The Effect of "Living High and Training Low" with a Normobaric Hypoxic Tabernacle on Exercise Performance of Rowers / 中国运动医学杂志

ABSTRACT

This study was to investigate the influnce of 4 weeks of living high-training low on exercise performance of rowers. Twenty rowers were divided into two groups ten subjects spent 8-10h per night in a tabernacle simulated at an altitude of 2500m in normobaric hypoxia; 10 control subjects slept at near sea level. During the 4-week periods, all rowers were trained at the same relative or at the same intensity of work in normoxia state. The red cell volume (RCV) , haemoglobin mass (Hb) and hematocrit (HCT) were measured before test, 15th and 30th day of study,and measurements were done on a rowing ergometer at sea-level, which included an ergometer test at 4 mmol/L lactate anaerobic threshold and performance in exercise tasks of 2km, 5km, and a Wingate Anaerobic Test before test and 30th day of study. The results showed that adaptation to simulated moderate altitude can stimulate red cell production sufficiently increase in red cell volume (RCV) , haemoglobin mass (Hb) and hematocrit (Hct). And there were significant increases in all important parameters at 4 mmol/L lactate anaerobic threshold as well as performance of 5km, while the performance of 2km showed no significant improvement, the mean values of both mean power per kilogram body weight and peak power per kilogram body weight were not increased significantly. In the control group, there were no significant changes in the all abovementioned parameters. The results of this study indicate that living high-training low can improve the aerobic energy-supply systems. We conclude that 4-week of living high and training low can improve sea level endurance performance in rowers.