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Altitude training is regarded by some to
be an essential part of gaining an edge
over the competition, whereas others
regard it as pure hype. Which view is
correct?
The Institute of Sport, Exercise and
Active Living (ISEAL) at Victoria
University, Melbourne, Australia is
tackling this and many more questions
through research in its new $68 million
state of the art research facility.
For the last 20 years, researchers
around the world have been
investigating the effects of training at
altitude on endurance performance.
While there is good evidence that
such training can benefit endurance
performance, there is little research
and no consensus on the effects of
altitude training on the performance
of team sport athletes. In fact, there is
no published evidence demonstrating
improved team-sport performance
following altitude exposure. So why
have more than half of the Australian
Football League teams incorporated
some type of altitude training into their
pre-season training?
While the use of altitude training is
built on a sound scientific rationale, the
simple answer is that it is mostly ‘follow
the leader’.
“Following its use by Collingwood
Football Club in their 2010 Premiership
season, the hype around altitude
training has grown – this year more
than half the clubs will use it”, Professor
Bishop (Research Leader Sport,
ISEAL) said.
“What has been conveniently lost in
this argument, though, is that the most
successful club of the last few years,
Geelong, did not use altitude training
during any of their premiership years”.
So, could altitude training benefit
team-sport athletes, or is it just hype?
There are some good reasons to think
that altitude training may have a small
benefit on team-sport performance. We
know that if it is done correctly it may
increase the oxygen carrying capacity
of the blood and that this should benefit
endurance performance. There is also
some evidence that altitude training
may increase the ability to cope with
lactic acid. But, there still remains no
direct evidence that altitude training
can improve team-sport performance.
Researchers at ISEAL are currently
addressing this lack of research. The
centre has 29 brand new sport and
exercise science research laboratories
and adjacent exercise rehabilitation
clinic, pool and gymnasium together
with a $51 million clinical sciences
building with specialist exercise
science facilities at nearby Sunshine
Hospital and an elite sport training
facility located at Whitten Oval. This
creates a huge state of the art facility
that has the capability to tackle cutting
edge research for the sports industry
and community as a whole.
The suite of world-class, high-
technology laboratories supports the
five major disciplines underpinning
the sport and exercise sciences.
These include, exercise physiology,
biomechanics, motor learning and
skilled performance, sport and exercise
biochemistry and molecular biology,
motor control and biofeedback.
Altitude research is being conducted
mainly within ISEAL’s exercise
physiology laboratories and altitude
hotel - one of only two in Australia, the
other being in the Australian Institute of
Sport. This is based on ISEAL’s unique
capacity to recreate environmental
conditions for research through the
environmental exercise laboratory
(EEL) which can simultaneously
acclimatise up to 10 athletes in heat
and at high humidity, as well as simulate
altitude in a low oxygen environment.
The temperature for the EEL can be
manipulated between 50C to 400C,
the humidity from 20 to 90% and the
altitude from sea level to 3500m+.
Victoria University’s altitude hotel
simulates a high altitude living
environment by increasing the level of
nitrogen in the air, this in turn lowers
the oxygen levels from the normal
ALTITUDE TRAINING:
MOUNTAINS OF BENEFIT OR MOUNTAINS OF HYPE?
By Chris Rawlinson
The altitude hotel at ISEAL, Victoria University
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