Effects of various training modalities on blood volume
- 8 July 2008
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Wiley in Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports
- Vol. 18 (s1), 57-69
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0838.2008.00833.x
Abstract
It is controversially discussed whether soccer games should be played at moderate (2001-3000 m) and high altitudes (3001-5500 m) or should be restricted to near sea level and low altitude (501-2000 m) conditions. Athletes living at altitude are assumed to have a performance advantage compared with lowlanders. One advantage of altitude adaptation concerns the expansion of total hemoglobin mass (tHb-mass), which is strongly related to endurance performance at sea level. Cross-sectional studies show that elite athletes posses approximately 35% higher tHb-mass than the normal population, which is further elevated by 14% in athletes native to altitude of 2600 m. Although the impact of this huge tHb-mass expansion on performance is not yet investigated for altitude conditions, lowland athletes seek for possibilities to increase tHb-mass to similar levels. At sea level tHb-mass is only moderately influenced by training and depends more on genetic predisposition. Altitude training in contrast, using either the conventional altitude training or the live high-train low (>14 h/day in hypoxia) protocol for 3-4 weeks above 2500 m leads to mean increases in tHb-mass of 6.5%. This increase is, however, not sufficient to close the gap in tHb-mass to elite athletes native to altitude, which may be in advantage when tHb-mass has the same strong influence on aerobic performance at altitude as it has on sea level.Keywords
This publication has 72 references indexed in Scilit:
- The effects of nightly normobaric hypoxia and high intensity training under intermittent normobaric hypoxia on running economy and hemoglobin massJournal of Applied Physiology, 2007
- Red blood cell senescence and neocytolysis in humans after high altitude acclimatizationBlood Cells, Molecules, and Diseases, 2007
- Live high-train low associated with increased haemoglobin mass as preparation for the 2003 World Championships in two native European world class runners * CommentaryBritish Journal of Sports Medicine, 2006
- Altitude and endurance trainingJournal of Sports Sciences, 2004
- Improved running economy in elite runners after 20 days of simulated moderate-altitude exposureJournal of Applied Physiology, 2004
- Hemoglobin Mass and Peak Oxygen Uptake in Untrained and Trained Residents of Moderate AltitudeInternational Journal of Sports Medicine, 2001
- Blood Volume and Hemoglobin Mass in Elite Athletes of Different DisciplinesInternational Journal of Sports Medicine, 2001
- ACE Genetics and &OV0312;o2maxExercise and Sport Sciences Reviews, 2001
- Effects of Iron Supplementation on Total Body Hemoglobin During Endurance Training at Moderate AltitudeInternational Journal of Sports Medicine, 1999
- Influence of prolonged physical exercise on the erythropoietin concentration in bloodEuropean Journal of Applied Physiology, 1991