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Woohoo!! Excited for a fun week of learning and networking! Can’t wait to see you all in Philly!

6 hours ago, JoanaVS said: Good morning and thanks for your time first of all, my question is: when is it necessary to start including sodium supplements? What temperature, height or length of time? Currently in Spain its 30+ degrees and my recommendation is trainings of more than 1h30/2h or heavy sweaters to add sodium aprox. 300mg minimum / h, can you provide evidence and recommendations for sodium intake? thanks! Hi @JoanaVS - this is a very popular question. There are no recommendations based on body size/height or temperature. Although I will say larger athletes tend to sweat more since they produce more metabolic heat and warmer temperatures will cause increases in sweat rates (compared to cooler temperatures) causing greater total sodium losses. Most of the research bases sodium inclusion on duration of activity and sweat profiles (sweat rate and sweat sodium concentration) as you have mentioned. ACSM’s Joint Position Statement (2016) suggests including sodium with athletes who have high sweat rates (>1.2L/h), have “salty sweat”, or undergo activity durations >2h. A big reason for the inclusion of sodium is to avoid hyponatremia (blood Na <135mmol/L) in longer events versus maintaining performance. In estimating sweat sodium concentrations of athletes, some have suggested averages anywhere from 35mmol/L (Sawka, 2000) to 50mmol/L (Thomas, 2016). But the fact of the matter is both sweat rates and sweat sodium concentrations vary widely across athletes across different sports and change depending upon the intensity, environmental conditions, etc (Baker, 2016). Knowing an athlete’s sweat sodium losses may be somewhat helpful but does not necessarily solve the issue since there is no solid recommendation of how much to replace. There have been a couple of articles suggesting 300-600mg/hr (1.7-2.9g salt) with a sweat rate of >1.2L/h (Vitale, 2019; Kerksick, 2018) which your 300mg/h may be based on. And there is another recommendation of 30-50mmol/L sodium consumption (Rehrer, 2001). But both of these recommendations may be too generalized and don’t take into account tolerability. Overall, the focus should be on fluid replacement first with inclusion of sodium (no specific dosage) for longer duration events since fluid replacement may be too diluted causing plasma sodium levels to decrease to a severe degree. Also, inclusion of sodium is appropriate if you do have a heavy and/or salty sweater athlete. So you may start off with conducting a fluid balance assessment to see how much sweat your athlete loses per hour (sweat rate) and then include some sodium (as tolerated) in their regimen if their sweat rate is >1.2L/h for over 2 hours duration. McCubbin (2025) also does an excellent job of providing an updated review and a figure for when to include sodium based on the literature. Hope this helps! Thomas, D. T., Erdman, K. A., & Burke, L. M. (2016). Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine: nutrition and athletic performance. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 116(3), 501-528. Baker, L. B., Barnes, K. A., Anderson, M. L., Passe, D. H., & Stofan, J. R. (2016). Normative data for regional sweat sodium concentration and whole-body sweating rate in athletes. Journal of sports sciences, 34(4), 358-368. Sawka, M. N., & Montain, S. J. (2000). Fluid and electrolyte supplementation for exercise heat stress. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 72(2), 564S-572S. Vitale, K., & Getzin, A. (2019). Nutrition and supplement update for the endurance athlete: review and recommendations. Nutrients, 11(6), 1289. Kerksick, C. M., Wilborn, C. D., Roberts, M. D., Smith-Ryan, A., Kleiner, S. M., Jäger, R., ... & Kreider, R. B. (2018). ISSN exercise & sports nutrition review update: research & recommendations. Journal of the international society of sports nutrition, 15(1), 38. Rehrer, N. J. (2001). Fluid and electrolyte balance in ultra-endurance sport. Sports Medicine, 31(10), 701-715. McCubbin, A. J. (2025). Sodium intake for athletes before, during and after exercise: review and recommendations. Performance Nutrition, 1(1), 11.

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The first official weekend of Summer is here, and with it comes one of my favorite topics to nerd out on with fellow sports dietitians: how do we actually prepare our athletes for the heat — and how do we make hydration something they buy into and get excited about! I'm still thinking about the insights shared at our ASPDA Annual Convention in New Orleans last month, where Dr. Neil Walsh and Dr. Louise Burke both brought the science to life. What the Science Is Telling Us Dr. Walsh's work on heat acclimation is a great reminder that we don't need to send athletes to a sauna or a hot climate to get adaptations. Research from his group has demonstrated that post-exercise hot water immersion on six consecutive days in temperate conditions can elicit meaningful heat acclimation adaptations — including earlier onset of sweating, reduced resting and exercising core body temperature, and reductions in cardiovascular strain. A practical, low-barrier protocol that many of us can implement with our teams right now . Post-exercise Hot Water Immersion Elicits Heat Acclimation Adaptations That Are Retained for at Least Two Weeks On the physiology side, the GSSI reminds us why this matters: heat acclimatization creates biological adaptations that reduce physiological strain, improve comfort, improve exercise capacity, and reduce the risks of serious heat illness during heat stress. Heat Acclimatization to Improve Athletic Performance in Warm-Hot Environments Dr. Burke has long championed the importance of individualized hydration strategies, and GSSI echoes this well: the success of any hydration strategy will depend on the context of the event — duration, intensity, and environment — as well as the characteristics of the individual, including fitness and acclimatization status. https://www.gssiweb.org/en/sports-science-exchange/Article/fluid-intake-strategies-for-optimal-hydration-and-performance-planned-drinking-vs.-drinking-to-thirst Hydration in the Heat: Key Reminders for Practice A few evidence-based points worth emphasizing to your athletes: During intense or long-duration exercise in warm-to-hot conditions, sweat rates can easily top 1 liter per hour . Relying on thirst alone often isn't enough to keep up — a phenomenon called voluntary dehydration — and once a body water deficit passes 2% of body mass, performance starts to take a hit. Athletes who notice white salt stains on clothes or skin may need more sodium during exercise and throughout recovery. A hydration plan removes the guesswork, especially during longer or more intense training sessions. A great plan helps athletes stay ahead of sweat loss and feel better when they're performing. Would love to continue to chat below on exactly how we all are putting these plans together for our athletes! Athlete Hydration 101: A Complete Science & Strategy Guide The GSSI's research also highlights that what's inside the drink matters — from thirst triggers to fluid retention, every ingredient plays a role. https://www.gatorade.com/resources/hydration-science-for-athletes-fluids-electrolytes-recovery Bringing Hydration to Life in Practice This is where I think sports dietitians and athletic trainers have such an edge — we can make hydration fun and memorable for athletes. A few ideas that have worked well (and would love to hear yours!): Sweat rate testing stations during preseason — athletes love seeing their own data, and it's a great anchor for personalized fluid targets Urine color check-ins using the classic hydration chart posted in locker rooms (low-tech, high impact) Summer hydration stations stocked with infused waters, juice and electrolyte mocktails, or even Gatorade Slushies! Pre/post weight checks during hot/high intensity sessions to show athletes how much fluid they're losing and how much they need to drink to get back to baseline Let's Chat What heat acclimation strategies are you implementing this summer? Are you using hot water immersion, sauna protocols, or heat training blocks? And what's your go-to move for making hydration engaging? Drop your questions, tips, beverage recipes, and experiences below. The GSSI library at gssiweb.org is also a fantastic resource if you want to dive deeper into the literature!

Pain free vs. Pain threshold hamstring rehab. 2020.pdf Hey Joe, Thanks for the question(s). As I am sure you are aware, hamstring injuries in baseball and really in any sport are an extremely hot topic. To answer your first question, I feel like a lot of my thoughts have changed throughout the years on hamstring rehab, particularly the early phase. There is an article (attached below) that supports early activation of a hamstring injury without exceeding a 3/10 in pain or discomfort with exercise. We have utilized this with nearly every hamstring injury and seems to 1. get the hamstring feeling better faster and 2. gives the athlete more confidence to progress. Gone are the days where I am waiting for the hamstring to be asymptomatic before starting exercise. Another thing that I have changed is not rushing back into the running progression. In my experience, you can start a running progression too early but rarely can you start one too late. Stressing the hamstring in the training room, weight room, pool, with running mechanics or agilities can be better than starting the linear and curvilinear program too early. A few other things as it relates to the actual running progression - 1. we will use 30 and 60 yard times (home to 1st & home to 2nd) to dictate our percentages as we increase from 70-90ish%. This gives us an accurate time they should be running 30 or 60 yards and to ensure they aren't running too fast for the prescribed intensity. 2. we track yardages. Daily and weekly yardages matter to us to make sure we are dosing total volume appropriately and not spiking weekly volume, particularly when we get closer to games and into a baserunning progression. As always, like you mentioned, each athlete is going to respond differently and the nature of the injury and injury history of the player is going to matter a ton. Curious what you have changed your mind on over the years and what you have done differently?

I love the topic!

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On 5/18/2026 at 6:45 PM, ssehnert said: @Carolina241 Carbs, carbs, and more carbs. Carbohydrates are the fuel for high intensity, repetitive sport. Whether it’s fig bars, bananas, or chews, these types of athletes need carbs to fuel the work required and (carbo)HYDRATE their four quarters. "(carbo)HYDRATE their four quarters" - I LOVE that, Scott!

This weekend, I presented at the Coach Em Up Conference in Austin, TX. I shared my athlete bucketing system for speed development using quadrant systems. Basically what I have done is timed sprints and recorded splits for 0-10yds and 10-20yds and plotted athletes on a quadrant system. I then created a regression line that acted a way to predict the athlete's cumulative 20yd acceleration time based on their 0-10yd split (which is the X variable). Based on this, I can determine if athletes are outperforming or underperforming relative to their predicted 20yd time. This is the late acceleration & maxV bucketing piece. At the same time, I am bucketing them into acceleration proficiency or deficiency by seeing which side of the quadrant they land on (fastest times are on the bottom left). Practically, we are trying to determine if the athlete is able to continue accelerating beyond the first 10yds. If they can't, this indicates a lacking ability to express power and force under shorter and quicker time constraints. I would love to answer questions about this and also hear how all of you profile your athletes!