ALTITUDE
Higher level athletes commonly travel for competition. Training specifically for varying environmental factors, including high altitudes, will improve their performance. If an athlete is competing in a primarily anaerobic sport they will not have to be as concerned with low oxygen desaturation and decreased atmospheric pressure when competing above 4,000 ft above sea level. Training at high altitudes could actually improve their performance because there is lower air density with less resistance. The weight of the air is less and sprinters and jumpers have seen significant improvements in their performance during Olympic events. Aerobic athletes need to train properly to improve performance in high altitude locations. Research at high elevation concludes that oxygen and nitrogen partial pressure is lower in the arterioles which lowers maximal aerobic performance ( Powers & Howley, 2017).
Athletes can increase erythropoietin ( EPO) to increase production of red blood cells, which improves their performance at sea level and high altitude. Altitude training also improves muscle buffering capacities, capillary density, myoglobin concentration and muscle mitochondrial volume (Płoszczyca et al., 2018).
A new method of altitude training is when athletes live high to improve erythropoietin and train low. Athletes can train at higher maximal exercise levels at lower altitudes, while gaining the physiological benefits of living in hypoxic environments. When athletes are living short term at altitude, EPO levels peak after three days of living at altitude but then decrease gradually for the following weeks while at high altitude and when athletes return to sea level EPO levels rapidly drop. Researchers believe that the rapid drop in EPO when returning to sea level could be from the hypoxia- inducible factor 1 ( HIF-1) protein level change to stabilize body levels (Płoszczyca et al., 2018)
Training Protocols and Performance Effects
Acclimation and Acclimatization Before Events
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Athletes will get the greatest benefits of EPO when they live in high altitude and compete at sea level within 20 days of travel.
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It is not practical for many athletes to live in high altitude areas and travel to sea level for training or for an athlete to exercise regularly long enough in high altitude areas if they don't live there.
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Sims (2002) reviewed a Barometric/hypoxic tent. If aerobic athletes know they are going to compete in a high altitude location they can sleep in a tent for 9-12 hours a night, 3-4 weeks before competition. This protocol can improve athletes performance by 2-4% and helps athletes acclimatize to the altitude (Sim, 2002).
Anaerobic vs Aerobic Athletes
Aerobic athletes need to train properly to improve performance in high altitude locations. Commonly accepted research at high elevation concludes that oxygen and nitrogen partial pressure is lower in the arterioles which lowers maximal aerobic performance (Powers, 2017).
A primarily anaerobic athletes will not need to be as concerned with low oxygen desaturation and decreased atmospheric pressure when competing above 4,000 ft above sea level. Training at high altitudes could actually improve their performance because there is lower air density with less resistance. The weight of the air is less and sprinters and jumpers have seen significant improvements in their performance during the Olympics ( Powers, 2017).
Exercise Physiology
Aerobic athletes can improve performance at altitude by training in low atmospheric pressure and decrease partial pressure ( Po2 )of air. Cardiac output is the most significant decrease seen in athletes performing at altitude, but it is not due to a decrease in stroke volume or heart rates. Low oxygen desaturation in the arterial blood causes lower oxygen in the alveoli, which causes lower cardiac output and lower VO2 max. The athlete's heart rate compensates for the low hemoglobin levels and transports more liters of blood per beat during exercise. When in high altitudes, bradycardia occurs due low oxygen saturation levels. The heart rate slows down to improve hemoglobin transport. Hemoglobin saturation is lowered from 96% at sea level to 71-88% at high altitude. Ventilation rates increase at high altitude and athletes need to breathe in twice as much air when exercising over 4,000ft above sea level (Powers, 2017, p. 550).
Hypoxia is when there is an increase in red blood cells, which increases oxygen transport from the lunges to the rest of the body.
