Altitude Conditioning

[CJohnson]

Does anyone on here know of or follow Alex Viada? He has a story pinned on his instagram breaking down preparing for altitude if you live at lower elevations. I thought it was helpful and plan to incorporate what I can into my training for the next month before heading out west.

https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18097613869000136/?hl=en

 

[willfrye027]

Do whatever you need to be in the best cardiovascular shape possible. That will be the limiting factor in your fitness. There is unlikely to be shortcuts here.

Keep in mind that being in shape does not prevent altitude sickness. It actually makes you more likely to get it from the limited number of studies we have on this subject. So consider preparing for that separately if you haven’t spent a ton of time at high altitude.

 

[CJohnson]

I haven't had any trouble with altitude sickness in the past at elevation. I thought the explanation about why tents weren't really valuable was interesting as well as the difficulty in recovering when staying at elevation.

 

[SummitsCalling]

Best way to prep for altitude is to train at that altitude. Don't think there's any magic or gimmick around it.

 

[Badseed]

I was actually just looking into two supplements/aids to help deal with the drastic elevation change from my house and hunting location. Has anyone tried “altitude boost” or used “boost oxygen”? I live at 1,000 ft elevation and will be hunting around 8,500 ft elevation so it takes a few days to get acclimated.


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[Maldavis]

I haven't had any trouble with altitude sickness in the past at elevation. I thought the explanation about why tents weren't really valuable was interesting as well as the difficulty in recovering when staying at elevation.

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[Coach Chris]

Alex knows his stuff.
I took his Hybrid Athlete certification course the first time he offered it
His course and Hybrid Athlete e-book has been a game changer for the success of my endurance and ultra-endurance athletes

 

[Poser]

I was actually just looking into two supplements/aids to help deal with the drastic elevation change from my house and hunting location. Has anyone tried “altitude boost” or used “boost oxygen”? I live at 1,000 ft elevation and will be hunting around 8,500 ft elevation so it takes a few days to get acclimated.


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There is really no empirical evidence that these supplements are of any benefit. That being said, they almost certainly don’t impede adaptation, and, sometimes, a perceived benefit can be just as useful as a real benefit. If you think that you are less impacted by the altitude, you may actually feel better than you would otherwise. 8,500 feet isn’t that dramatic for most people. Noticeable and perceivable? Certainly. It’s the 10k plus altitude coming from below 1,000 feet that really impact people.

 

[Badseed]

Thats a valid point. The placebo effect can oftentimes be every but as helpful as the infomercials say. If you can get a few days to acclimate its not so bad but no matter how fit you feel at 1,000 ft, you still get easily gassed at 8,500 ft. I have climbed a few 10k plus peaks and the effects are even more noticeable. Maybe I will give the supps a shot and see if they help.


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[Brendan]

What I'm working with this year, coming from sea level, is a first rifle season in CO where I'll be spending almost all my time over 10K, and probably some hunting over 12K. I'm going to be in the best shape I can be, try and get there 5-6 days before the season, take it easy acclimating, and hope that helps. Tie that in with drinking a ton of water, potentially supplement with something like Altitude Advantage, and hopefully I'm ready to go by opening day. Want to avoid Diamox if I can, but have to think about it and research some more.

I've been to Wyoming and Montana 5 times, and never cracked 10,000' I was a little winded at times, but never any sort of Altitude sickness.

When I was younger, I did fly into Denver from NYC, drive up to the mountains and hike a 14K footer the next day before heading to a wedding in Vail. I'm in better shape now, but that was only one day at that height.

 

[bigcanyon]

Ultimately it’s getting your body to use oxygen that you breath in. Even ultra guys are not necessarily that great. They run not very fast for a long time, but are mentally tough. What I mean is if you look at V02max which is an estimated on how much oxygen your body uses, you have to train differently than just going for long runs if you want to increase that.I have run 24 minutes for 5 miles on an XC course that’s 4:50 mile pace, so I at least have some info I could share if you pm me. More than happy to help you.

 

[Loco4dux]

Never heard of him and don’t have Instagram does he have a website? Would like to check it out. Usually don’t have problems until above 10k but doing everything I can this year to mitigate it including altitude advantage what’s 30 bucks in the grand scheme of things I suppose.

 

[V2Pnutrition]

Best way to prep for altitude is to train at that altitude. Don't think there's any magic or gimmick around it.

This.

The best approach a guy could take would be to ask for a couple of additional days off work, arrive at altitude 1-2 days early and acclimate. As much as we’d like to think we can “biohack” acclimatizing, you can’t. The very nature of it involves an increase in RBC production to carry more oxygen to your cells.

It’s highly unlikely (impossible?) a supplement or sea-level training program will yield as good of results as arriving early and acclimating.

It also doesn’t mean you need to spend a ton of time at altitude before the hunt instead. In fact, some studies suggest even a day at higher altitude help folks acclimate for a longer trip. Here’s some reading if you’re interested:

“To find out precisely what happens to the body at altitude, Roach’s team sent her and the other volunteers to a camp near the summit of the top of Bolivia’s 5421-meter Mount Chacaltaya, once the site of the world’s highest ski resort. After the first day, Earthman and her colleagues were feeling better.”

“Immediate metabolic adaptations were noted as early as a few hours from ascending to >5000 m, and maintained for 16 days at high altitude.”

Study: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.jproteome.6b00733

This is NOT to diminish the expertise of the gentleman cited above, but is to say that quick approaches rarely lead to desired outcomes. Sure bets require planning and patience, but often lead to the exact results we’re chasing.

Good luck on your hunt!