What Training At High Altitude Does to the Body

Summary

This video explores how altitude impacts the human body, focusing on physiological adaptations that occur at high elevations. It delves into acute responses like increased respiratory and heart rates, and long-term adaptations such as increased red blood cell production and capillary growth. The script discusses the benefits of altitude training for athletes, the optimal altitude for training, and the potential performance improvements that can range from 1-5%. It also examines different training strategies like 'live high train high' and 'live high train low,' providing insights for athletes seeking a competitive edge.

Takeaways

• 🧬 The human body undergoes physiological adaptations at high altitudes, including increased red blood cell production and enhanced oxygen transport efficiency.
• ⛰️ Hypoxia, or low oxygen levels, is caused by decreased atmospheric pressure at high altitudes, not by a reduction in oxygen percentage.
• 📉 Atmospheric pressure, and specifically the pressure of oxygen, decreases with altitude, affecting the amount of oxygen that can be absorbed into the bloodstream.
• 🏃‍♂️ Acute adaptations to high altitudes include increased respiratory and heart rates, while long-term adaptations involve increased red blood cell count and blood volume.
• 🩸 The hormone EPO, stimulated by hypoxia, triggers the production of more red blood cells to enhance oxygen transport.
• 🚀 An increase in blood volume not only boosts red blood cell count but also improves the diffusion capacity of oxygen into the bloodstream by expanding capillaries.
• 💊 Proper gut health is essential for efficient nutrient absorption, which can be supported by bioactive nutrients like those found in colostrum.
• 🌡️ Athletes can benefit from training at high altitudes, as it enhances physiological adaptations similar to those achieved through exercise.
• 🏔️ The optimal altitude for training is generally considered to be around 7,000 ft, providing a stimulus for adaptation without causing severe altitude sickness.
• 🕒 Staying at high altitude for at least 3 to 6 weeks is recommended to achieve measurable improvements in athletic performance.
• 🏅 Training at high altitude can improve endurance performance by 2 to 5% for competitive athletes, with elite athletes seeing a more modest 1 to 2% improvement.

Q & A

What physiological changes occur in the human body at high altitudes?

The body undergoes several adaptations at high altitudes, including increased respiratory rate, increased heart rate, production of more red blood cells to carry oxygen, increased blood volume, growth of more capillaries in tissues, and an increase in the number of mitochondria and glycolytic enzymes within muscle fibers.

Why does hypoxia occur at higher altitudes?

Hypoxia occurs at higher altitudes due to the decrease in atmospheric pressure, which reduces the pressure of oxygen, leading to less oxygen being forced into the lungs and bloodstream despite the oxygen percentage in the air remaining the same.

How does the body respond acutely to high altitude exposure?

Acute responses to high altitude exposure include an immediate increase in respiratory rate and heart rate to compensate for the lower atmospheric pressure and less efficient oxygen intake.

What is the role of EPO in altitude adaptation?

EPO, or erythropoietin, is a hormone secreted by the kidneys in response to hypoxia. It stimulates the bone marrow to produce more red blood cells, which helps to increase the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood.

How does increased blood volume at high altitudes affect oxygen diffusion?

An increase in blood volume enhances the diffusing capacity for oxygen by expanding the capillaries around the alveoli in the lungs, increasing the surface area for oxygen to diffuse into the blood.

What is the significance of capillary growth in muscle tissues during altitude acclimatization?

The growth of more capillaries in muscle tissues allows for the delivery of more oxygen-rich blood to the muscles, supporting higher levels of physical activity and endurance.

How do cellular adaptations like increased mitochondria and glycolytic enzymes benefit the body at high altitudes?

Increased mitochondria enhance the body's ability to generate ATP, the energy currency of cells, using oxygen. Meanwhile, more glycolytic enzymes improve the efficiency of the anaerobic energy system, allowing the body to produce ATP without oxygen during intense activity.

What are the two common training routines for athletes training at high altitudes?

The two common training routines are 'live high train high', where athletes live and train at high altitudes, and 'live high train low', where athletes live at high altitudes but train at lower altitudes to maintain higher training intensities.

What is the recommended minimum duration for staying at high altitudes to see measurable performance improvements?

Most experts recommend staying at least 3 to 4 weeks at higher altitudes to see measurable performance improvements, with 4 to 6 weeks being even more ideal.

What is the potential performance improvement range for athletes training at high altitudes?

The potential performance improvement for endurance athletes training at high altitudes ranges from about 2 to 5% for fairly competitive athletes, with highly trained elite athletes seeing about a 1 to 2% improvement.

How should altitude training be approached in an athlete's training regimen?

Altitude training should be approached as an 'icing on the cake' to an athlete's training regimen, meaning it should be considered after an athlete has established a consistent and effective training plan.

Outlines

00:00

🧬 Altitude and Human Physiological Adaptations

This paragraph introduces the topic of how the human body adapts to high altitudes, focusing on the physiological changes that occur when exposed to reduced atmospheric pressure and oxygen levels. It explains the concept of hypoxia, or low oxygen levels reaching the tissues, and clarifies misconceptions about oxygen levels at high altitudes. The paragraph also discusses the immediate acute responses of the body, such as increased respiratory and heart rates, and sets the stage for a deeper dive into long-term adaptations in subsequent paragraphs.

05:00

🩸 Hematological and Cardiovascular Adjustments to Altitude

The second paragraph delves into the specific adaptations the body undergoes at high altitudes, including the production of more red blood cells stimulated by the hormone EPO in response to hypoxia. It also covers the increase in overall blood volume, which enhances oxygen delivery to tissues. The paragraph explains how an increased blood volume can improve the diffusing capacity of oxygen into the bloodstream and touches on the importance of gut health in nutrient absorption. The benefits of Armor Colostrum are highlighted for gut and immune support, with a special offer for the audience. Additionally, the paragraph discusses the growth of capillaries and the increase in mitochondria and glycolytic enzymes to improve both aerobic and anaerobic energy production.

10:02

🏔 Strategies for Athletic Training at High Altitudes

This paragraph explores the concept of training at high altitudes to enhance athletic performance, discussing the optimal altitude for training and the duration required for the body to adapt and show performance improvements. It introduces two main strategies for altitude training: 'live high train high' and 'live high train low,' explaining the benefits and drawbacks of each. The paragraph also addresses the practical considerations of these training methods, such as logistical challenges and the potential for a hybrid approach, which combines the advantages of both strategies.

15:04

🏃‍♂️ Impact of High-Altitude Training on Athletic Performance

The final paragraph discusses the potential benefits of high-altitude training on endurance athletic performance, quantifying the possible improvements in terms of percentage gains. It emphasizes that while these improvements may seem small, they can be significant, especially for competitive athletes. The paragraph also stresses the importance of a solid training foundation before seeking additional gains through altitude training. It concludes by highlighting the willingness of elite athletes to pursue even marginal gains in performance, given the competitive nature of their sports.

Keywords

💡Altitude

Altitude refers to the height of a location above a fixed reference point, typically sea level. In the context of the video, altitude is crucial as it affects the human body by causing physiological adaptations due to decreased oxygen levels. The script discusses how the body responds to higher altitudes, such as increasing red blood cell production to compensate for reduced oxygen availability.

💡Hypoxia

Hypoxia is a condition where the body or a region of the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply. The video script explains hypoxia as a driving factor for the body's adaptations at high altitudes, where the term is used to describe the low amounts of oxygen reaching the tissues, leading to increased respiratory and heart rates as compensatory mechanisms.

💡Red Blood Cells

Red blood cells, also known as erythrocytes, are the cells in the bloodstream that carry oxygen to the body's tissues. The script highlights the body's response to hypoxia at high altitudes by increasing the production of red blood cells, which is stimulated by the hormone EPO, to improve oxygen transport capacity.

💡EPO (Erythropoietin)

EPO, or erythropoietin, is a hormone produced mainly by the kidneys in response to low oxygen levels. The video script describes how EPO secretion is stimulated by hypoxia, leading to an increase in red blood cell production in the bone marrow, which is essential for athletes training at high altitudes to enhance oxygen delivery to muscles.

💡Blood Volume

Blood volume refers to the total amount of blood in the circulatory system. The script explains that exposure to high altitudes can lead to an increase in blood volume, which is beneficial as it allows for more oxygen to be transported to the body's tissues, enhancing athletic performance.

💡Capillaries

Capillaries are the smallest blood vessels that connect arteries and veins and facilitate the exchange of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nutrients between blood and tissues. The video mentions the growth of more capillaries in tissues as an adaptation to high altitude, which improves the delivery of oxygen to working muscles.

💡Mitochondria

Mitochondria are the organelles within cells that produce energy in the form of ATP through cellular respiration. The script discusses an increase in the number of mitochondria as a cellular adaptation to high altitude, allowing cells to generate more energy, even under conditions of reduced oxygen availability.

💡Glycolytic Enzymes

Glycolytic enzymes are proteins that facilitate the process of glycolysis, an anaerobic process that generates ATP without oxygen. The video script explains that the body increases the number of these enzymes in response to hypoxia, enhancing the anaerobic energy system's efficiency.

💡Live High Train High

Live High Train High is a training strategy where athletes live and train at high altitudes. The script discusses the benefits of this approach, such as constant exposure to hypoxic conditions leading to comprehensive physiological adaptations, but also notes the potential downsides like difficulty maintaining high-intensity workouts.

💡Live High Train Low

Live High Train Low is an alternative training strategy where athletes live at high altitude but train at lower altitudes. The video script explains the advantages of this method, such as the ability to maintain higher training intensities due to increased oxygen availability, while still benefiting from the adaptations that come with living at high altitude.

💡Performance Improvement

Performance improvement refers to the enhancement of an athlete's abilities or competitive performance. The script provides data suggesting that training at high altitudes can lead to a 2 to 5% improvement in endurance performance for competitive athletes, which, while seemingly small, can be significant in the context of competitive sports.

Highlights

The human body undergoes physiological adaptations at higher altitudes, including increased red blood cell production and other changes.

Altitude training can improve athletic performance by enhancing the body's oxygen-carrying capacity and efficiency.

Hypoxia, or low oxygen levels, is the main stimulus for the body's adaptations to high altitudes.

Atmospheric pressure decreases with altitude, affecting the amount of oxygen available for the body, not the oxygen percentage.

The body's initial response to high altitude includes increased respiratory and heart rates to compensate for lower oxygen pressure.

Long-term exposure to high altitude leads to an increase in red blood cell count and overall blood volume.

Increased blood volume enhances the diffusing capacity of oxygen through the lung's alveoli into the bloodstream.

Gut health is crucial for nutrient absorption and can be supported by bioactive foods like colostrum.

Training at high altitude can lead to the growth of more capillaries in muscle tissues, improving oxygen delivery.

Cellular adaptations include an increase in the number of mitochondria and glycolytic enzymes for more efficient energy production.

Different altitude training methods, such as 'live high train high' and 'live high train low', have varying benefits and drawbacks.

The optimal altitude for training is generally considered to be around 7,000 ft for effective physiological stimulus.

Athletes should stay at higher altitudes for at least 3 to 4 weeks to notice measurable performance improvements.

Training at high altitude can improve endurance performance by 2 to 5% for competitive athletes.

Elite athletes may see a more modest improvement of 1 to 2% from high-altitude training, but it can still be significant.

High-altitude training should complement a consistent and effective training plan for best results.

The potential for even a slight performance increase can be valuable for professional athletes competing at the highest levels.

Transcripts

welcome to the lab everyone today we're

taking you up to 10,000 ft to talk about

what altitude does to the human body the

body undergo some incredible

physiological adaptations when exposed

to higher altitudes and it includes more

than just creating some extra red blood

cells so in this video we'll learn about

all these amazing adaptations as well as

talk about what training at altitude can

do for athletic performance and discuss

if it's worth it how high you need to go

and how much you can actually expect to

improve your physical performance it's

going to be an elevated one so let's do

[Music]

this so it's been known for quite some

time now that a person that remains at

high altitudes for days weeks or years

becomes more and more acclimatized to

that higher altitude and as someone gets

more acclimatized those higher altitudes

cause fewer negative effects to the body

and it becomes possible for the person

to work harder or perform better without

hypoxic effects and to even Ascend to

higher altitudes and if you haven't

heard the term hypoxic or hypoxia before

hypo refers to low or below and the ox

portion of the word refers to oxygen so

in other words hypoxia refers to low

amounts of oxygen reaching the tissues

and let's talk about why someone

develops hypoxia at higher altitudes and

this will help us to clarify a few

things about terms that can sometimes be

a little misleading often people will

say that the air is thinner or that

there's less oxygen at higher altitudes

but again this can be a little

misleading oxygen makes up about 21% of

the atmospheric gases whereas nitrogen

makes up about 78% with carbon dioxide

and some others making up less than 1%

these percentages don't change whether

you're at sea level 10,000 ft or close

to 30,000 ft at the top of Mount Everest

what does change is the atmospheric

pressure and it's this decrease in

atmospheric pressure specifically the

pressure of oxygen that leads to the

problems of hypoxia that occurs at

higher altitudes and so I find this

graph to be pretty helpful as you can

see atmospheric pressure at sea level is

760 mm of mercury and oxygen would

contribute to about 21% of that pressure

so if we do some quick math 2% of 760 is

159 so the pressure of oxygen at sea

level is about 159 mm of mercury and at

10,000 ft where we just were you can see

total atmospheric pressure is 523 mm of

mercury with oxygen contributing 110 mm

of mercury and you can see on the chart

the decrease in pressure as we continue

to move up in altitude and again

referencing the highest place on Earth

Mount Everest which is 29,029 ft the

partial pressure of oxygen is just over

50 mm of mercury which is is about three

times less than the pressure of oxygen

found at sea level but oxygen always

contributes to about 21% of that

pressure so what this means is that with

less pressure moving into our lungs less

oxygen will be forced through the

alveoli of our lungs and into our

bloodstream and you could actually

measure this with a pulseox on your

finger and I actually did that when we

got up to 10,000 ft I normally run at

about 98% oxygen saturation at my house

which is at about about 4700 ft but at

10,000 ft I was at about 93 to 94% so

what does your body exactly do when

exposed to higher altitudes well how we

are going to approach this is by

breaking this down into the acute

adaptations or in other words what the

body does right when it is exposed to

higher altitudes and then the

adaptations that start to occur if

someone continues to be exposed to high

altitudes for days weeks and even months

and to help us with this we are going to

recruit 10,000 foot Jonathan well thank

you lab Jonathan and welcome to 10,000

ft and if we are actually able to

transport or teleport you immediately

from say like sea level all the way up

to 10,000 ft your body would have these

initial physiological responses or these

acute responses to the higher altitude

or higher elevations one would you would

notice that your respiratory rate would

increase you'd be breathing more

frequently and more heavily you'd also

have your heart rate increase and the

idea behind this is you're trying to

compensate for the lower atmospheric

pressure and oxygen isn't being forced

into your body as efficiently so now

what happens if we remain exposed to the

higher altitude will we always have to

breathe as heavily and increase our

heart rate to the same level well no

because over time if we remain exposed

our bodies can create other adaptations

the first that many people that train at

elevation will talk about is increase in

the number of red blood cells which are

the cells that carry oxygen throughout

our bodies and again hyp oxia is the

principal stimulus for causing this

increase in red blood cell production as

hypoxia stimulates the kidneys to

secrete a hormone called orthop potin or

EPO this then circulates to the inside

of your bones called spongy bone and

tells or stimulates your red bone marrow

to start producing more red blood cells

and this actually starts happening right

when you are exposed to higher altitudes

but it does take time to build up enough

new red blood cells before you'll have a

noticeable Improvement in say like

physical performance and we'll get into

the timing and how long one needs to

stay at elevation before noticing these

benefits when we talk more specifically

about training at elevation later on in

the video but in addition to increasing

the number of red blood cells overall

blood volume will increase so the fluid

component of your blood the plasma this

can increase up to 20 to 30% in some

cases and so now you have more red blood

cells to catch and carry any available

oxygen molecule and more volume to

deliver more of that blood to your

tissues and one other cool thing that

this increased blood volume does is that

it increases the diffusing capacity for

the oxygen through the alvioli and into

the blood because more blood in

circulation literally expands the

capillaries that surround the alvioli of

the lungs kind of think of the

capillaries as stretching and becoming

larger which in turn increas inrees the

surface area through which the oxygen

can diffuse into the blood and speaking

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cardiovascular adaptation that occurs

during the a climatization process

builds off the previous Tu and this is

growth of more capillaries in the

tissues throughout the body so if we

take muscle tissue for example and you

have more blood vessels you can now take

that extra volume of blood and those

extra red blood cells that are carrying

the oxygen to a working skeletal muscle

you can also get adaptations at the

cellular level increases in the number

of mitochondria occur which we all

probably remember that the mitochondria

can utilize that oxygen in conjunction

with fats or carbohydrates to generate

the energy currency of our cells called

ATP and so up to this point you can see

that we've created all these adaptations

to help us use oxygen more efficiently

but another cellular adaptation that

occurs in muscle fibers and other cells

throughout the body is an increase in

the number of glycolytic enzymes now you

may have heard of glycolysis which is

the anerobic energy system that makes

ATP without the presence of oxygen so

the body being exposed to hypoxia or

higher altitudes will also make our

anerobic Energy System more efficient so

after going through all of these

adaptations that can occur due to being

at a higher altitude you may have

noticed that these adaptations seem very

similar to many of the adaptations we

get with exercise and there's no doubt

that many people who are born at and

live at high altitude would have a

greater exercise or work capacity but

what if someone to try to do both have a

vigorous exercise routine and expose

themselves to high altitude and

professional athletes and even some of

the serious recreational athletes will

train at altitude with the hopes of

further enhancing these physiological

adaptations so there are some questions

we need to answer how high do you need

to go how long do you need to stay there

how much of a difference does it really

make from a performance standpoint and

there have emerged different schools of

thought such as live high train high or

live high train low and so we'll explain

what each of those scenarios means and

why you might choose one over the other

so first how high do you need to go well

you can find articles saying as low as

5,500 ft all the way up to 9500 ft but

many experts and trainers tend to agree

that around 7,000 ft is a good place to

start it's high enough that you can

provide enough of a stimulus for the

body to create these adaptations but not

too high to where you're going to C C

any problems because there are people

especially those that live at lower

elevations that could develop altitude

sickness if they went too high too fast

but most can tolerate 7,000 ft something

else to consider with going too high

initially is that this could make it so

your training isn't as efficient and

we'll talk more about that in just a

second when we compare live high train

High versus live high train low but how

long would you need to spend at altitude

to get a significant enough of an

adaptation that would cause noticeable

Improvement in athletic performance now

remember I mentioned that as soon as the

body experiences hypoxia it is going to

immediately react with increased

respiratory rate and heart rate but the

kidneys will even start to produce more

EPO immediately upon experiencing

hypoxia and those EPO levels will

continue to rise throughout even that

first day of exposure so the body is

going to start the process of producing

red blood cells almost immediately but

again it takes time to build up enough

of them as well as to create more

capillaries mitochondria and

intracellular enzymes before all of this

translates to a measurable increase in

athletic performance and most experts

recommend staying at least 3 to four

weeks at that higher altitude to get

measurable performance improvements with

four to 6 weeks likely being even more

ideal and before we get into how much

performance Improvement one can get from

training at higher altitudes let me

explain two of the more common training

routines that I've mentioned live high

train high and live high train low each

approach has its pros and cons with live

high train High it means kind of exactly

how it sounds you're going to live at a

higher altitude as well as train at that

higher altitude the pros of this is that

an athlete would constantly be exposed

to hypoxic conditions and because all

aspects of life including sleep exercise

and Recovery are done at high altitude

this could potentially lead to more

comprehensive physiological adap ations

some of the cons of this approach could

be that due to lower oxygen availability

it may be challenging to maintain higher

training intensities potentially

limiting the quality of those higher

intensity workouts constant exposure to

high altitude may also lead to increased

fatigue and slower recovery times making

it difficult to sustain more intense

training plans with live high train low

someone would live at higher altitude

but train at a lower altitude a pro of

this would be that in athlete could

maintain a higher training intensity

during those training sessions due to

more oxygen availability in the body

potentially leading to better overall

performance gains so the overall idea

being athletes could still reap the

benefits of living at high altitude

increasing red blood cells increased

capillarization as well as the other

adaptations we talked about while

training more effectively at the lower

altitudes but there are some cons to

this as well including some logistical

cons in order to do do this you would

have to be in a place where high

altitude is in close enough proximity to

where you could drive to a lower

altitude almost every time you train

throughout a given week that takes more

time and likely more money and while

this Training Method still works well

the time spent in hypoxic conditions is

less than live high train High plus some

athletes may have a race at a higher

altitude so many people may still want

to do some race specific training

sessions at that altitude to stimulate

the race environment now some people

will try to get the Best of Both Worlds

by combining or hybridizing these two

methods Big Bear California comes to

mind because Big Bear California is at

about at 7,000 ft plus you can go higher

if you go on some of the hikes and the

mountain ranges that are available there

but it's in close enough proximity where

people could drive maybe about an hour

and get all the way down to close to a

th000 ft so in this way people can live

in Big Bear do some training sessions at

that higher elevation then maybe one to

two times a week drive down to the lower

elevation for those very highly intense

exercise sessions to get an even greater

exercise training stimulus so how much

can training at higher altitudes improve

athletic performance and I need to

actually make sure I'm clear here this

is about improving endurance like for

cycling distance running and swimming

training at altitude isn't going to

magically make your one rep max of your

squat or deadlift improve but for

endurance the data shows that you could

get an improvement in performance that

ranges anywhere from about 2 to 5% for

Fairly competitive athletes but as you

start getting even more fit it seems to

be that it will make less of a

difference as highly trained Elite

athletes see about a 1 to 2% Improvement

now 2 to 5% doesn't sound like a lot so

you might be thinking is it training at

elevation or higher altitudes even worth

it well it depends on a few things first

2 to 5% isn't actually that bad for

example let's say you had an 18-minute

5K time that's not Elite but that's also

not a slow 5K a 2% Improvement would be

running 21 to 22 seconds faster and a 5%

Improvement on an 18-minute 5K would be

56 seconds faster that's definitely a

noticeable difference but it's hard to

know where you're going to fall in this

2 to 5% range like for example I

mentioned that I live just below 5,000 F

feet and I love running these Spartan

obstacle course races which are these

Trail runs mixed with monkey bars rope

CL sandbag carries and various other

obstacles so I spent a lot of time in

the mountains trail running at altitudes

that range from 6 to 9,000 ft so even if

I decided to book a hotel room for a few

weeks at a nearby skew Resort that was

at like 7 to 8,000 ft I'm not likely

going to get as big of a change or

Improvement as someone that lives in

transit sea level also something that

needs to be stated here is that training

at altitude should be approached like

the icing on the cake to your training

meaning that you should should first be

extremely consistent in your ability to

stick to and complete an effective

training plan before worrying about

going and training at higher altitudes

once you've got that dialed in though

and if you have the time and the

resources to train it at higher

altitudes it could potentially give you

a Competitive Edge even the elite

competitive athletes will still take

that potential for only a 1 to 2%

increase in performance because these

are the people that are pretty much

doing this for their job competing in

the Olympics and other high-profile

competitions so so the possibility for a

1 to 2% Improvement could push them to

that Podium finish