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Off-Topic High altitude masks?? What gives

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conor78

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In the gym doing a set of deadlifts and in rolls a young guy wearing one of those bane high altitude masks, no one bats an eyelid.. is it just me???
 
They restrict your breathing and that's about it. They do not mimic nor re-create the effects of training at altitude. The effects of altitude (and benefits of altitude training) are far more involved and complicated than just restricted breathing.
 
If you want to restrict breathing and actually do something worthwhile bear hug carries are worthwhile. As stated above this wouldn't have any effect on your oxygen carrying capacity or any other metric as LIVING at altitude has a big impact alongside just training at altitude.
 
The effects of altitude can be duplicated with proper breathing training. Nose-only breathing during moderate exercise and/or recovery periods between bouts of exercise is a good place to start.

-S-
 
I'm certainly no expert on training at altitude (although I have climbed a number of peaks over 20,000')
But I thought that some of the effects of training at altitude are due to the lower partial pressure of O2 at altitude resulting in less available oxygen molecules. The training effect as I understand it, comes from an increase in red blood cell volume and an increase in EPO. This comes from being continuously in a low oxygen environment over an extended period of time. In using the training mask I think that you are essentially breathing the same oxygen rich air, plus one typically does not live wearing one of these things.

Again, I am no scientist so it would be great to hear some thoughts on the science behind altitude training. I would certainly welcome learning more on this topic, and possibly clear up any misunderstandings I may have about it.
 
@offwidth, less oxygen in the air doesn't have to mean less available oxygen in the body. Oxygen is made available to the cells, in part, by the presence of sufficient CO2 in the blood - without sufficient CO2, O2 in the blood is not readily released from its bond with hemoglobin. A person hyperventilating is a classic example - sufficient oxygen in the blood but insufficient oxygen available. The classic solution, having the person breath into a paper bag for a little while, reduces oxygen and raises CO2 which, although it might seem backwards, results in more, not less, O2 available for the body to use.

Read up on the Bohr effect for more about this, and on the work of Professor Buteyko in developing exercises to increase O2 utilization through the increase in blood CO2 levels. Practicing these exercises or living at altitude can yield similar results, a body adapted to a higher level of blood CO2 and requiring less oxygen intake to function.

I am not a scientist, either, but the above is my understanding and it agrees with my practice and that of my students.

-S-
 
@Steve Freides...
Thanks for the explanation. I will most certainly read up on the sources you mention.

I vividly remember hiking into a base camp in the Andes mountains years ago when I was much younger. We had hired a man with some mules to carry in our gear. This guy was almost twice my age in years, and looked three times older because of the harsh life he led as a llama herder. He was wearing sandals made from car tires. I lived close to sea level but was young and extremely fit. This guys hut was at 13,500'. We started walking in to our camp; I was astonished at how quickly he outpaced us and was soon a speck in the distance.

Thanks again for the insights.
 
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