Altitude Training
The Good, the Bad, the Edge!
At the 1968 Olympics held in Mexico City was the first time that anyone paid any attention to altitude and its effects on sport. Mexico City is at a much higher altitude then places where the many of the Olympians came and trained from, and during the games it was noticed that performance times were significantly lower in endurance athletes.
Altitude training is now a commonly used tactic amongst a variety of elite level athletes who compete in a range of sports such as boxing, rowing and track and field. If an athlete is using this method properly then they will experience many benefits that will help them in competition. However, the athletes may experience some extreme changes that have a negative effect on their body as well. For some athletes do the benefits override the drawbacks enough to actually be beneficial, or are they just losing their ability to perform as well as they would have at a lower altitude?
When at a high altitude the air is thinner and contains less oxygen, so for an athlete to train in such conditions their body must undergo dramatic changes in order to acclimatize to their new environment. The athlete will experience an “increased red blood cell count, increased formation of hemoglobin, increased ability of oxygen uptake in the lungs, and increased blood vessel density around muscles to deliver oxygen and remove waste products”(Boutin). As a result of these changes, the athlete will be able to deliver more oxygen to their muscles and more efficiently. Therefore, when the athlete returns to their original elevation, they have developed body transformations that will improve their performance levels. In continuation of the physiological changes of the athlete, they may experience “an increase of endurance, reduced recovery time and weight loss“(Stahl). Even though the body may undergo significant changes, after only a few weeks at a lower altitude, the effects of training will diminish.
In order to get the full effect of altitude training, the athlete will train close to competition day. “The general advice is to plan two sessions of altitude training, the first at nine weeks prior to competition and lasting three weeks, and the second lasting two weeks ending three to four days before competition”(Mackenzie). However, every athlete will react differently to this form of training, but for highly competitive athletes the benefits could be worth a trip across the country.