Heat vs Altitude training

[Dry Rot]

Last year, Port surprised everyone (especially Collingwood :D ) and in particular with their fitness and the way they finished off games.

Turns out their fitness guru believes in heat training, rather than altitude training.


PORT Adelaide fitness coach Darren Burgess says the Power players were "flogged" during their recent 10-day training camp in Dubai.

The players were put through intensive training workouts in the United Arab Emirates as the club searches for ways to improve on its fifth-place finish in 2013.

Burgess is a champion of heat-based training, with his research suggesting it has improved training benefits compared to altitude training.

Carlton, Essendon and St Kilda are three clubs that have adopted the use of altitude training, journeying to Arizona and Colorado in recent times, while Hawthorn have ventured to South Africa for heat-based training.

"We just think the heat offers a similar training environment to altitude, in that it stresses the body a lot further than what it would in normal conditions," Burgess told SEN radio on Tuesday morning.

"Therefore you can adapt to training physiologically better; also the mental benefits of training a lot in heat are pretty substantial.

"Physiologically, heat and altitude, it's probably reasonably similar. But my belief, and through my research, is that heat might just have the edge."

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-12-10/some-like-it-hot

Is he right? Do either of them actually work?

[SlimPickens]

Personally Im skeptical of the benefit of a two week high altitude camp. To simplify it, training at high altitude means training in an environment with low amounts of oxygen in the air because of this the body may adapt to the relative lack of oxygen in one or more ways such as increasing the mass of red blood cells and hemoglobin (oxygen carrying cells in the blood), or altering muscle metabolism. So when the athlete returns back to sea level the body feels like it has heaps of oxygen to use to help make energy in the muscles and thus run harder for longer.

I would have thought a player would need a substantial amount of time at high altitude and continuing exposure to that environment to ensure the benefits are met. I know the dogs use a facility at VU which simulates high altitude training which may be beneficial. I guess if the player feels like it has been doing them good and their is a placebo affect then that additional 1% they might gain can only help.

As for training at heat, Port Adelaide saying it is more beneficial training in the heat of Dubai over the chilly conditions of Adelaide seems like someone trying to justify their position in the world. Pretty sure every club does their preseason training in the heat, the physiological stress this puts on the body is obvious with the loss of fluid due to sweating etc. There was a University of Oregon study back in 2010 that had trained cyclists do 10 days of heat acclimation -- 100 minutes of exercise in the heat each day -- and saw a 5% jump in VO2max measured in cool conditions by the end of study. In other words, heat acclimation doesn't just make you better at dealing with heat; it makes you better, period. The researchers suggested that athletes could use this type of protocol just like they use altitude training camps, as a short-term intervention to improve performance.

So going back to the title of the thread it could be said why not just do both, which I'm pretty sure the majority of clubs are doing!

[stefoid]

I don't think they are looking for long term benefits form the altitude training itself, just a jump start to the preseason so those players will be able to go harder, earlier in the preseason schedule.

[SlimPickens]

I don't think they are looking for long term benefits form the altitude training itself, just a jump start to the preseason so those players will be able to go harder, earlier in the preseason schedule.

I think what you are saying maybe partially correct with the idea of "jump starting" the year but realistically you need to continue the training method reasonably consistently to see a long term benefit. The dogs do this so I can see the benefit.

Considering the travel and cost involved, I'd be thinking time spent at above 2000m in Australia would be just as beneficial and a lot less costly.

Port Adelaide saying that training in the heat in Dubai is better compared to the conditions they have in Adelaide is ridiculous.

[stefoid]

I think what you are saying maybe partially correct with the idea of "jump starting" the year but realistically you need to continue the training method reasonably consistently to see a long term benefit. The dogs do this so I can see the benefit.

Considering the travel and cost involved, I'd be thinking time spent at above 2000m in Australia would be just as beneficial and a lot less costly.

Port Adelaide saying that training in the heat in Dubai is better compared to the conditions they have in Adelaide is ridiculous.

Over 2000m in Australia? thats pretty much on top of Mt Kosiosko! :)

[SlimPickens]

Over 2000m in Australia? thats pretty much on top of Mt Kosiosko! :)

Yep it certainly is.