hypoxic training

[twtguy]

you see people training all the time in the mountains, at higher elevations, to better their endurance. has anyone here seen people training cardio with a snorkel? a while ago i saw an all access episode with wandy, and he had a snorkel in his mouth while running. does this emulate oxygen restriction like the mountains? had anyone done this or heard of this? i tried looking up some articles on it but could not find much.

[Maxx]

Hypoxic training is similar to blood doping in that it causes an increase in the number of red blood cells within the body to transport larger amounts of oxygen to the tissues in an oxygen depleted environment. Obviously at sea level or an environment where there is a greater amount of oxygen in the air, you are going to have an increased level of performance when participating in aerobic style activities and you'll recover more quickly in sports like wrestling and kickboxing where the aerobic system is used primarly for recovery.

There are also drugs that are used to do this such as eurethropoiten (Not sure the spelling is right), but there have been several deaths associated with this drug and overuse can result in your blood literally being turned into molasses. It's a relativley notorious performance enhancement drug among long distance cyclists.

[twtguy]

hmm thanks for the info. a little biology in there....very nice. nothin on the snorkel though?

[Maxx]

hmm thanks for the info. a little biology in there....very nice. nothin on the snorkel though?

The snorkel is simply a way of causing further oxygen depletion and are generally used at elevations near sea level to mimic higher altitude environments. Because you get some air stalling in the snorkel, you aren't getting completely fresh air every time that you inhale.

It's actually a technology that's been used for years. Kathy Long used to train with a home made version in the early 90's, now there are several models available that are marketed to athletes. Some running as low as 40-50 dollars but there is also a model used by Frank Shamrock and Cung Le that I believe goes for several thousand.