made to be topically applied and absorbed into the top layer of the skin as a barrier for influx of cold and escape of warmth.

*Products like Tiger Balm or Ben Gay will temporarily dilate the blood supply to the muscles groups to which it is applied and provide heat to the player’s muscles and keep them looser for longer periods.
 

EllisUnit

Vote RED!!!
Just to continue the debate...do you wear the pads, uniform and helmet and run around like crazy at your job? Do you lose 7-10 lbs a day? We are not playing Miami and like someone above posted Bum said you can't prcatice feeling miserable. Texans should practice in the bubble regardless of where they will play next game. Just my opinion and probably the minority.
dude i wear FRC, Fire Retardent Clothing, it dont breath, it makes ur body 30 degrees hotter thatn it is outside, they were testing the other day going around with them laser thermometers and one in one guys uniform it was 148 degrees, these players got it easy, they need to suck it up and play for there 500,000 to 15 million a year. They'll live.

And if u have facebook sign in, here is a guy i work with wearing all his FRC gear, and i promise u football pads and helmet have NOTHING on what we wear for 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. Yeah we have NO days off

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=151612211583356&set=a.137076093036968.35197.100002037340148&type=1&theater
 
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