High Intensity Training in Hypoxia and Athletic Performance (i.e. Snorkel Training)

After much research I was finally able to find an article on Snorkel Training. This was written by Rafael Alejarra, Wanderlei Silva's strength and conditioning coach. He has also coached the Nogueira brothers among many other fighters and is one of the most sought after conditioning coaches in MMA. He was recently featured on an episode of this season's "The Ultimate Fighter" putting Team Mir through some hard conditioning. His website is www.mmaconditioning.net and has some other great articles as well.

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Training in hypoxia has already been widely used by swimmers in 50 meter competitions and first began in the early 70’s, continuing into the 80’s and 90’s. Many athletes have used this technique in order to improve their times in competition requiring speed. Many surfers have used this technique as well, carrying stones to the bottom of the ocean, to increase their capacity to withstand longer periods of time without oxygen while expending effort. However, the term “hypoxia” (lack of oxygen) is often confused with the term, apnea (without breathing), making it necessary to define the correct choice of the term, according to the type of technique and also the type of training.

Atmospheric air is made up of 2l% oxygen (sea level). Under special conditions, such as in high altitudes, this rate may drop to only 13%, making exercise quite difficult. Many athletes travel to a location one or two weeks prior to a competition, in order to become acclimatized, which enhance physiological adaptations, such as an increase in the erythrocyte count, improving the amount of oxygen to the organic systems. Many researchers study athletic performance, simulating various oxygen conditions, such as, the use of barometric tent and a snorkel. In these different situations, one is able to evaluate the V02 kinetics, production capacity e the removal of lactate (initial lactate) and the molecular changes in skeletal muscle.

Many studies have been performed in order to explain the impact of fining in hypoxia on athletic performance up until now the results have been contradicting, nevertheless, there appears to be a tendency to improve performance. In the Roeles study, et. Al. 2007, an increase in peak potency was seen (11%) within the group trained in cycle ergometric in high intensity (90-95% VO2max) under hypoxia, even though, high rate of blood lactate accumulation were observed. Hendriksen and Meeuwisen’s research, 2003, demonstrated an improvement in the anaerobic system of energy support, in addition to a 7% increase in V02 max, demonstrating a significant increase in physical conditioning. The use of a snorkel in high intensity circuit training, in order to decrease the amount of oxygen, is a very interesting method for MMA training, since it perfectly imitates fighting situations wherein an athlete is expending a tremendous amount of force, quite often under apnea and total absence of oxygen (several seconds) or hypoxia, which adds up to large masses of lactate, fatigue and physical stress. Therefore, the positive results in an athlete’s performance maybe tied to a greater capacity to sustain the potency of the movements, even under adverse conditions caused by a high cellular acidose, not to mention a rapid return of heart beat and blood pH, due to the high level of conditioning