Raising your Game

Altitude Gym at Bukit Timah Rifle Range Road ; the air O2 level is set at 3000 m 

       Altitude training has been proven to be very effective for athletes of all disciplines worldwide, and Singapore is the latest in the Asian region to invest into this technology. My company is fortunate to be associated with ATS from Australia, and the concept of this technology is quite simple ; air in our atmosphere is made up of O2 (20%) and N2 (80%) with trace elements of CO2, and other noxious gases. If you ascend vertically (either by climbing up a mountain, flying a jet aircarft or just sitting inside the basket of a hot air balloon), the composition of air changes with O2 thinning the higher up you go. 

      Studies have shown than at 5000 m (about two thirds of Mount Everest), the O2 in the air is around 11% and the N2 content is much more. Hence the word 'thinning' of the air is referring to the depleted oxygen in the near stratosphere. As experienced mountaineers will tell you, the air at those levels make it VERY DIFFICULT TO BREATHE let alone exercise.

This is why, the good sports scientists around the world have found out that our human body is very adaptable and the blood vessels with our blood capillaries (little platelets) which carry oxygen from our lungs to the various parts of the body are able to ADAPT in the presence of depleted oxygen and work that much harder to do the same amount of work ie. walking or running.

3000 m translates to O2 of  14.3  %

      In actual fact, to run at the same speed at 5000 m, a normal person would have to expend easily 30% - 40% MORE effort ie. energy just to keep at the same running / walking speed. The body then COMPENSATES by doing more with less ; it becomes more biomechanically efficient in transporting the O2 either transporting the O2 30% FASTER  to achieve the same output of work done.   

    So, an athlete who has had the benefit of altitude training (say 2 weeks running up in the mountains of 3000 m) will upon returning to sea-level, find that his blood transporting efficiency will have INCREASED up to 30% and hence (in theory) he can run up to 30 -40% faster than his best timing when he last trained at sea-level.

Fully Equipped with Hypoxic Function ; the friendly staff at ATS are always welcoming

      

       There are plenty of articles of Hypoxic effects on raising the games of athletes. My focus this and the coming years will be on providing the relevant equipment (gyms and /or chambers) and working with great principals such as ATS for the betterment of athletes to 

                                                 Raise Their Games

     Needless to say, there are numerous athletes who are using the Gym's facilities and their improvements is reflected in achieving their Personal Bests (PB) or medals at International Meets such as the Asian Games or even the Olympics.