Why High-Altitude Training Works

Most of us have heard about athletes training in the mountains.  But do you know why?

People often ask us, “Why is your high-altitude oxygen therapy training better than going to a traditional gym for regular exercise?”

Per this article from Men’s Journal (which includes links to research studies) –

“High-altitude training rewires your body at a cellular level for better performance not just in the mountains, but everywhere, including sea level.”

“Higher altitudes augment the body’s utilization of oxygen,” explains Thomas Pontinen, MD. “Lower oxygen availability triggers several changes in the body that help it survive and thrive in higher altitude environments with less oxygen.”

“One of the biggest adaptations your body experiences when doing high-altitude training is red blood cell production.  Higher altitude and lower oxygen environments stimulate an increase in red blood cells in the body, which then increases the efficiency of oxygen delivery into the muscle tissues. This directly helps increase strength performance because it reduces fatigue in the muscles,” says Pontinen.

“When your muscles have more oxygen, they perform better under stress and recover faster between workouts. The more efficiently your body uses oxygen, the more strength you can build and with less wear and tear.”

At Gym for the Brain, our oxygen therapy training is called contrast oxygen or IHHT (intermittent hypoxia hyperoxia training), as we rotate high-altitude oxygen with rich oxygen (4x what you are breathing at sea level) during your session.  Expanding on the quote above, we use high-altitude oxygen to stimulate, or tease, the body; causing it to ask for oxygen.  Then, we flood the body with oxygen (4x what you are breathing now), causing the body to absorb far more oxygen than it would have without being teased.

As research studies show, the benefit to body and brain is significant:

  • Endurance:  Increases 32 – 67%
  • Short-term memory:  Increases 19 – 23%
  • Recovery time: Reduced by 27%
  • Power:  Increased by 8 – 14%
  • Lactic Acid:  Reduced 34 – 60%
  • Reaction time:  Reduced 12 – 18%

If you want to get more body and brain strength and performance from your exercise, add high-altitude oxygen therapy training, like we do at Gym for the Brain, to your exercise program.