Recent Capital graduate Christopher Stembridge attended the American College of Sports Medicine meeting with faculty mentor Catherine Boulant, associate professor of biology, to present a poster on how dehydration affects the body’s performance during anaerobic exercize. Anaerobic exercise is short-lasting, high-intensity exercise like heavy weight-lifting or sprints.
From 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on the first day of the conference, Stembridge addressed a steady flow of interested sports medicine and exercise scientists, including several whose research he referenced on his poster, “The Effect of Hypohydration on Anaerobic Exercise Performance.” Chris had given an oral presentation on the topic in April during Capital’s annual Symposium on Undergraduate Scholarship and in October at the Midwest American College of Sports Medicine meeting.
“This was a wonderful experience for Chris and for me,” Boulant said. “Chris really knew this project. He and I reviewed the literature in this area, and he was able to defend the hypothesis, defend the method and converse with experts in the field.
"Chris had the opportunity to interact with the editor-in-chief of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, the research director of the Heat Division at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, and the scientist from the Wingate Institute in Israel, who developed and the Wingate Anaerobic Power Test, a protocol we used in our study.”
A high point of the experience came when Stembridge compared dehydration and experimental protocols with a scientist who recently published a study on the same topic.
“Chris was a great ambassador for Capital, and several scientists encouraged him to apply to their graduate programs,” Boulant said.
Abstract
The Effect of Hypohydration on Anaerobic Exercise Performance
Christopher Stembridge
Mentors: Catherine Boulant, Biology, Geology, and Environmental Science Department and Robert A. Thorne, Health and Sport Science Department
Hypohydration is common during exercise or work, especially under conditions of extreme heat. In the sport or occupational setting, individuals who are hypohydrated often are required to perform anaerobic exercise. Although it is well known that hypohydration negatively impacts aerobic exercise performance, the impact of hypohydration on anaerobic exercise performance is less well defined. This study examined the effect of moderate hypohydration on anaerobic exercise performance. Eight healthy, athletic, male subjects (age: 19.6 +/- 1.3 yrs; height: 180.1 +/- 8.6 cm; weight: 82.6 +/-10.8 kg; VO2max: 46.5 +/- 3.8 mls/kg/min) completed two iterations of a 30-second Wingate Anaerobic Power Test: EUHY Wingate, in a well-hydrated condition, and HYPOHY Wingate, under conditions of moderate hypohydration (-3.8 +/- 0.6 % body weight). The iterations were randomly assigned and separated by 3-10 days. Paired t-tests demonstrated no significant differences between treatment conditions (EUHY vs. HYPOHY) in mean power (EUHY: 663.08 +/- 90.30 watts vs. HYPOHY: 641.40 +/- 70.01 watts) p = 0.52; or power/kg BW (EUHY: 8.37 +/- 1.24 watts/kg BW vs. HYPOHY: 8.31 +/- 0.95 watts/kg BW) p = 0.89. Results of this study indicate that moderate hypohydration does not impair anaerobic exercise performance in young, athletic, male subjects.