Effect Of Daily Training Hydration Status Of Elite Marching Arts Performers: A Pilot Study

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate daily changes in hydration status among marching arts performers. METHODS: Three men and one woman (mean ± SD; age: 20 ± 1 y, height: 174.1 ± 4.6 cm, body mass: 70.0 ± 8.6 kg) completed measurements on three separate daily training sessions. To assess hydration status, urine samples were collected for urine specific gravity (USG) analysis before and after a 4-hour training outdoor block on three consecutive days. A 2(Time: pre, post) × 3(Day: 1-3) repeated measures ANOVA was used to analyze differences in hydration levels, and post hoc t-tests were conducted for multiple comparisons, when needed. RESULTS: There was no interaction between Day and Time for USG (p = 0.519; Day 1-Pre: 1.022 ± 0.002, Post: 1.012 ± 0.010; Day 2-Pre: 1.024 ± 0.002, Post: 1.018 ± 0.006; Day 3-Pre: 1.025 ± 0.004, Post: 1.020 ± 0.004), and there was no main effect of Time (p = 0.069). There was a main effect of Day for USG (p = 0.021). CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study suggests that these elite level performers progressively became more hypohydrated with each day of training. It is possible that the training stress of each day accumulated, especially with limited recovery between days, eventually leading the performers to a hypohydrated state by the third day. Further exploration of this topic should elucidate the magnitude of dehydration experienced by these individuals with daily training, which should help exercise professionals create more individualized hydration plans.