Should we be recommending altitude training to swimmers?

Abstract

Many swimmers continue to use altitude training as part of their preparation despite questions of its efficacy. This belief seems to be strongly tied to the notion that an increase in hemoglobin mass will transfer over to increased sea-level performance. The purpose of the presents study was to examine whether altitude training lead to greater increases in competitive performance compared to sea-level training, and whether changes in hemoglobin mass was associated with changes in time-trial performance following altitude training.