From what I understand, breath control training largely provides little (if any?) physiological training effect other than from the work itself (which is hindered anyway, making it a waste of time for training any of the energy systems).
I assume there is room to mentally adapt and learn how to manage hypoxic suffering. But other than developing a strong aerobic base and increasing level of conditioning, can one actually have room to improve their hypoxic capacity specifically through hypoxic training?
Thank you!
Hypoxic training is not bad for you if you do it properly.
It is helpful to me to divide hypoxic training into two types: swimming on top of the water while taking few breaths, and doing underwater kicking. Most discussion about hypoxic training really talks about the first of these. Regarding that: Maglischo, "Swimming Fastest," disputes the notion that hypoxic training will produce any benefit in improving aerobic endurance or lactate buffering.
The one adaptation to hypoxic training that surely does take place is an improvement in breath-holding ability (hypercapnia).
So this is his answer to the question that forms the title of the thread: yes, hypoxic sets will improve your ability to swim without air. He goes on to say that only a few weeks are needed to produce a meaningful adaptation in this regard.
A larger question is whether it is a good form of training beyond that goal. I find "on top of the water" hypoxic training useful in two ways. One has been mentioned earlier: to promote efficiency. Another is during taper time, to elevate HR without stressing muscles. Mostly I do this kind of thing during taper and recovery workouts.
Like Maglischo I don't think breath-holding is a very effective way to train to build endurance or lactate tolerance.
BUT: in my opinion if you are serious about developing developing your underwater kick, you have to do it in practice. A lot, which will involve some oxygen deprivation. The primary goal is not necessary hypoxic training per se -- not exactly -- but for people who are faster underwater than on top of the water you will need to develop the ability to stay under longer.
There is no good substitute for actually training for what you want to do; as Berkoff said in the comments on the article linked to earlier, Phelps didn't just decide suddenly to go 15m underwater at the end of at 200 free, when his LA levels were sky-high: he had to train to be able to do that.
Hypoxic training is not bad for you if you do it properly.
It is helpful to me to divide hypoxic training into two types: swimming on top of the water while taking few breaths, and doing underwater kicking. Most discussion about hypoxic training really talks about the first of these. Regarding that: Maglischo, "Swimming Fastest," disputes the notion that hypoxic training will produce any benefit in improving aerobic endurance or lactate buffering.
The one adaptation to hypoxic training that surely does take place is an improvement in breath-holding ability (hypercapnia).
So this is his answer to the question that forms the title of the thread: yes, hypoxic sets will improve your ability to swim without air. He goes on to say that only a few weeks are needed to produce a meaningful adaptation in this regard.
A larger question is whether it is a good form of training beyond that goal. I find "on top of the water" hypoxic training useful in two ways. One has been mentioned earlier: to promote efficiency. Another is during taper time, to elevate HR without stressing muscles. Mostly I do this kind of thing during taper and recovery workouts.
Like Maglischo I don't think breath-holding is a very effective way to train to build endurance or lactate tolerance.
BUT: in my opinion if you are serious about developing developing your underwater kick, you have to do it in practice. A lot, which will involve some oxygen deprivation. The primary goal is not necessary hypoxic training per se -- not exactly -- but for people who are faster underwater than on top of the water you will need to develop the ability to stay under longer.
There is no good substitute for actually training for what you want to do; as Berkoff said in the comments on the article linked to earlier, Phelps didn't just decide suddenly to go 15m underwater at the end of at 200 free, when his LA levels were sky-high: he had to train to be able to do that.
