Written by Em Wooden

Altitude training is utilized for a number of reasons.  The most common inspiration for clients at Evolution is improving athletic performance at sea level, although many people also train for high altitude treks and competitions in the Altitude Training Room.  For more than four decades athletes have embraced the improvement in performance that is yielded by altitude training.

There are a few different philosophies about how to get the most out of altitude; some say that athletes should both “live high” and “train high.”  This methodology might entail actually heading to a mountainous region for the duration of training, so that even activities such as eating and sleeping take place in a hypoxic (or oxygen deficient) environment.  Another approach is to “live high” but “train low.”  The philosophy that Evolution endorses is “train high, live low,” which means that athletes spend the majority of their time at sea level (or approximately 50 feet above sea level as is the case in Portland), but conduct their training at altitude.  Rather than hiking Mt. Hood every time they want to go for a run, our clients hop on a treadmill in our Altitude Training Room, which simulates altitudes between 9,000 and 17,000 feet.

People often ask how quickly altitude training will affect their body.  Depending on the altitude, it is possible to feel a difference in how your body moves and how quickly it tires within a few minutes of entering the room.  If you begin on a day when the altitude is relatively low—say on a Monday when it is set at 9,000 feet—you might be able to jog or even run on a treadmill, depending upon your fitness level and your body’s unique reactions to the hypoxic environment.  If you come in for the first time when the altitude is considerably higher—say 15,000 feet—you will likely find yourself walking rather than jogging.  There is no reason to be discouraged; you are still reaping the benefit of altitude training.  As you spend more time training in hypoxia, you will gain stamina and eventually be able to amp up the intensity of your workouts.

According to a 2013 single-blind study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, athletes who conducted their training in a hypoxic environment saw twice the improvement in their aerobic performance compared to athletes who executed the same training regime at sea level.  These results were apparent in just one month.  Researchers have found similar results with resistance training and anaerobic exercise.

Before you enter the Altitude Training Room at Evolution, you check out a Pulse Oximeter.  Every few minutes throughout your training session, you clip the Pulse Ox to your finger and check your SpO2, or the saturation of oxygen in your blood.  Anywhere between 75 and 96 is considered acceptable while working out in an oxygen deficient environment.  If your SpO2 stays above 96 you are not engaging the benefits of the room, so you need to increase the intensity of your workout in order to drive that number down.  If it is approaching 75, you need to step out of the room temporarily for your own safety; a minute or so of deep breaths at sea level should send your SpO2 rocketing back up, and then you can re-enter the Altitude Training Room.

In addition to the change in your SpO2, there are several others ways in which your body reacts to training at altitude.  These include:

Increased aerobic/anaerobic capacity

VO2max is the amount of oxygen that is available to you during a workout, or the aerobic capacity.  During a 2001 study which was published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, triathletes who conducted their training in a hypoxic chamber saw their VO2max increase, while triathletes who trained at sea level did not.  The same study found that anaerobic capacity was also improved.

Increased endurance

The Journal of Sports Science and Medicine published an article in 2011 in which researchers found that 180 minutes of intermittent hypoxic training per week for three weeks led to improved performance in endurance.

Skeletal muscle adaptations

A 2014 study on the connection between hypoxia and muscular adaptations found that skeletal muscles get more benefit from resistance training when it occurs in a hypoxic environment.  The muscle reacts as though the athlete has been engaging in both resistance training and endurance training.  These findings were published in Physiological Reports.

 

SOURCES

Barder, O. (n.d.). VO2 Max. Retrieved from: http://www.runningforfitness.org/faq/vo2-max

Czuba, M., Waskiewwicz, Z., Zajac, A., Poprzecki, S., Chowlewa, J., & Roczniok, R. (2011). The effects of intermittent hypoxic training on aerobic capacity and endurance performance in cyclists. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, 10(1), 175-183.

Galvin, H.M., Cooke, K., Sumners, D.P., Mileva, K.N., & Bowtell, J.L. (2013). Repeated sprint training in normobaric hypoxia. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 47(1), 74-79. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2013-092826

Kon, M., Ohiwa, N., Honda, A., Matsubayashi, T., Ikeda, T., Akimoto, T., Suzuki, Y., Hirano, Y., & Russell, A. (2014). Effects of systemic hypoxia on human muscular adaptations to resistance exercise training. Physiological Reports, 2(6), 1-13. doi: 10.14814/phy2.12033

Meeuwsen, T., Hendricksen, I.J.M., & Holewjin, M. (2001). Training-induced increases in sea-level performance are enhanced by acute intermittent hypobaric hypoxia. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 84(4), 283-290.