The Truth About “Altitude Training”

Summary

In this video, Matt from Movement System discusses the physiology behind altitude training and its impact on athletic performance. He dispels the myth that training at high altitudes is effective, emphasizing that while it can hinder training, living at high altitudes significantly boosts erythropoietin and hemoglobin levels, enhancing cardiovascular adaptations. Matt explains the acute and chronic physiological changes, including increased heart rate and red blood cell count, and offers practical advice on optimizing training by living at high altitude but training at lower altitudes. He also explores alternatives like altitude tents and hypobaric chambers for simulating these conditions.

Takeaways

• 🏔️ High-altitude training is not optimal for aerobic training due to reduced oxygen delivery and transport.
• 🩸 Living at high altitude can increase erythropoietin, hemoglobin, aerobic enzymes, and other cardiovascular adaptations beneficial for athletes.
• 🌍 The percentage of oxygen in the air remains constant at 20.93% regardless of altitude, but the physiological impact comes from reduced oxygen binding to hemoglobin.
• ⚡ Above 6000 feet of elevation, physiological changes related to oxygen binding and delivery start to become noticeable.
• 📈 Acute exposure to high altitude results in immediate compensation through increased heart rate to maintain oxygen delivery to muscles.
• 🔄 VO2 max is determined by cardiac output and arteriovenous oxygen difference, which does not change immediately upon altitude exposure.
• 🕒 It takes approximately two weeks to adapt to an elevation increase of 2000 feet, with a base adaptation time of two weeks for 7000 feet.
• 🌱 Chronic adaptations to high altitude include increased red blood cell count due to higher erythropoietin levels, which enhances oxygen transport.
• 🏋️‍♂️ For optimal training, a combination of living at high altitude and training at lower altitudes is suggested to benefit from altitude-induced physiological changes while maintaining training efficiency.
• 🛏️ Alternatives to living high and training low include using altitude tents or hypobaric chambers to simulate the effects of high altitude for training purposes.
• 🏁 Arriving at high-altitude race locations several days early can help athletes acclimate and improve performance through initial adaptations.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video?

The main topic of the video is altitude training and the physiological adaptations our body undergoes due to being at high altitudes, and how to optimize training environments for athletes.

Why is training at high altitude not considered an effective means of training?

Training at high altitude is not effective because the conditions at high altitude are not optimal for oxygen delivery and transport, which are crucial for aerobic training.

What percentage of oxygen is present in the air at high altitudes compared to sea level?

The percentage of oxygen in the air remains the same at 20.93 percent, regardless of whether it's high altitude or sea level. The difference lies in the partial pressure of oxygen.

What is the significance of erythropoietin (EPO) in the context of altitude training?

Erythropoietin, or EPO, is significant because it is a hormone that stimulates the production of red blood cells, which in turn transport oxygen via hemoglobin. Living at high altitude can increase EPO levels, leading to more red blood cells and improved oxygen transport.

At what elevation does the human body start to experience physiological changes due to altitude?

The human body starts to experience physiological changes due to altitude above 6000 feet of elevation.

What is the formula for VO2 max and why is it important in the context of altitude training?

VO2 max is calculated as the cardiac output times the arteriovenous O2 difference (A-VO2 difference). It's important because it represents the maximum amount of oxygen that can be delivered to muscles, which is affected by altitude.

How does acute exposure to high altitude affect an individual's heart rate during exercise?

Acute exposure to high altitude results in an increased submaximal heart rate during exercise due to the need to pump more blood per minute to deliver the same amount of oxygen to muscles.

What is the estimated time frame for the body to adapt to a new altitude?

As a rule of thumb, it takes about two weeks to adapt to an elevation of 7000 feet, and an additional two weeks for every 2000 feet above that.

What are some of the chronic adaptations the body undergoes when living at high altitude for an extended period?

Chronic adaptations include an increase in erythropoietin, red blood cells, capillary density, and aerobic enzyme concentrations, which help improve oxygen delivery and utilization at high altitude.

How can altitude training be optimized for athletes who are not able to live at high altitude and train at low altitude?

Altitude training can be optimized using altitude tents or hypobaric chambers, which simulate the effects of high altitude by reducing the percentage of oxygen, stimulating the body's adaptations without the need to physically change elevation.

What is the minimum time required for the body to start showing some physiological adaptations to high altitude?

The body can start showing some physiological adaptations to high altitude in as little as 15 hours, with an increase in red blood cell count observable within a few days.

Outlines

00:00

🧗‍♂️ Altitude Training Myths and Physiology

In this paragraph, Matt from Movement System addresses common misconceptions about altitude training. He clarifies that while training at high altitude is not optimal for aerobic activities due to reduced oxygen availability, living at high altitude can induce beneficial physiological adaptations. These include changes in erythropoietin levels, hemoglobin, aerobic enzymes, and cardiovascular functions. Matt emphasizes the importance of understanding these adaptations to effectively utilize altitude in training regimens. He also explains the difference between the oxygen percentage at different altitudes and the actual amount of oxygen bound to hemoglobin, which is crucial for exercise performance. The discussion includes the significance of elevation changes, particularly above 6000 feet, and how these affect athletes, especially those training for high-altitude endurance events like the Leadville race.

05:02

🏞️ Adaptation to High Altitude: Acute and Chronic Responses

This paragraph delves into the body's acute and chronic responses to high altitude. Initially, the body compensates for reduced oxygen delivery by increasing heart rate, which makes training feel more challenging. Matt explains the equation for VO2 max and how the body's oxygen extraction rate remains constant, necessitating an increase in cardiac output to deliver the same amount of oxygen. Chronic adaptations, which occur over time, include an increase in erythropoietin production, leading to more red blood cells and hemoglobin, enhancing oxygen transport. Matt provides a guideline for how long it takes to adapt to different altitudes, suggesting that it takes about two weeks to adapt to 7000 feet, and an additional two weeks for every 2000 feet above that. He also touches on the potential of using altitude tents or hypobaric chambers for training optimization, suggesting that living high and training low could be an ideal strategy for athletes, although it's not practical for everyone.

Keywords

💡Altitude Training

Altitude training refers to the practice of training at high elevations to improve athletic performance, primarily by increasing the body's ability to use oxygen more efficiently. In the video, it is discussed as a method to enhance the physiology of athletes, particularly for events held at high altitudes such as the Leadville race.

💡Physiology

Physiology is the study of how the body's processes function and how they respond to changes in the environment. The video focuses on the physiological adaptations that occur in the body when exposed to high altitude, such as changes in erythropoietin levels and hemoglobin, which are crucial for oxygen transport and utilization during exercise.

💡Erythropoietin (EPO)

Erythropoietin, often abbreviated as EPO, is a hormone that stimulates the production of red blood cells. The video explains that living at high altitudes increases EPO levels, which in turn increases red blood cell count and the body's capacity to transport oxygen, an adaptation beneficial for athletes.

💡Hemoglobin

Hemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells that binds to oxygen, allowing it to be transported throughout the body. The script discusses how high altitude affects hemoglobin's ability to bind oxygen and how chronic adaptations at altitude can increase hemoglobin levels to enhance oxygen delivery to muscles during exercise.

💡Aerobic Enzymes

Aerobic enzymes are proteins that facilitate chemical reactions in the body during aerobic metabolism, which is essential for endurance activities. The video mentions that living at high altitude can lead to an increase in aerobic enzyme concentrations, improving the body's ability to produce energy with oxygen.

💡VO2 Max

VO2 Max, or maximal oxygen uptake, is the measurement of the maximum amount of oxygen an individual can utilize during intense exercise. The script explains how altitude affects VO2 Max by impacting the cardiac output and the arteriovenous oxygen difference, which are components of the VO2 Max equation.

💡Acute Adaptations

Acute adaptations refer to the immediate physiological responses to a new environment or condition, such as high altitude. The video describes how the body initially compensates for reduced oxygen availability by increasing heart rate and cardiac output upon acute exposure to higher altitudes.

💡Chronic Adaptations

Chronic adaptations are long-term changes that occur in the body as a result of sustained exposure to a particular condition, such as living at high altitude. The script outlines how chronic adaptations at altitude can include increased EPO production, red blood cell count, and capillary density, which improve oxygen transport and utilization.

💡Capillary Density

Capillary density is the concentration of capillaries, the smallest blood vessels, in a given area of tissue. The video explains that chronic adaptation to high altitude can increase capillary density in muscles, which enhances oxygen delivery and is an important factor in athletic performance.

💡2,3-DPG

2,3-DPG, or 2,3-diphosphoglycerate, is a compound that helps in the release of oxygen from hemoglobin. The script mentions that an increase in 2,3-DPG at high altitude aids in the unloading of oxygen from hemoglobin, which is crucial for maintaining oxygen supply to the muscles during exercise.

💡Hypobaric Chamber

A hypobaric chamber is a device that simulates high altitude by reducing air pressure, which in turn lowers the partial pressure of oxygen. The video suggests using a hypobaric chamber as a method to simulate the effects of high altitude for training purposes, allowing athletes to stimulate altitude-related physiological adaptations without physically being at high elevations.

Highlights

Altitude training is not an effective means of training due to the conditions of high altitude not being optimal for oxygen delivery and transport.

Living at high altitude can significantly change erythropoietin, hemoglobin, aerobic enzymes, and other cardiovascular adaptations beneficial for athletes.

The percentage of oxygen in the air remains constant at 20.93% regardless of altitude, but the partial pressure and oxygen bound to hemoglobin decrease with altitude.

Physiological changes due to altitude begin to be noticeable above 6000 feet of elevation.

Acute exposure to higher altitudes results in less oxygen delivery to muscles, necessitating an immediate compensation through increased heart rate.

The equation for VO2 max (cardiac output times avo2 difference) explains the body's need to pump more blood per minute at altitude to maintain oxygen delivery.

Adaptation to altitude involves an increase in erythropoietin, leading to higher red blood cell count for improved oxygen transport.

The time required for the body to adapt to a new altitude varies, with a general rule of two weeks for every 2000 feet above 5000 feet.

Early adaptations to altitude can begin in as little as 15 hours, with noticeable increases in red blood cell count within a few days.

Training at high altitude without adaptation can lead to de-training due to the inability to deliver sufficient oxygen.

Optimal training could theoretically involve living at high altitude and training at lower altitudes for better oxygen delivery during workouts.

Practical workarounds for altitude training include using altitude tents or hypobaric chambers to simulate the effects of high altitude.

Altitude tents decrease the percentage of oxygen to simulate high altitude effects, while hypobaric chambers more accurately represent the partial pressure change.

Coaching endurance athletes requires understanding acute and chronic adaptations to altitude for effective race preparation.

The video aims to provide insights into the science and physiology of altitude training for athletes, coaches, and trainers.

The presenter dispels myths and provides practical advice on how to use altitude to an athlete's advantage in training.

The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to engage with the content by liking, subscribing, and asking questions.

Transcripts

hey what's up guys matt with movement

system in this video we're going to talk

all about

altitude training or really the

physiology behind how our body adapts to

being at altitude and how we can change

our training environment to optimize the

physiology of what's going on

so if maybe you're an athlete and you're

training for a race like leadville or

maybe you're a coach or a trainer and

looking to learn about the science and

the physiology of training so let's go

ahead and dive into it

all right so right off the bat i want to

dispel a myth about altitude training

so really training at altitude or going

up to a high altitude do a training camp

or or to do

aerobic training is not an effective

means of training

so if we do that and we go up to high

altitude the conditions of high altitude

are not optimal for oxygen delivery and

oxygen transport

and the adaptations associated with

training that said

living at high altitude can

significantly change our erythropoietin

our hemoglobin our aerobic enzymes

and other cardiovascular adaptations

that are really beneficial so we're

gonna break down the physiology here

and figure out how we can actually use

altitude to our advantage

in a training situation so to start off

whether we're at high altitude or

sea level the percent of oxygen in

the air is 20.93 percent so at the top

mount everest 20.93 percent

oxygen in the air so the difference

really isn't in the percent of

oxygen in the air but rather the partial

pressure and then what really

physiologically matters to us

is the amount of oxygen that's bound to

hemoglobin so again the thing that

matters the most for exercise is that at

higher and higher altitudes

there's less oxygen bound to hemoglobin

and less oxygen that's delivered to your

muscles

and to put some numbers of this really

we're talking about above 6000 feet of

elevation to actually see these

physiological changes

for example denver's at around 5200 feet

and really you need to get to about 6

000 feet of elevation before you

start seeing these physiological changes

if we think about other points in

colorado like leadville

there's a big 100 mile run race there as

well as a mountain bike race

and people go there and 10 000 feet at

leadville is actually a really

significant elevation

to consider these physiological changes

for those of you who don't know i

actually do coach endurance athletes

and one of the endurance athletes that i

coach actually did race leadville

so these physiological adaptations that

we're about to talk about acute and

chronic

are really important when we're

considering training athletes like that

let's start off with acute adaptations

so you just got to level for example and

maybe you lived in

somewhere else that's below 6000 feet of

elevation and now you're acutely exposed

to this higher elevation

what is going to change in your body

well first off immediately

first breath off the plane you're going

to be delivering less

oxygen to your muscles than it's used to

instantly you will have to compensate by

increasing your heart rate

now when we think about delivering

oxygen we can think about the equation

for vo2 max which is the

cardiac output times avo2 difference and

what that basically means is the amount

of blood that's pumped per minute

that's our cardiac output multiplied by

the extraction

of oxygen so generally that avo2

difference the amount of oxygen in our

arteries versus our veins

that is about 50 meaning we extract

about 50

of the oxygen that's in our blood supply

each time it circulates

that does not change at altitude for

months

so when you get off the plane that

extraction of oxygen is still going to

be at 50 percent

meaning that you're going to need to

pump more blood per minute

with the same extraction rate in order

to deliver the same amount of oxygen

so what this is going to result in is an

increased

sub maximal heart rate meaning that if

you were

doing mountain bike racing or running

and you were used to 140

beats per minute at a certain wattage or

pace

at sea level as you get to that 10 000

feet of elevation

that will be significantly changed it

will be increased by

up to 50 percent meaning that if you

were at 120 beats per minute

on the ground if you are not at all

adapted the worst case scenario is you'd

be at 180 beats per minute for that same

workload at altitude for realistically

for most people it's going to be more

like 20 30 percent higher

but there's going to be a significant

increase in heart rate

and cardiac output as you're acutely

adapting to this altitude and that's

going to make your training feel really

hard

and it's also going to make it more

difficult to effectively train

because you're going to be going slower

you're not going to be delivering as

much oxygen

until you start to develop some of the

chronic adaptations it's going to be

really hard to train at altitude

now that said let's say you spend a week

two weeks a month

at 10 000 feet of elevation how is your

body going to actually adapt

and we'll talk about how much time this

actually takes and how you can optimize

if you're racing at that elevation for

example one of the first adaptations is

going to take place

just from living at high altitude is

going to be an increase in

erythropoietin so erythropoietin or epo

is a glycoprotein cytokine secreted

mainly by the kidneys responsible for

cellular hypoxia

basically erythropoietin is what

produces red blood cells

so red blood cells are going to

transport oxygen through the bloodstream

via hemoglobin so the more red blood

cells that we can form

the more hemoglobin that we have and the

more oxygen that we can transport

so if we adapted to a certain level of

red blood cells and hemoglobin

at sea level and then we go up to a high

elevation

we're going to increase the amount of

red blood cells in our bloodstream

over time over the course of 5 10

15 days we're going to progressively

increase that number of red blood cells

by an increase of erythropoietin this

will allow us

to slowly start to be able to deliver

more oxygen

at that high altitude and it's kind of

hard to give a guideline

for exactly how long that adaptation

will take because there's also an

increase in capillary density

aerobic enzyme concentrations things

like 2 3

dpg which help with hemoglobin unbinding

from oxygen

and other factors like that and these

different systems in enzymes are going

to adapt to different rates

but as a rule of thumb it takes about

two weeks to adapt

to seven thousand feet of elevation if

you go to nine thousand feet of

elevation it takes about four weeks for

your body to adapt and every 2000 feet

above that

is an extra two weeks so if you want to

adapt to 11 000 feet you would take six

weeks

and this is a rule of thumb some of

those enzyme adaptations are going to

take a little bit longer

especially things like capillary density

as well because that's

literally forming new capillaries into

your muscles and that's a process that

takes a while

but for the most part that's about when

we're going to get the majority of our

adaptations from those different

altitudes

that said you'll get some adaptation in

as little as 15 hours

so in as little as 15 hours you're going

to start this process

and you're already going to see red

blood cells count increase so in as

little as

four five seven days we could start to

see some of these adaptations take place

meaning that if you're racing a race at

ten thousand feet of elevation

getting there even five to seven days

early and

adapting to that altitude is going to

help your performance

now let's just say that we're elite

athletes and financial costs aren't a

big factor and we just want to optimize

our training how could we use

altitude to optimize our training now we

said already that

training at high altitude really isn't

optimal in fact if you go

up to a high altitude and train just

like you were at a low altitude

you're gonna actually become de-trained

the reason is you can't deliver as much

oxygen it's a sub-optimal environment

it's kind of similar to

training outside in the heat versus

training indoors in a cool environment

indoors in a cool environment or at sea

level in ideal conditions

you'll be able to train your muscles

with more oxygen and have a better

training effect

and this is shown in a lot of research

but to really optimize what we could do

is

live at really high altitude and then

train at a low altitude so

if we could theoretically live at eight

nine ten thousand feet of elevation

but then drive for example down to six

thousand or five thousand feet of

elevation to do our training

that would really be ideal for the

physiological response that's going to

occur

from exposure to altitude to increase

erythropoietin to increase red blood

cells to increase enzyme counts

but at low altitude we can actually do

our training where we can deliver a lot

of oxygen

and have that muscular response this

really isn't practical for most people

because you'd have to drive thousands of

feet

up and down off of mountains each day to

train but there are some workarounds

here you could do

exposure in things like an altitude tent

or a hypobaric chamber

using a hypobaric chamber you would most

accurately represent the

partial pressure change of altitude but

an altitude tent which

basically just decreases the percent of

oxygen would also simulate that effect

and get you some of those enzyme changes

and erythropoietin stimulation that kind

of thing so it's probably the more

realistic option for people

as opposed to actually living high and

training low hopefully this is helpful

for your training

if it was go and smash that like button

subscribe so you don't miss future

videos

if you have any questions go ahead drop

a comment below you'd also hit me up on

instagram at the movement system

learn more about my training my training

approach my coaching approach

and what i talk about there thanks for

watching guys and i'll catch you the

next one

you