Mark: For years, elite athletes have been looking towards altitude training as an additional
way to improve their performance on race day. However, many people now claim that you can
get the same benefits or very similar benefits at sea level using one of these, an altitude
mask. That was an altitude mask or an elevation mask, but do they really work?
[music] Now, I do apologize because I'm going to go
straight in on the science here so do bear with me. Altitude training is training around
1,500 meters above sea level and above that obviously, but preferably more in the region
of 2,400 meters and above for maximum benefit and adaptation. The reason that so many athletes
go to do altitude training is that it's been proven to improve your VO2 max. That is how
much oxygen your body can process during intense exercise. As you'll all be aware, I'm sure
that as you go up in altitude there is less oxygen available to us, and this is where
the improvements come from, because due to this limit and lack of oxygen during exercise,
our muscle tissues go into a state of hypoxia. Hypoxia being where the demand for oxygen
for the muscle tissues exceeds the supply. Our body's response to this is to overcompensate
in the production of red blood cells and therefore, improving our VO2 max. Are you still with
me? Good. Well, altitude masks restrict your breathing
when you inhale, therefore, simulating the effects of altitude, forcing your body to
adapt, to produce more red blood cells, yada, yada. You get the picture. At least, that's
the theory. Well, I've got myself an altitude mask here and I've decided I'm going to dig
a little deeper today, including testing it out. Right then, so I've popped onto the canal
path here and I thought, first things first, probably a good idea just to head out and
get to grips with this altitude mask. I'm just going to head for a
gentle jog, try the altitude mask on, see how it affects my training. I've currently
got it set to apparently 12,000 feet in altitude, that's by just simply changing out some of
the lugs and valves on this, so let's see how it goes.
Now, one thing to think about before you do any training of this sort is that due to its
restrictive breathing wearing an altitude mask might cause you to hyperventilate or
faint, so if you do have a high blood pressure or other cardiovascular problems, then it
may be sensible to avoid this or at the very least, seek medical advice. That was definitely
different and certainly a lot harder. I think I've got my head around it now, so I'm going
to up the ante here now. I'm going to do two runs at a moderate pace which is around maybe
four-minute per kilometer for myself. I'm going to do one wearing the mask and then
one not wearing the mask. Now, I'm actually going to measure my heart
rate for this. The general idea is that by wearing the mask I'm going to be working hard
and I'm going to see that through an increased heart rate, and then hopefully, that will
mean that my body is adapting due to having to work harder. That's the theory. Here we
go. I just feel so short of breath, almost hyperventilating. [panting hard] I can't get
enough to my muscles. [panting hard] Heart rate is above 170. Oh, my goodness. That's
the first 20 done with the mask. I went a little bit faster than four-minute per kilometers,
it was around 357 per kilometer. It's just over 5k. I'll try and hit that next time,
but average heart rate of 165. That was higher than I expected for that kind of pace, but
hey, that was difficult. I really felt short of breath, almost like I was hyperventilating.
It almost felt like I was going to panic at the end. Now, let's take a nice or long rest
and do the same again without the mask. [music]
I can breathe again. Hooray. This is so much nicer. Actually finding myself running a little
bit too fast in places, so just trying to hold myself back, that's how much easier it
feels. That's both done there. Without the mask, same pace, a second slower per kilometer
at 358, but heart rate was a whole, well 10 beats below almost, 157 average. Considering
I did this one second, so you could argue perhaps my heart rate would still stay high
from the first one. I think that has clearly shown how much harder it is with a mask versus
without the-- With the mask was just horrific. My head was hurting. I just felt as you should,
short of breath and I just couldn't supply my muscles with the oxygen they needed. They
were starting to feel really horrible, really heavy and really tight actually, and just
almost like I was getting to the point as if I'd just done 100 meter flat out sprint,
so just please get that one out of the way, I'm finished. I'm going to go rest now.
Thinking back on my runs there, this mask definitely made a difference, there's no question
about that. I was having to work harder when I had the mask on. The idea behind them does
make sense, but the question does still remain, do they have the same effect as training at
altitude? Well, I've done a little bit of digging around here, I'm reading off of some
scientific studies and experiments out there, and there seems to be several key things here.
First off, many of these masks do not have the sufficient mechanisms to actually decrease
the oxygen content in the air as you would experience at altitude, therefore, they are
not going to be able to recreate the exact training effect gained at altitude.
They restrict the amount of air that you can pull into your lungs but not the oxygen content
of that air. You receive less oxygen, but only because you're receiving less air, and
that is the crucial difference. To stress this actually slightly further, there's some
very sophisticated laboratories out there, training centers or what we often call "altitude
chambers" that will extract oxygen from the air, so when you take a full breath in, when
you're in one of these altitude chambers there is simply less oxygen, so essentially or exactly
replicating true altitude, which is great technology but that does not exist in these.
What these studies do show is that these masks create air resistance which directly stresses
our breathing muscles, so they act more like a tool for respiratory muscle training rather
than hypoxia, which we experience during altitude training that leads to that increase in red
blood cell count. Now, respiratory muscle training or RMT as it's often referred to
is very different from altitude training. It does have some benefits in that it can
help to reduce lactic acid or the effect of lactic acid during intense exercise, or even
that perception of respiratory effort, which can lead to improved and enhanced performance.
However, there are very few studies out there that prove this RMT and they're quite vague
to be honest, whereas there's several studies that show that an improvement in RMT does
not link to an improved VO2 max. [music]
As I mentioned earlier, when I did my run using the altitude mask it was clearly a lot
harder, it definitely had an effect on my ability to breathe effectively, but as these
studies are quite clearly showing that doesn't necessarily mean or transfer over to an improvement
in my performance or my VO2 max, and there's more. Altitude masks have been shown to cause
some arterial hypoxia which is what we see at altitude, but again, it is in different
way to true altitude training. The mask causes poor ventilation, resulting in an imbalance
between oxygen uptake and CO2 removal. This can lead to hyperventilation and an increase
in perceived effort of training. Studies have been shown that when using the
mask to try and increase an individual's VO2 max, results have been quite inconclusive.
That would explain why I found it harder to run with the mask and I saw this increase
in my heart rate. Unfortunately though and this evidence is showing, I don't think altitude
masks or "altitude masks" are ever going to replace true, real altitude training, but
I think we probably all had an inkling that was the case. However, these masks can be
used as a good tool for respiratory muscle training.
[music] Again, as I mentioned earlier, this improved
respiratory muscle strength can lead to improved performance, but not necessarily improve the
VO2 max. Finally, just to round this video out, just quickly, I've got a couple more
issues, with regards to using the mask for altitude training and this starts with the
popular mantra, "Live high, train low." You may have heard this before with regards to
how a lot of pro athletes will live at altitude, they'll spend a majority of their time at
altitude, sleep at altitude, and they'll come down in altitude, sometimes down to sea level
to do their training. Now, training at altitude is obviously harder.
It puts a lot of stress on the body. We can't necessarily pedal with the same power on the
bike, same speeds when we run, so we're not going to get the same muscular adaptations.
Also, to get the benefit and the effect of altitude, you need to be spending a lot of
time at it. Putting your mask on for a rather short and intermittent period of time is not
going to have the same effect. There we go. There's a lot of information to digest there.
In summary, if you want to get the effect of altitude training without going to the
mountains, I'm not sure the mask is the answer. Is it a complete write-off? Well, no, not
necessarily. If you want to use this in your training, of course, feature it into your
training plan, but it's just important to understand the gains and the benefits of using
this, and it's not necessarily the same as altitude training. Also, this has opened my
eyes up to RMT training and perhaps it's a topic for another day. It sounds incredibly
interesting. I hope you have enjoyed today's video. A lot of information there. You've
got any questions, please drop them in the comments section below. Do give this video
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down below. [00:11:56] [END OF AUDIO]