Training with weights is more effective with simulated height

Arnold Schwarzenegger said in his first mainstream movie "Stay Hungry" "You have to burn to grow." Muscle cells need stress in the form of tension and inflammation to grow optimally.

Bing Yan and colleagues from Beijing Sports University in China found that training with weights at altitude caused greater gains in strength and muscle mass than training at sea level. The subjects trained in a low oxygen concentration chamber at 21, 16 or 12.6 percent oxygen (simulating sea level, 7,000 feet altitude and 13,500 feet altitude). Training with weights at higher altitudes caused the greatest changes in strength, lean body mass and anabolic hormones (growth hormone and testosterone), and training at 12.6 percent oxygen was better than training at 16 percent. The subjects completed two training sessions per week for 5 weeks at one of the three oxygen concentrations.

How can bodybuilders use this information? Train at altitude. However, this may not produce the same results as training in a low oxygen concentration room while living at sea level. Win the lottery and build yourself a training room with reduced oxygen concentration.

The training center in Beijing is expensive, very sophisticated and not available to most athletes. Use a portable "altitude generator" and breathing mask from Higher Peaj (higherpeak.com, Bodston, MA). These cost about 2500 dollars, which should be within the budget of affluent bodybuilders. If this technology catches on, it's only a matter of time before one of the leading gyms will offer simulated-height training rooms.

(Journal Strength Conditioning Research, 30: 184 - 193, 2016)