Training at high altitude, long a staple of many teams and individual athletes, may do more harm than good, according to research conducted at Oxford University. Researchers base that assumption of their discovery that people with a rare condition that mimics being at high altitude for long
periods show metabolic differences that actually reduce their endurance
and physical performance.
An Oxford University press release reports that researchers studied the metabolism of
people with a rare genetic change that leads to continually high levels
of HIF, a protein that is stimulated by low levels of oxygen, even when levels of oxygen are normal. The increased levels of
HIF mean that the condition – called Chuvash polycythemia or CP – is a
good model for changes that occur in people who stay at high altitude
for long periods. The team compared the performance of five people with CP with five
matched controls. In an exercise bike test, in which study participants
were asked to keep a constant pedal rate against a steadily increasing
resistance, those with CP had to stop exercising earlier. The maximum
work rate they achieved for their weight was 30 percent less than controls.
Studies of metabolites present in calf muscles under light exercise also
indicated that CP patients experienced greater fatigue. Finally, there
were differences in expression of metabolic genes in the CP patients’
muscles. This could suggest their metabolism makes less efficient use of
the fuel available and may explain their reduced exercise capacity.
Seems to me that training at high altitude would have many obvious drawbacks, mostly the expense of using an aircraft that would be large enough to actually do much training inside. A jetliner-size plane like that would need to fly at 30,000 ft or higher, which would be far higher than any place an athlete would actually compete at.
It would make more sense to train at high elevations, i.e. mountainous or high plains areas, and then test whether these genetic changes appeared at more earthbound levels.
Every athlete in Colorado knows this study is just silly.
If you train at altitude and then go to sea level you have a temporary advantage. When I moved from Denver to a town at sea level, I enjoyed a tremendous jump in stamina that lasted two weeks before my body adjusted to the new conditions.
I’ll go with what the Kenyans do -and their world domination of distance running (they are raised in the mountains and grow up and train at altitude) – before I’ll lisyten to a “it might” from an academic institution.