Hypoxic training for Masters?

A few random thoughts here: lung capacity per se is a relatively trivial element in aerobic performance. there have been one-lunged Olympians (not sure which sports) who have reportedly performed well. the ability of the skeletal muscles to extract oxygen from the blood, and the ability of the blood and circulatory system to pick up oxygen and carry it to these muscles, then pick up CO2 and carry this back to the lungs--these are much more critical factors. training is very muscle specific, and one of the adaptations aerobically trained muscles undergo is the ability to uptake more oxygen and nutrients from the blood stream than untrained muscles. one-legged bicycle training trials have shown that the same person can have a great VO2 max in the trained leg--and a mediocre one in the untrained leg based on my recent familiarizing with the hypoxic training literature (sleep high, train low), the benefits of this are debatable at best. There may be a small benefit to sea level performance, but a lot of researchers now think that sleeping at altitude (real or simulated) probably does little to enhance sea level performance, but it may help pre-acclimate you to high altitude performance. You may wonder, what about natural blood doping? It's true that bivouacing at altitude does increase your blood's oxygen carrying capacity, but it also makes your blood a little sludgier (more RBCs per unit volume). Some researchers now believe that these two effects essentially cancel each other out, resulting in no appreciable benefit. In any event, there seems to be no "simulated" altitude training effect from hypoxic sets because such don't last long enough to triggrer any significant blood changes. swimming, like many sports, has no shortage of "everybody knows" conventional wisdom training truisms that may, in fact, be false. Hypoxic sets may, in fact, fall into that area where coaching and hazing rituals intersect. the "need" to breathe is driven by a build up of CO2, not a decrease in Oxygen. As I once posted elsewhere, I help my breath for nearly two minutes out in Boulder with a pulse oximeter on my finger. It was exquisitely painful, but my blood oxygen saturation level did not get down below 94 percent. Later that day, atop Pikes Peak and breathing ad libertam, I felt absolutely fine--even though my ox sat now was 91 percent. The build up of CO2, not a defiicit of OX, is what hurts and tells our diaphrams to breathe! i like hypoxic sets myself, primarily because I am pretty good at them. i find them relaxing. however, when i was our team's player coach and would write the workouts, I always prefaced any hypoxic set with a warning: if you see what appears to be a swarm of black dots closing fast across your visual field, you probably need to breathe. And quickly. one other possible benefit, if there is one, to hypoxic training is the psychological effect--you adapt yourself to this form of discomfort so that when you encounter it in a race, it doesn't freak you out. Who among us hasn't had an overwhelming urge to sneak a breath on a final stroke on a 100? If we have taught ourselves we can safely ignore this impulse, maybe we can shave a couple hundredths off our time? And with SDKs, mental habituation to hypoxic discomforts os no doubt even more important. all this, of course, is moot now. our Y has posted all these sheets in the pool area, printed on orange paper, proscribing any breath restriction whatsover! the days of whine and hazes, it would appear, are kaput at the Sewickley YMCA.

A few random thoughts here: lung capacity per se is a relatively trivial element in aerobic performance. there have been one-lunged Olympians (not sure which sports) who have reportedly performed well. the ability of the skeletal muscles to extract oxygen from the blood, and the ability of the blood and circulatory system to pick up oxygen and carry it to these muscles, then pick up CO2 and carry this back to the lungs--these are much more critical factors. training is very muscle specific, and one of the adaptations aerobically trained muscles undergo is the ability to uptake more oxygen and nutrients from the blood stream than untrained muscles. one-legged bicycle training trials have shown that the same person can have a great VO2 max in the trained leg--and a mediocre one in the untrained leg based on my recent familiarizing with the hypoxic training literature (sleep high, train low), the benefits of this are debatable at best. There may be a small benefit to sea level performance, but a lot of researchers now think that sleeping at altitude (real or simulated) probably does little to enhance sea level performance, but it may help pre-acclimate you to high altitude performance. You may wonder, what about natural blood doping? It's true that bivouacing at altitude does increase your blood's oxygen carrying capacity, but it also makes your blood a little sludgier (more RBCs per unit volume). Some researchers now believe that these two effects essentially cancel each other out, resulting in no appreciable benefit. In any event, there seems to be no "simulated" altitude training effect from hypoxic sets because such don't last long enough to triggrer any significant blood changes. swimming, like many sports, has no shortage of "everybody knows" conventional wisdom training truisms that may, in fact, be false. Hypoxic sets may, in fact, fall into that area where coaching and hazing rituals intersect. the "need" to breathe is driven by a build up of CO2, not a decrease in Oxygen. As I once posted elsewhere, I help my breath for nearly two minutes out in Boulder with a pulse oximeter on my finger. It was exquisitely painful, but my blood oxygen saturation level did not get down below 94 percent. Later that day, atop Pikes Peak and breathing ad libertam, I felt absolutely fine--even though my ox sat now was 91 percent. The build up of CO2, not a defiicit of OX, is what hurts and tells our diaphrams to breathe! i like hypoxic sets myself, primarily because I am pretty good at them. i find them relaxing. however, when i was our team's player coach and would write the workouts, I always prefaced any hypoxic set with a warning: if you see what appears to be a swarm of black dots closing fast across your visual field, you probably need to breathe. And quickly. one other possible benefit, if there is one, to hypoxic training is the psychological effect--you adapt yourself to this form of discomfort so that when you encounter it in a race, it doesn't freak you out. Who among us hasn't had an overwhelming urge to sneak a breath on a final stroke on a 100? If we have taught ourselves we can safely ignore this impulse, maybe we can shave a couple hundredths off our time? And with SDKs, mental habituation to hypoxic discomforts os no doubt even more important. all this, of course, is moot now. our Y has posted all these sheets in the pool area, printed on orange paper, proscribing any breath restriction whatsover! the days of whine and hazes, it would appear, are kaput at the Sewickley YMCA.