Altitude Training and Recombinant Human Erythropoietin: Considerations for Doping Detection.

The benefit of training at altitude to enhance exercise performance remains equivocal although the most widely accepted approach is one where the athletes live and perform lower-intensity running at approximately 2300 m with high-intensity training at approximately 1250 m. The idea is that this method maintains maximal augmentations in total hemoglobin mass while reducing the performance impairment of high-intensity sessions performed at moderate altitude and thus preventing any detraining that can occur when athletes live and train at moderate altitude. This training regimen, however, is not universally accepted and some argue that the performance enhancement is due to placebo and training camp effects.

Relationship between total hemoglobin mass and competitive performance in endurance athletes.

Background: Determine the relationships between total hemoglobin mass (tHb-mass), h emoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (Hct) and competitive performance.

Methods: The team of 35 elite endurance athletes (biathlon men [BM, N.=12] & women [BW, N.

Comprehensive overview of hemoglobin mass and blood volume in elite athletes across a wide range of different sporting disciplines.

Background: The aim of the study was to compare total hemoglobin mass (tHb-mass) and blood volume (BV) across elite athletes with different sporting specializations.

Methods: The study enrolled 222 members of Russian national teams from 12 different sporting disciplines and non-Olympic sports. The athletes were tested in the middle of a competitive season for tHb-mass, BV, plasma volume (PV), hemoglobin concentration (Hb), and hematocrit level (Hct) determination.

Long-term effects of frequent maximal breath-holding on the cardiac health of elite freedivers.

Cardiac arrhythmias are commonly reported in freedivers during maximal voluntary breath-holds, but their influence on the cardiological status and their long-term effects on the cardiac health of these athletes have not been investigated. Here we present the results of a study on 32 healthy young men (mean age 32.6 ± 1.

Prolonged dry apnoea: effects on brain activity and physiological functions in breath-hold divers and non-divers.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of voluntary breath-holding on brain activity and physiological functions. We hypothesised that prolonged apnoea would trigger cerebral hypoxia, resulting in a decrease of brain performance; and the apnoea's effects would be more pronounced in breath-hold divers.

Methods: Trained breath-hold divers and non-divers performed maximal dry breath-holdings.