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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.