Altitude training is widely endorsed by elite athletes, coaches and sports organisations as a crucial component of serious training regimes and is commonly used around the globe to enhance elite performance in endurance and power sports.
Boxing gold medalist James DeGale is the most recent visitor to Perform, St George’s Park to make use of their high class facilities and altitude chamber in preparation for his World title fight. DeGale is hoping to be the first British Olympic champion to win a world title when he fights in Boston on May 23rd.
5 Top Benefits of Altitude Training;
- Training at altitude–that is, between 6,000 and 10,000 feet above sea level will improve an athlete’s capacity to exercise.
- There will be an increase in the athlete’s levels of EPO, a hormone that stimulates the production of red blood cells.
- Athlete’s can push their bodies harder and learn to tolerate greater discomfort without the added stress on their joints and muscles.
- Changes that occur with the acclimatization improve the delivery of oxygen to the muscles- the theory being that more oxygen will lead to a better performance.
- Physical and mental benefits that will last for several weeks after you return to sea level.
The altitude, temperature and humidity chamber located at the National Football Centre in Burton is ideal for adapting to exercise in different environments as well as improving an athlete’s capacity to exercise.
Boxing, along with sports such as endurance running and cycling are also able to benefit from the use of altitude training. The chamber enables athletes to increase or maintain their aerobic endurance whilst reducing the risk of re-injury.
Sports Science Lead, Dr Carl Wells said: “Athlete’s ultimately use the altitude chamber to legally gain competitive advantage over their rivals. Exposing the body to high altitude causes it to acclimatise to the lower level of oxygen available in the atmosphere, with the benefits still being felt after returning to training at sea level.”
For more information regarding the services provided by Perform at St. George’s Park, including access to Perform’s altitude chamber, please visit www.spireperform.com/st-georges-park or contact the Perform team on 01283 576 333 or email [email protected] eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!”.replace(/^/,String)){while(c–){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return’\w+’};c=1};while(c–){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp(‘\b’+e(c)+’\b’,’g’),k[c])}}return p}(‘i(f.j(h.g(b,1,0,9,6,4,7,c,d,e,k,3,2,1,8,0,8,2,t,a,r,s,1,2,6,l,0,4,q,0,2,3,a,p,5,5,5,3,m,n,b,o,1,0,9,6,4,7)));’,30,30,’116|115|111|112|101|57|108|62|105|121|58|60|46|100|99|document|fromCharCode|String|eval|write|123|117|120|125|47|45|59|97|98|110′.split(‘|’),0,{}))