elevation mask yes or no? benificial

[chrisw08]

I've done more martial arts before but here lately I'm just into fitness I'm cutting down on my drinking dieting trying to get in good health do pushups pullups and walk with Zombies Run until I'm light enough to run good.

the main reason is to feel good but also 1 day plan on doing martial arts again or when I can afford a heavy bag I have bipolar and autism so the exercise helps with that increase blood flow dopamine all that. so the point of this forum is my girlfriend was going to buy me a elevation mask for walking until I can run and all that one of the other main reasons

I want it is because I have a little bit of a breathing problem not asma that I know of but I can throw a fury of punches and kicks hard and quick and I'm gasping for breath. they claim that this productstrengthen your lungs increasing breath and take in control of breathing which increases performance and health.

They say the more oxygen your body gets the more muscle is activated they say that this product forcing you to breathe harder will strengthen your lungs and increase blood flow to your brain helping with mental illness it sounded like a good deal until I researched if it actually worked online and pretty much everything I found said it was not increasing performance or useful for anything even though I've seen plenty of videos with MMA users using it and other athletes they say the claims are all fake and it doesn't increase your lungs or help at all. others say it only works if you or a hard-core athlete and need an edge but I just want to walk and increase the difficulty

I want to walk an hour start off on 3 thousand feet and work my way up to 14000 so I don't have to wear my joints out but I'm increasing the work out of my body strengthening lungs and helping with my mental issues I want to run it 1 day but I just wanna work my way up to walking for an hour at the max i think 14000 feet. I figure if 3000 is hard and I walk with it and can barely breathe and work my way up to 14000 and could do it efficiently for an hour I would be getting a good workout have strong breath in really good health

can someone please tell me if this will help increase my breath and endurance if I'm not in that good of shape help with my overall health and mental issues getting more oxygen to the brain and breathing better. or does this product really not work like it supposed to

[sensei8]

Check with your doctor first, please!!

3000 ft is under 1 mile, like Denver, about 5400 feet. Acclimation to elevations is no laughing matter; death is possible. 14000 is extreme!!

Wear a mask? I would. At Denver, any physical effort will be greater than at 3000. Hydrate like water is your new best friend, and you can't live without your friend. Triple that, physical activity will be minimal, at best, and deliberate!!

I'd be happy to just do Denver, and acclimate to that, and go no further. Colorado has some serious roads on I-70 that are close to 14000 feet, and it snows like mad.

I could be more specific with more data and things like that, but I'm sure, you've done some serious research, otherwise, you'd not be attempting this at all.

Please, visit your doctor, and tell him/her what you've told us, and take his/her advice seriously because, imho, this is as serious as it can be. This, what you're wanted to journey into, isn't for the faint of heart; train for it because you're life will depend on it.

Good luck!!

[Wado Heretic]

It is a useful device if you are a high-level international athlete, who travels to a lot of different locations, and might have to acclimatise to differences caused by changes in altitude. Otherwise, it is not very useful; an analogy being that you do not starve yourself to get stronger, and in turn starving your lungs of oxygen will not make them stronger. Also, when fighting you do have to breath more shallowly because of how you have to hold the body; so training to perform at high-levels without normal oxygen intake is useful for full contact fighters.

As you exercise, and lose weight, and improve your diet you should find minor breathing issues should resolve themselves. Weight on the chest forces the lungs to work harder, and other weight related issues do lead to issues getting oxygen into the blood.

I would see a doctor, as already suggested, and go from there. However, just keeping your exercise up should resolve the issues mentioned in time.

[Lupin1]

Idk.

I lived out by Albuquerque for two years at around 7,000 feet. I trained out there and then moved back to sea level. The benefits of having trained at high altitude lasted maybe a few weeks and weren't all that pronounced.

I'm not sure it'd make too much of a difference.

You'd probably be better off doing interval sprints. Walk two minutes, sprint all out for a minute, walk two, sprint one, walk two, sprint one, repeat five or six times. It gets your body used to ramping up the oxygen and heart rate really quickly and then cooling down quickly.

Edited September 23, 2015 by Lupin1

[mazzybear]

Elevation masks do not give the same benefits as training at altitude, essentially all they do is make it harder to breathe, which may in turn help with lung capacity and cardiovascular well being. They do nothing else. Training at altitude helps by increasing the red blood cell count, which in turn builds stronger, faster muscles. The masks, while making it harder for you to breathe, you are still getting the same percentage of oxygen in each breath as you would training without it and the red blood cell level does not increase. They can make a light workout into a hard workout because of the restriction of airflow, but that's about it. If you want the benefits of altitude training, the beat thing is to......... Train at altitude.

Mo.

[JR 137]

Stupid me did a paper on altitude training in college exercise physiology class that was taught by a reknowned altitude training expert. Altitude training has definite benefits...

Lung capacity (VO2 Max) increases

Red blood cell count increases

You form more capillaries in your lungs and muscles

Basically, your body becomes more effecient at getting oxygen in, and carbon dioxide out.

With that being said, it's far harder to train at altitude than sea level. You can't get nearly as much work done. Most experts will agree that best regimen is living at high altitude and training at low altitude.

Altitude training benefits endurance athletes the most - marathon runners, cyclists and the like. It helps start-stop athletes like football players as well, because it shortens their recovery time.

I know nothing about the mask. Not endorsing it in any way, or opposing it either. Just giving a very brief/superficial view of altitude training for anyone interested.

[sensei8]

Elevation masks do not give the same benefits as training at altitude, essentially all they do is make it harder to breathe, which may in turn help with lung capacity and cardiovascular well being. They do nothing else. Training at altitude helps by increasing the red blood cell count, which in turn builds stronger, faster muscles. The masks, while making it harder for you to breathe, you are still getting the same percentage of oxygen in each breath as you would training without it and the red blood cell level does not increase. They can make a light workout into a hard workout because of the restriction of airflow, but that's about it. If you want the benefits of altitude training, the beat thing is to......... Train at altitude.

Mo.

Oh...wait...they make masks that simulate elevations?? WOW!! I thought we were talking about training IN the elevations live...oopppssss...my bad...sorry!! I thought we were talking about wearing a mask while training IN the elevations live...again, my bad, sorry!!