Get High and Get On Down ! Part I
Posted By Richard Pullan on 7 February 2005
[Editors Note: This is Part I of a 2 part series. Join us next week as we look at IHT in practice and see Mark's final results.]
Introduction
A couple of months ago I was introduced to the world of freediving when I met Mark Harris. Mark has the extraordinary ability to hold his breath for an astounding six and a half minutes. His current diving record put him among the top 3 in the UK. I found it hard to believe a man with a normal sized chest could achieve such feats. I looked for the telltale signs of gills behind the ears, but found none. Mark clearly was in complete tune with his body, enabling him to push it to the edge, physically and mentally.
As an athlete myself I’ve been involved in a variety of extreme sports, and so I thought I could help Mark take his discipline a step further. I run The Altitude Centre, based in London, that helps athletes get more from the air they breathe.
I told Mark I would help him improve his apnea times without having to lift weights or run around the park. All he had to do was make himself available for an hour a day over a 3-week period. This obviously interested him; he was keen to learn how we could improve his performance without doing vigorous exercise. I explained it would be like breath-holding, but without the discomfort of associated CO2 build-up.
The training Mark would be doing was Intermittent Hypoxic Training or IHT, a form of simulated altitude training.
High Altitude for Increased Performance
Athletes have known for many years the benefits of simulated altitude training in enhancing performance. Using the principle of ‘live high, train low’, they have been able to perform better at sea level after their bodies have adapted to the reduced atmospheric oxygen concentrations found at altitude.
Today there’s no need to sleep amongst the native llamas of Peru to get these benefits. IHT takes a scientific approach, and brings the mountain to you in the form of a GO2Altitude® Hypoxicator (www.go2altitude.com). This special bit of kit extracts oxygen from the ambient air to produce hypoxic, or reduced oxygen air, which is then breathed through a comfortable oxygen mask. The process is very relaxing and people often read a book or magazine whilst undergoing a complete internal body workout.
Researchers have found the key to maximizing performance improvement lies not solely in the duration of stay at altitude or in the mode of acclimatization, but, too, depends upon the number of transitions “LOW – HIGH – LOW” and the magnitude of exposure based on the individual's tolerance to the hypoxic environment.
IHT is unlike any other form of altitude training: it is based not on a set of arbitrary figures, but on a program tuned specifically to the individual, delivering precise amounts of oxygenated air through a set protocol. Careful control is maintained via constant monitoring of arterial oxygen de-saturation, measured by SpO2 from a pulse oximeter . This clever device simple clips onto a finger like a giant clothes-peg and measures the colour of the blood via an infrared light. Oxygenated blood is pure red, whilst deoxygenated blood has a blue tinge, as seen on the lips of very cold people or divers who have been down for too long.
More then 350 world-class athletes throughout the world are now using Intermittent Hypoxic Training and are seeing excellent gains in performance. Top freedivers Mandy-Rae Cruikshank and Ant Williams are amongst these top athletes who now incorporate IHT into their training routine, in this article we’ll see why.
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