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Strava:https://www.strava.com/athletes/20890878

the benefits of altitude training in general is sort of inconclusive.

i sort of feel like some people go up to the mountains and use procrit then attest their benefits came from altitude training.

id imagine, having an oxygen tent would slow down the recovery process since youre starving your body of necessary oxygen (kidneys are really sensitive to fluctuations in oxygen and then stimulates the production of EPO).

 
They are a bit of a nightmare. Noisy, very humid inside and hot. The sleeping quality is reduce and your metabolism get all screw up for awhile. Your wife will hate you...she wont want to sleep in it!

Only a small % of the population is a responder to altitude and will get improvement out of it. The improvement are very small and difficulte to mesure. Unless you are at the top of the sport.... 8:30 ironman or faster or on the world cup series and looking for a extra 1 or perhaps 1.5%...... i would simply not bother with it.

of all the athlete that got one for racing at a pro level....everyone i know sold it back quickly and never look back.....

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Jonathan Caron / Professional Coach / ironman champions / age group world champions
Jonnyo Coaching
Instargram

I know of someone in Florida who just got one for an upcoming event. I suspect you could buy it from him in a couple of months. PM me if you are still interested.

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

Train smarter, train more consistent, eat better, recover better. Save $$ and best of all, race faster at all altitudes.

I was talking about wastes of money with my sports doc yesterday and this came up. He's confident that there is no measurable gain you can attribute to it based strictly on the physiology. I'm not qualified to argue but I'd tend to agree. Sounds like that opinion is corroborated so far in this thread.

Find some sugar pills online sold as "altitude performance adjusters" and use the placebo effect on a more cost effective basis.

Do you race at altitude? If not, where's the disadvantage? If you live at sea level, train at sea level and race at sea level, I don't see why you would need to simulate living at altitude.

IMO: Spend your money on the opposite; hyperbaric treatments for recovery. The $2-4K you spend on the unit would pay for a bunch to treatments and your wife may still give you some action because you don’t make her sleep with a tent over your bed. The increased recovery from hyperbaric treatments would far exceed the benefits of Altitude Training.

Shouldn't such treatments be considered against the rules since it is unphysiological? altitude tents are physiological (although I believe they are illegal in Italy) but hyperbaric treatments are definitely unphysiological.

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

 
A friend of mine was prescribed use in a Hyperbaric chamber. He had frostbite on his feet and they used it to promote healing by getting more oxygen to the tissue that was damaged. As a result kept a big chunk of his feet. After each session he said he could see more coloration in his feet which would last a few hours.

I don't think your wife would sleep with you in on of them but it is useful if you ever get the bends

http://en.wikipedia.org/.../Hyperbaric_medicine

I will chime in and mention that I know a local pro who bought one and after some amount of time he unloaded it precisely because it was an issue with his wife.

I do not know if he saw any benefit from it...but can guess he didn't or he might not have let it go so readily.

Hello SpeedOfCourse,

Perhaps you could purchase chamber that could be on a schedule to pressurize for a period of time for healing and recovery - then depressurize for increase in EPO and HCT - then back to normal pressure for a conjugal visit.

A conjugal visit is a scheduled extended visit during which an inmate of a prison (or pressurized/depressurized vessel) is permitted to spend several hours or days in private, usually with a legal spouse. While the parties may engage in sexual intercourse, the generally recognized basis for permitting such a visit in modern times is to preserve family bonds and increase the chances of success for a prisoner's eventual return to life outside prison (or the vessel). Additionally, the incentive of conjugal visits means that inmates are strongly motivated to comply with the various day-to-day rules and regulations of the prison. As a result, inmates consciously avoid any infringement which might disqualify them from having a conjugal visit.

The visit will usually take place in a structure provided for that purpose, such as a trailer or small cabin or pressurized/unpressurized vessel. Supplies such as soap, condoms, tissues, sheets, pillows, and towels may be provided.

---------------------------------------------------

An example of how diabetes affects our bodies are diabetic foot wounds. Individuals who have diabetes suffer circulatory disorders that create inadequate levels of oxygen to support the healing of wounds. These wounds present major complications for modern health care and especially with the foot as it is a common site of infection. In Canada, there is an estimated 25% Canadians with diabetes who develop foot complications and 1 in 15 end up having a limb amputation during their lifetime.

Is diabetes a hopeless case? What could help in the cure for diabetes and wound healing? The answer to the first question is that diabetes is not a hopeless case, the second answer would be oxygen. Oxygen is one of the most powerful and versatile agents available to the modern medical practitioner today. The therapeutic use of oxygen under pressure has been used to assist in the healing of wounds for almost 40 years. This therapeutic use of oxygen under pressure is called hyperbaric oxygen chamber therapy (HBOT) and in the following paragraphs are its specific biological actions which can enhance diabetes and wound healing.

HBOT can be used successfully in hypoxic or ischemic wounds such as diabetic wounds,venous static ulcers, failing flaps and grafts, refractory osteomylitis and necrotising soft tissue infections. In wound healing, hypoxia delivers an insufficient supply of oxygen which prevents normal healing processes.

HBOT combats clinical infection such as gas gangrene by directly acting on the anaerobic bacteria, enhancing leukocyte and macrophage activity while potentiating the effects of antibiotics.

HBOT provides the oxygen needed to support and stimulate wound healing. HBOT is safe, non-invasive and a non-toxic therapy.

HBOT is also very much accessible. Single bag hyperbaric chambers are sold at $12,900 and double bag chambers are at $16,900. Single bag hyperbaric chambers can also be rented at $2,000 a month and $2,,675 for double bag chambers.
Both hyperbaric bag chambers measure over 34 inches in diameter and 105 inches long. These chambers can easily fit both adult and child at the same time.
Start spreading the word about HBOT and start helping lives as well.



Hyperbaric Oxygen Chambers Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy helps Autism, Cerebral Palsy, MS, Parkinsons, Athletic Performing, healing of wounds, used as immune defense and much more. Visit our site at BalancedHealthToday.com. Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber Articles
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_S_Fitzgerald
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http://mypage.direct.ca/g/gcramer/hyper.html

The following report was sent to all 26 General Managers in the N.H.L. in January 1995

This past season the Vancouver Canucks were using a hyperbaric (oxygen tank) chamber as part of their training program. At the beginning of the season this chamber was used primarily for speeding up recovery time of injured players. Very soon after this the Canucks began to use it on uninjured players. This is when the problems began.

The Canucks management and training staff had been in touch with myself in mid August of 1993 about trying out our ionization system for a period of two weeks (this try out was canceled two days before we were to start). In our meetings before this, the Canucks management had asked me if our system was similar to their hyperbaric system. I told them it was but I was not about to tell them their system could have major drawbacks. (It would have looked like we were trying to put down their hyperbaric system over ours.) In failing to warn the team at the time I must take partial responsibility over the misuse of the hyperbaric system. Thinking the

Canucks had a system similar to the one we were proposing there was no need for them to try our system. They began putting players in the chamber who had no injuries, hopefully to improve endurance, reaction time and balance. Initially this seemed to be the case as the Canucks won 7 of 8 games since the beginning of the season. At this time I could not say anything about the problems until they began to surface.

How does the hyperbaric system work ? The chamber is sealed from the outside atmosphere and pressure is increased on the inside of the chamber. The occupant inside the chamber puts on a breathing device that supplies him with 100% pure oxygen. If the player has an injury, the oxygen together with the increase in pressure pushes the oxygen deeper into the injured area. Recovery time can be cut in half for the injured player. I do not dispute these claims.

Why would there be problems using the hyperbaric system? The system is totally cut off from the outside atmosphere. A natural ion count of 5000 ions per cubic centimeter can be measured in nature. This count can fluctuate but no matter where we go, there are ions. In the hyperbaric tank the ion count would be zero. There is no natural or artificial way to produce ionization in the chamber since the corona discharge from an ionizer would cause the oxygen to ignite. Every human being must have ions to survive. It is this reason why the hyperbaric system is so dangerous.

The Russian ion scientist Tchijewsky tried raising mice, rats, guinea pigs, and rabbits in totally de ionized air. Within two weeks almost all of them had died. Despite the fact the autopsies proved they had died for a variety of reasons - fatty liver, kidney failure, heart degeneration, and , among other ills anemia - Tchijewsky concluded that the real cause of death was the animals' inability to utilize oxygen properly.' An organism receiving the cleanest type of air for breathing is condemned to serious illness if the air does not contain at least a small quantity of air ions."

Tchijewsky's colleague D.A. Lapitsky tried raising small animals in air depleted of oxygen. As they were about to die of suffocation he added neg-ions and found that "animals already near death from asphyxiation began to feel better, sat up sniffed the air, and began to run around the chamber. Their respiration frequency increased.

Switching off the ionizer again brought them to the verge of asphyxiation." Lapitsky decided the traditional belief that oxygen alone was the sole prerequisite for the creation and sustenance of life had "demonstrated to be false." Or as Tchijewsky had said, "Death of animals in [de ionized] air must be attributed to the absence of aero ions of oxygen essential to the life activity of an organism." More simply put, without ions we couldn't absorb oxygen in the quantities needed to live. And the fewer ions there are, the lower the efficiency of our minds and bodies.

Tchijewsky also discovered increased performance in athletes using negative ion generators in the late 1940's.

In late November side effects from lack of ionization in the players who were using the hyperbaric chamber for injuries became apparent. Two of these players were Gino Odjick and Pavel Bure. Both had come down with flu symptoms and repiratory problems. The Canucks doctors were unable to find the cause of the respiratory problems. I faxed Pat Quinn on Dec. 16, 1993 with an explanation to these problems and background information on problems with the Hyperbaric chamber. He chose to continue using the chamber. In January I talked with Bruce Newton of the Players Association. I explained the problems with the hyperbaric system but he was unable to help me. "The team and the teams doctors were responsible for any training system and the Players Association had no say over those systems."




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http://gossip.commongate.com/post/creepy_as_hell/

A world exclusive set of pictures showing wacky pop star Michael Jackson sleeping in a bizarre pressurised oxygen chamber. The images - shot in 1986 and featured in
The National Enquirer - show the star in the hyperbaric oxygen chamber.

Jackson, then 28, was at the height of his fame when the pictures were taken and the publication claimed the regime was part of a plan to keep him alive until at least 150. The Enquirer quoted the singer as saying: "I've taken several long naps in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber and when I awoke I felt like a new person - I've never felt better. I definitely want one for my home so I can sleep in it at night. I plan to get one immediately.

I want to live to see world peace, a world without hunger, a world where children and all mankind know no suffering.

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Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster

To say HBOT is safe and non-toxic is a lie. And, it is non-invasive similarly as X-rays are non-invasive. It may be relatively safe but 100% oxygen is definitely toxic and hyperbaric 100% oxygen is potentially very toxic. Such treatments are extremely effective for certain indications but administration and sale of such devices should require a doctors prescription or medical care provider license.

The person talking about the ions is talking gibberish as near as I can tell. "Ions" (in the form of free radicals) should be increased in the presence of hyperbaric oxygen. Increased free radicals is the source of the toxicity. Besides that, 100% oxygen is extremely flammable and/or explosive.

Frank

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

Hello Frank Day and All,

Of course you are correct:

Excerpt from Wiki,

One of the worst tragedies in the history of spaceflight occurred on January 27, 1967 when the crew of Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were killed in a fire in the Apollo Command Module during a preflight test at Cape Canaveral. They were training for the first crewed Apollo flight, an Earth orbiting mission scheduled to be launched on 21 February. They were taking part in a "plugs-out" test, in which the Command Module was mounted on the Saturn 1B on the launch pad just as it would be for the actual launch, but the Saturn 1B was not fueled. The plan was to go through an entire countdown sequence.

At 1 p.m. on Friday, 27 January 1967 the astronauts entered the capsule on Pad 34 to begin the test. A number of minor problems cropped up which delayed the test considerably and finally a failure in communications forced a hold in the count at 5:40 p.m. At 6:31 one of the astronauts (probably Chaffee) reported, "Fire, I smell fire." Two seconds later White was heard to say, "Fire in the cockpit." The fire spread throughout the cabin in a matter of seconds. The last crew communication ended 17 seconds after the start of the fire, followed by loss of all telemetry.

The Apollo hatch could only open inward and was held closed by a number of latches which had to be operated by ratchets. It was also held closed by the interior pressure, which was higher than outside atmospheric pressure and required venting of the command module before the hatch could be opened. It took at least 90 seconds to get the hatch open under ideal conditions. Because the cabin had been filled with a pure oxygen atmosphere at normal pressure for the test and there had been many hours for the oxygen to permeate all the material in the cabin, the fire spread rapidly and the astronauts had no chance to get the hatch open. Nearby technicians tried to get to the hatch but were repeatedly driven back by the heat and smoke.

By the time they succeeded in getting the hatch open roughly 5 minutes after the fire started the astronauts had already perished, probably within the first 30 seconds, due to smoke inhalation and burns.

The Apollo program was put on hold while an exhaustive investigation was made of the accident. It was concluded that the most likely cause was a spark from a short circuit in a bundle of wires that ran to the left and just in front of Grissom's seat. The large amount of flammable material in the cabin in the oxygen environment allowed the fire to start and spread quickly.

A number of changes were instigated in the program over the next year and a half, including designing a new hatch which opened outward and could be operated quickly, removing much of the flammable material and replacing it with self-extinguishing components, using a nitrogen-oxygen mixture at launch, and recording all changes and overseeing all modifications to the spacecraft design more rigorously.

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Oxygen, has to be used with caution, particularly when pressurized.

Although it should be noted that pressurized oxygen is used successfully in treating burn and diabetes wounds.

I used 100% pressurized oxygen for high altitude single pilot flight but the longest flights were only a bit more than 5 hours with refueling and the oxygen carried (which could not be refueled) could be a limiter on mission duration. Damn - those were uncomfortable missions after about 3 hours.

I would like to say I used it without ill effect but then again here I am on this forum.

I also participated in an experiment to 'grunt breathe' to maintain conciousness without oxygen at 37,000 ft in the low pressure chamber (it was successful) but might have caused me to be slightly demented....... :) ..... but on the plus side it probably minutely raised my HCT.

We are all guinea pigs for medical research and I think triathletes do more than their share - just trying to go faster.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_mask

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_toxicity

Cheers,

Neal

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Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster

I successfully used an oxygen tent to pre-acclimate myself for some high altitude climbing. Don't know how if it helped performance at all, but I didn't get sick on the trip and didn't have to spend the extra week at basecamp.

I did have to basically move my bed out into the back yard for a while though, it just plain sucks inside, you wake up soaking wet every morning, and it sucks. I wouldn't count on the wife being into it at all.

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Oxygen toxicity on both dose time. As I remember, in the ICU we tried to avoid having a patient on 100% oxygen for more than 12 hours or we could start to see even more problems with long oxygen transport due to "toxicity". It was a rule of thumb in the ICU that 50% oxygen could be tolerated "forever".

And, (as is pointed out in the wikipedia article on oxygen toxicity) the issue isn't the percentage of oxygen but the partial pressure of oxygen. 100% oxygen at 30,000 feet is not being delivered at sea level pressure such that the partial pressure of the oxygen may not be high enough to cause any tissue damage. But, 50% (or, even, 20%) oxygen when diving could be toxic, depending on the depth.

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

I'd suggest what you might need are:
strategies to train when it's cooler or to create a cooler environment to train in
strategies to better acclimate to the heat
strategies to better deal with the heat

An altitude tent isn't your answer.

Here's a few basic thoughts and pointers to some additional information:
http://www.turbostudio.com.au/...ltitude_training.pdf

In essence the primary reason to train and/or live at altitude (or simulated altitude), when you would not ordinarily do so because of where you typically live/train, is to prepare for competition at altitude. There can be some benefits upon return to lower altitudes after sufficient exposure to hypoxic conditions but that is usually a secondary consideration.

I recently learned that a local "coach", who has some hypoxicators, is using them with some juniors cyclists as young as 12 while they do a turbo workout. Utter madness.

We have some athletes who, due to their unique geography, can train well below sea level.

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Training Plans -- Power Meter Hire -- SRM Sales Australia -- cyclecoach.com -- My Blog -- Sydney Turbo Studio

Cracks me up that any age group triathlete would seriously consider spending money on an altitude tent.... just hilarious.

I know a few who've bought them, and they're the laughing stock of the literally dozens of athletes that finish well in front of them...:):)

Anyway, it's given me some material for my next race report.....:):):)
(see here if you aren't sure what I'm talking about http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMine2I9udc).

As for the 12 year olds - oh dear oh dear oh dear, as Phil Gould would say Alex - no no no no no no no no no .

I haven't a problem with anyone using one if they know what they are doing. Just do the research, get good advice and ensure all the other more important elements of performance are attended to first (train well, eat well, sleep/recover well).

As for Gould's "no no no..." - well usually that's amusing - but in this instance it just makes me feel sick.

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Training Plans -- Power Meter Hire -- SRM Sales Australia -- cyclecoach.com -- My Blog -- Sydney Turbo Studio

I was just watching this little video about the footballers preparing for the World Cup at altitude, and Professor Elmarie Terreblanche of Stellenbosch University said the same thing, indeed she went further and said there is no benefit when you return to sea level, the sole benefit is in being able to perform better at altitude.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/...d/africa/8673218.stm

specificity - if you are going to compete at Altitude - it would make sense to have some sort of familiarity with it.

Over here, I think at an Ironman pre race dinner, one of Australia's former National Rugby players recounted a story of a trip to South Africa with the National team. The team had talked about the difficulties of playing at altitide and told the rookie players what to expect. During on of the preparation sessions they were doing stuff at a beach, one of the rookies, obviously not as fit as he should have been, huffing and puffing seriously made the comment that he hadn't adjusted to the altitude yet and that he couldn't believe how much it takes it out of you when you are training - yes you read it correct - they were at the beach - sea level. Rugby players often aren't the smartest of characters.... :):)