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Effects of hypoxia on paralympic athletes receiving phased altitude training

Abstract:

Introduction: Hypoxic sports training stimulates a large number of biological processes useful to achieve high athletic results. It is necessary to apply the most efficient methods to obtain better bioadaptations. Objective: Study the effects of hypoxia on body weight, lactate and maximum heart rate during a five-day phased altitude training program with professional Paralympic long-distance (5 000 m) runners. Methods: A study was conducted with eight athletes from the Ecuadorian national Paralympic team, who are used to systematic training at ±2450 mamsl. The sample was subjected to five phased altitude training sessions (±2808 mamsl, ±2924 mamsl, ±2950 mamsl), and initial and final values were recorded for the variables body weight, blood lactate and maximum heart rate. Results: Body weight before the start of training did not show any significant loss (p= 0.866) when comparing the first (58.9 kg) and fifth (56.8 kg) sessions, but significant differences were found at the end of training (p= 0.034). Lactate values exhibited significant differences before the start of training (p= 0.018), but differences were not significant immediately after the end of training (p= 0.674). Maximum heart rate showed a significant difference (p= 0.012) immediately after the end of the training, with eight negative ranges when comparing the first and the fifth training sessions, as established by the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Conclusions: The effects of hypoxia in phased training with changes in altitude (2450-2950 mamsl) during a five-day training program with Paralympic athletes were positive, given the improvement in maximum heart rate, and lactate tolerance and elimination, with no evidence of significant loss of body weight.