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Elevation mask?

Jjbballs

Jjbballs

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I have been wanting to get the elevation mask for a while but I don't know if it is worth it. Does it take your workout to the next level?
 
Depends. Are you an elite level endurance athlete looking to gain an edge on your opponents?
 
I don't see how they could help. The real reason training at altitude helps is due to the physiological response of the body releasing more red blood cells because of oxygen concentration. That is why our hematocrit and RBC are generally higher than those at lower elevations. I am only theorizing, but using a mask is just going to simulate thinner air/oxygen concentration for a temporary time while wearing the mask, but doubt it would be beneficial outside of that.
 
i have heard the benefit of altitude training is not the training but living in that environment. like if you live in lower altitudes, sleeping in a high altitude tent can have a similar effect to living at altitude. not as well of course but better than nothing.

i do wonder how much it really effects training at all though.
 
That is actually a good question.

As someone that has competed in endurance events in lower elevations, I can say that the benefit is tremendous in my experience having traveled with people that were not necessarily training at the level some of us were. They still struggled more than us, but that could simply be conditioning. Going the other way, when people would come to CO for bike races and other endurance events, it was very noticeable how quickly they started to lose strength and could not breath properly.

On a non competitive level, when my work travel takes me to lower elevations, I feel like I could easily train 2x a long and never really fade.
 
What I can tell you is that I live in Texas and have a friend who is a professional motocross rider who does the hyperbaric chamber stuff and swears when he travels to say colorado and races
 
dbrock504 said:
What I can tell you is that I live in Texas and have a friend who is a professional motocross rider who does the hyperbaric chamber stuff and swears when he travels to say colorado and races
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Can we say arm pump? :) My brother also races MX and many of the pros will come out days or even weeks in advance to help address this one issue that seems to be helped quite a bit by increasing oxygen in the blood. My bike racing was DH mtn biking and it was similar in my sport.
 
kisaj said:
That is actually a good question. As someone that has competed in endurance events in lower elevations, I can say that the benefit is tremendous in my experience having traveled with people that were not necessarily training at the level some of us were. They still struggled more than us, but that could simply be conditioning. Going the other way, when people would come to CO for bike races and other endurance events, it was very noticeable how quickly they started to lose strength and could not breath properly. On a non competitive level, when my work travel takes me to lower elevations, I feel like I could easily train 2x a long and never really fade.
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I guess the real question is is it worth the money and looking dumb in my gym haha
 
kisaj said:
Can we say arm pump? :) My brother also races MX and many of the pros will come out days or even weeks in advance to help address this one issue that seems to be helped quite a bit by increasing oxygen in the blood. My bike racing was DH mtn biking and it was similar in my sport.
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Ya but many factors create arm pump such as suspension set up. I'm his part time mechanic... Anyways, the hyperbaric chamber and elevation training does help. But for some dude in the gym, I don't see the point. My friend Reed is a professional athlete in what is considered to be the most demanding sport.
 
kisaj said:
when my work travel takes me to lower elevations, I feel like I could easily train 2x a long and never really fade.
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Ok so thinking about this^^^^
Would it help if u did cardio training in this for things such as pt tests but trained with the mask all the time and then didn't wear it for the actual test
 
I don't really know about the mask. We can train for longer and have an advantage at lower elevation because we have higher RBC.
 
kisaj said:
I don't see how they could help. The real reason training at altitude helps is due to the physiological response of the body releasing more red blood cells because of oxygen concentration. That is why our hematocrit and RBC are generally higher than those at lower elevations. I am only theorizing, but using a mask is just going to simulate thinner air/oxygen concentration for a temporary time while wearing the mask, but doubt it would be beneficial outside of that.
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not necessarily the greater buildup of exercise induced metabolities is beneficial
 
why is there no science in this thread

Intermittent hypoxic resistance training: Is metabolic stress the key moderator?
Scott BR1, Slattery KM2, Dascombe BJ3.
Author information
Abstract
Traditionally, researchers and practitioners have manipulated acute resistance exercise variables to elicit the desired responses to training. However, recent research indicates that altering the muscular environment during resistance training, namely by implementing a hypoxic stimulus, can augment muscle hypertrophy and strength. Intermittent hypoxic resistance training (IHRT), whereby participants inspire hypoxic air during resistance training, has been previously demonstrated to increase muscle cross-sectional area and maximum strength by significantly greater amounts than the equivalent training in normoxia. However, some recent evidence has provided conflicting results, reporting that the use of systemic hypoxia during resistance training provided no added benefit. While the definitive mechanisms that may augment muscular responses to IHRT are not yet fully understood, an increased metabolic stress is thought to be important for moderating many downstream processes related to hypertrophy. It is likely that methodological differences between conflicting IHRT studies have resulted in different degrees of metabolic stress during training, particularly when considering the inter-set recovery intervals used. Given that the most fundamental physiological stresses resulting from hypoxia are disturbances to oxidative metabolism, it becomes apparent that resistance training may only benefit from additional hypoxia if the exercise is structured to elicit a strong metabolic response. We hypothesize that for IHRT to be more effective in producing muscular hypertrophy and increasing strength than the equivalent normoxic training, exercise should be performed with relatively brief inter-set recovery periods, with the aim of providing a potent metabolic stimulus to enhance anabolic responses.
 
No problem, just wasn't sure if you knew that based on your comment and provided study.

But, that is besides the point of the thread anyway. The masks do not work to provide the same training environment as living and training in high altitude, therefore do not provide the benefit. Can they possibly help to control your diaphram and control breathing better- maybe. But that is really about the extent. You don't need a mask to learn to breath better.
 
kisaj said:
No problem, just wasn't sure if you knew that based on your comment and provided study.

But, that is besides the point of the thread anyway. The masks do not work to provide the same training environment as living and training in high altitude, therefore do not provide the benefit. Can they possibly help to control your diaphram and control breathing better- maybe. But that is really about the extent. You don't need a mask to learn to breath better.
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Living in altitude has nothing to do with hypertrophy, your body will adapt when living in altitude resulting in a reduced metabolic stress while training.

The mask can arguably be better in terms of hypertrophy because it provides an acute increase in metabolic stress while delaying adaptation
 
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