Elite athletes should live and lightly train in high-altitude areas to acclimate their bodies to lower oxygen levels. Stray-Gundersen and I call the “live high, train low” program. However, our research has shown it’s more effective to follow what Dr. Traditionally, elite athletes have lived and trained at high altitudes, such as Colorado Springs, Colo. While that sounds like a tiny improvement, it can be the difference between missing the final cut for a competitive team and earning a medal. This blood expanding effect can enhance performance in elite athletes by 1 to 2 percent. When they compete at lower altitudes, they get a natural boost to the muscles when additional oxygen is available. As elite athletes acclimate to high altitude, they acquire more red blood cells which allows their blood to carry more oxygen. The increased rate of perceived exertion is caused by altitude-induced hypoxia, which is a decrease in the amount of oxygen being delivered to the muscles to burn fuel and create energy. During workouts at high altitude, athletes feel like they’re putting forth more effort to perform as well as they do closer to sea level. This may sound like a negative thing, but living in higher altitudes and getting used to breathing “thinner” air can enhance elite athletes’ athletic performance in competitions at lower altitude. That means each breath will deliver less oxygen to your muscles. In high-altitude environments, you draw in less oxygen per breath than you would at lower altitudes. Low altitude is approximately 4,000 feet above sea level or lower. When we refer to “high altitude” in sports medicine, we generally mean 7,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level or higher. However, the benefits for noncompetitive athletes are far less noticeable – even though gimmicky products like “high elevation” training masks may try to convince you otherwise. ![]() ![]() This was the longest sports medicine research grant in the history of the Olympic Committee, and it enabled us to publish the definitive study on altitude training in the Journal of Applied Physiology.Įlite American athletes, including Olympic runners Emma Coburn, Jenny Simpson, Galen Rupp, Paul Chelimo, Matthew Centrowitz, and Evan Jager, and Olympic swimmers Michael Phelps, Ryan Murphy, and Katie Ledecky, rely on altitude training to shave off precious seconds during their races. Olympic Committee and USA Track & Field (USATF). ![]() My colleague, Jim Stray-Gundersen, M.D., and I researched altitude training for 10 years with grants from the U.S. With such intense competition, how can elite athletes legally gain a competitive advantage? One method I’ve studied extensively is altitude training. In fact, less than 1 second separated Singapore swimmer Joseph Schooling’s gold medal from a three-way tie for silver in the 100-meter butterfly at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
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