Hypoxic Generators

[guitarpreston]

Have any of you tried a hypoxic generator? A friend of mine has a tent he sleeps in with a machine to simulate altitude. I live at sea level and the logistics of me actually going early enough to acclimate or spending much time in the mountains just won't work out between work and family obligations. I started running back in March and this Sept noticed a pretty solid increase in my abilities at mild altitude, 7-8k but far from normal still. Next year I want to go higher and have been considering a generator aliexpress as a training tool.

 

[mtbraun]

I have an altitude tent. I live at 1400 and really start to struggle at 7k plus if not acclimated. I think the tents are a very good tool for us low altitude people because the only way to acclimate is to sleep at altitude, and it takes about 3 weeks. I've used this in mountain race prep by sleeping in it for the three weeks prior to the race. I start at 5k and work up to 10-12k in the final week.

The downside is they are expensive. And they get hot. I turn my 8 sleep down a couple notches when acclimating.

 

[guitarpreston]

Even the Alibaba/aliexpress ones are pushing 1k usually. But I figure at least a couple hours a day with the mask on if I can’t sleep with it could help a little in conjunction with much zone 2 training

 

[chizelhead]

I rented a hypoxico tent for a Nepal hunt. I ended up not using it much, because I would wake in the middle of the night gasping for air even at a low setting. I would also get really hot, so I pulled a fan inside the tent to help. I live at about 200 ft above sea level. I didn't have much trouble in Nepal sleeping at ~13k feet and hunting at ~15k. I was at elevation in about 3 days, so not much acclimation. Rather than doing a tent, I would focus more on improving your VO2 max by working towards Norwegian 4x4s with your favorite cardio. You will likely have better overall health and perform well at altitude with a higher VO2. I'm not a doctor or physiologist, so take the advice with that in mind.

 

[guitarpreston]

In 24 I hadn’t started running. When I did in march 25 my vo2 max was too low to register on my garmin. Pretty sure they start at 35. It’s up to 44 and still working on it.

 

[Marbles]

You have to spend a lot of time in the tent for it to do much (8 hours a day for a minimum of 4 weeks, though up to 8 weeks is better). Low O2 is only one component of altitudes effects, but the tent can only give low O2, but not low atmospheric pressure.

Heat training may give you many of the same benefits with less time investment.

Of course, you can combine a tent and heat training.

Abilities at altitude will never match ability at sea level, no amount of living at altitude will change that.

Hypoxic tents are somewhat individual in how well they work. Some people have a notable decline in recovery, for some people they cause too many sleep issues or family issues.

The only way to know if it helps is to give it a try. Some people swear by them, and some swear off them.