This master thesis presents the results of three-week altitude training, which was performed on Rogla, where the objects lived on simulated altitude in the altitude room.
This paper contains the data of 13 subjects, which were divided into experimental group (7 subjects) and control group (6 subjetcs). During the three-week live high - train on moderate altitude, the experimental group was exposed to moderate hypoxia (1500m + FiO2= 0,18 – 0,17) for 14 to 18 hours per day. Training took place at a moderate altitude of 1500m. Control group was training and living at low altitude location. Trainings of this group took place in Ljubljana at the Faculty of Sport. In the three-week training cycle, both groups followed the same training protocol. Training was performed on bicycle, which were connected to the cycling training simulators. Training included five minutes of warm-up and one hour of cycling with as much power as the subject was able to develop that day on the bike. The subjects of both groups were tested before and after three-week training on incremental test and continuous test. These tests were performed in Laboratory of biodynamics at the Faculty of Sport in Ljubljana. We used the results of these tests to compare the performance of each group – of each training method. We also took 5 blood samples from experimental group for determination of hematological changes. We did not take blood samples of the control group, because we considered that the exercise at low altitude will not have any influence on blood changes.
The results show that the most functional factors were improved by both groups. A statistically significant improvement in power of cycling at lactate threshold was observed in the test group (p=0.018), as well as in the control group (p=0.02). Both groups also increased their power cycling at OBLA (experimental [p=0.004] and the control [p=0.02]). Statistically significant differences in the peak power of cycling was also detected in both groups (control, [p=0.025], experimental [p=0.016]).
Improved maximum oxygen consumption was observed only in the experimental group (p=0.04). We did not observed significant changes in the levels of lactate at the lactate threshold, or at OBLA in any group, but we found a statistically significant difference in the increase of the maximum value of lactate in experimental group (p=0.014), while in the control group, despite the increase of the average value of the statistically significant differences were not detected. Hematologic parameters showed that after arriving at the altitude, hemoglobin started significantly increasing, but then it decreased rapidly. Statistically significant was the increase in hemoglobin after two weeks staying at the high altitude (p=0.00), but there was no significant changes in the levels of hemoglobin between first and last measurement, which took place a week after the arrival from altitude training. There was only a slight trend of increasing hemoglobin, because we noticed 1.3% higher average value of hemoglobin compared to the average of the initial value. Hematocrit was first reduced from a relatively high initial value (p=0.016), then followed by an increase and then decreased again, which is probably due to the fatigue of the subjects. Between hematocrit values before altitude training and values measured one week after the arrival from altitude training, there are no statistically significant differences. Only a slight increases in hematocrit were observed.
The training had similar influence in both groups. Both indicators of submaximal effort, as well as indicators of maximum effort were improved. A three-week altitude training method live high - train at moderate altitude did not show any statistically significant changes in hematologic indicators, which could have influence in the improved performance of experimental group.
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