What’s the benefit of altitude training for athletes? By sleeping or exercising in a low-oxygen environment, the body makes adaptations to improve oxygen delivery to tissues and muscles, resulting in greater muscular endurance, improved power output and faster recovery. Whether you’re a power-based athlete or endurance athlete, sleeping or training at altitude will take you above the competition.
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For endurance athletes, the benefits of altitude training are profound. By increasing the number of Red Blood Cells (RBC) in the body, there is additional oxygen available to exercising muscles. This results in increased oxygen carrying capacity, thereby improving endurance and stamina. As a result, endurance athletes will be able to go harder for longer. Both sleeping at altitude and training at altitude will provide performance benefits for endurance athletes.
The latest research on altitude training has shown short-duration, high intensity intervals to significantly increase repeat sprint capacity (RSC), a crucial component in any explosive-based sport. By improving RSC, athletes will be able to perform at their highest intensity, and then repeat that effort time after time. Exercising at altitude will also increase the capacity to clear lactic acid from the muscles in a shorter time frame, enabling athletes to repeat sprints with faster recovery between each sprint.
Check out UFC fighter Chris Weidman and pro boxer Marcus Browne Altitude Training at NY Sports Science Lab