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Why do athletes train at high altitudes?
Member rating: No Rating | Words: | Submitted: Thu Oct 23 2003
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Why do athletes train at high altitudes? Athletes train at high altitudes to increase the energy available to the body. One way of doing this is to increase the amount of oxygen to the blood. At high altitudes (e.g. on the top of a mountain), the air is 'thin' and the oxygen content is much lower. So in order to make up for this reduced level of oxygen, the body manufactures more red blood cells. This is what athletes want-so that when they compete and return to 'normal' altitudes, their blood is still adapted to 'thin air' with many more red blood cells than normal-and therefore more oxygen is available to the muscles. What is 'thin' air? As the human body travels up in altitude, it is exposed to a state of hypoxia (low oxygen). The actual percentage of oxygen in the air doesn't change, but the barometric pressure decreases, and this...
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