Re: Just to get it right

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: : : : Frank writes in one statement : : : "Other than treating abnormalities ( asthma ) , there is really nothing anyone can do to improve oxygen delivery to the blood. : : In the next " correction " he writes : : : to improve oxygen delivery . It reduces the amount of CO2 in the lungs , making more room for oxygen. : : Now what is right ? the statement first , or the possible questions Juerg put down to reduce the absolute answer we often get from experts.? : The hyperventilation trick is only useful for short duration activities such as sprints, and especially in swimming where one may not be able to breathe continuously. For endurance events, for all practical purposes, nothing can be done to enhance oxygen transfer across the lungs, in the healthy athlete. : : 2. Abnormalities ( asthma ) As a performance athlete on my own ( having exercise related asthma ) I feel quite normal , but I also feel , using my inhaler improves dramatically the way I am perform. : That is not what I am talking about. Asthma is not normal. Using your inhaler is simply returning your airways to normal, hopefully. An inhaler would have no effect on a normal persons breathing. : : Changeing my position on my time trial bike would increase my wind resistance by quite a bit ( Windchannel ) So when I started to use the " spiro tiger " an equipment to enhance the strength of my breathing system , I improved all the physiological values like Vitalcapacity , VO2 max , lactate values and so on. : I don't believe using the Spiro tiger or anything else could improve VO2 max, vital Capacity, lactate or anything else. I would want to see the data and see what else was changed. The only way I know to change some of these things is by training as most of them are affected by the state of the cardiovascular system. Some of them (Vital Capacity) cannot be changed at all (except by, perhaps, losing weight and reducing pressure on the diaphragm to allow a further excursion) as far as I know. : : Aerodynamic position is given by physical means. Breathing is given by physiological means . We have a problem to change physical rules , but we can improve physiological situations. : Only some physiological things can be improved. It is not possible to change change the ventilatory drive set points nor the diameter of the airways. Others can be changed, that is why one trains. : : Another point at the beginning . Faster breathing does not increase oxygen to the blood. Than correction : " actually breathing at altitude will get more oxygen in . ? : : What is true here now ?. : The example is a physiological change the body makes that enhances the chance of survival under extreme conditions. It is of little applicability to normal athletic endeavors. : The real "normal" impediment to maximum oxygen delivery is something called ventilation perfusion mismatch. The reason we do not see 100% saturation is related to this. VP mismatch is somewhat variable on position but, again, in healthy people it is pretty much constant and small. Hyper ventilation or other tricks results in imperceptible improvements in oxygen delivery from the point of view of athletic performance enhancement (except, perhaps, as noted before in swimmers, etc. for spint performances). However, there might be some tricks one could do before starting an event to "uncollapse" collapsed alveoli which might minimize VP mistach but it would probably have little effect. If I remember right, VP mismatch tends to go down with exercise anyhow, but I don't remember. : : Last : Frank discusses and corrects some statements with telling us to look at high performance athletes and not possible abnormalities ( asthma . scoliosis ). : : Now a person with as juerg stats a scoliosis will not due high performance activity. : : I am not sure how high the high performance activity is in Franks example to correct his statement : " in anesthesia it is possible to keep patient alive .... Seems to my by far harder to do any performance as long you are under anaesthesia and far further away on real live performance than the practical example we have from Jurg. : The example I gave was simply to demonstrate the physiologicaal principal. If we could carry the equipment with us it would be possible to exercise and deliver oxygen to the blood without needing to "breathe" in the traditional sense of the word. Oxygen transfer occurs because of diffusion and is generally done fully. Unless you can do something to enhance diffusion of oxygen you cannot affect this. For instance, increasing oxygen concentration. One would think that if we could double the oxygen concentration in the air we breathe we could double our performance. Wrong. It would have an imperceptible effect. Even putting someone in 100% oxygen environment would not result in any perceived improvement in athletic ability, and if done for an endurance event could actually hurt performance because this would cause some alveolar collapse and worsen VP mismatch. : These physiological principals are well understood but they are not easily understood by those who do not have the specialized training. That doesn't mean one is incapable of understanding them but unless one is told about these things one cannot learn. Even if told about this stuff some will continue to believe what they believe. : : There seems to be another " Doctor " Andrew on this forum , and he may give some input as well. : Frank

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