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Haemoglobin mass responses and performance outcomes among high-performance swimmers following a 3-week live-high, train-high camp at 2320 m

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Abstract

Aim

Greater quantification and characterisation of training load (TL) throughout Live-high, train-high (LHTH) altitude (ALT) training is required to identify periodisation strategies that may lead to physiological and performance improvements in swimmers.

Purpose

This study aimed to examine the physiological responses and performance outcomes of 14 high-performance swimmers (FINA points: 836.0 ± 35.1) following 3 weeks of LHTH at 2320 m, while characterising the training load periodisation strategy adopted during the intervention.

Methods

Haemoglobin (Hb) mass was measured pre-, 7 and 14 days post-ALT via CO rebreathing. Performance in each athlete’s primary event at national standard meets were converted to FINA points and compared from pre-to-post-ALT. TL was quantified at sea level (SL) and ALT through session rating of perceived exertion (RPE), where duration of each session was multiplied by its RPE for each athlete, with all sessions totalled to give a weekly TL. Pre-to-post-ALT changes were evaluated using repeated-measures ANOVA.

Results

Hb mass increased significantly from 798 ± 182 g pre-ALT to 828 ± 187 g at 7 days post (p = 0.013) and 833 ± 205 g 14 days post-ALT (p = 0.026). Weekly TL increased from SL (3179 ± 638 au) during week one (4797 ± 1349 au, p < 0.001) and week two (4373 ± 967 au, p < 0.001), but not week three (3511 ± 730 au, p = 0.149). No evidence of improved SL swimming performance was identified.

Conclusion

A periodisation strategy characterised by a sharp spike in TL followed by a slight de-load towards the end of a LHTH intervention led to improved physiological characteristics but no change in the competitive performance of high-performance swimmers.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

ALT:

Altitude

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

CO:

Carbon monoxide

COHb:

Carboxyhaemoglobin

ES:

Effect size

FINA:

World aquatics

Hb:

Haemoglobin

LHTH:

Live-high, train-high

RPE:

Rate of perceived exertion

SD:

Standard deviation

SL:

Sea level

SWC:

Smallest worthwhile change

TE:

Typical error

TL:

Training load

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Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Human Performance Science Research Group, Institute of Sport, Physical Education and Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

    Daniel J. Astridge & Anthony P. Turner

  2. Performance Physiology Department, Sportscotlandscotland Institute of Sport, Stirling, Scotland, UK

    Michael McKenna & Adrian Campbell

Authors
  1. Daniel J. Astridge
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  2. Michael McKenna
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  4. Anthony P. Turner
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by DA and MM, under the supervision of AT. The first draft of the manuscript was written by DA and all authors commented on subsequent versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Daniel J. Astridge.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial competing interests to disclose.

Ethical approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Moray House School of Education and Sport Research Ethics Committee at the University of Edinburgh.

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Written informed consent was collected from all individual participants included in this study.

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All participants provided informed consent for the publication of their data in a scientific journal.

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Communicated by Susan Hopkins.

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Astridge, D.J., McKenna, M., Campbell, A. et al. Haemoglobin mass responses and performance outcomes among high-performance swimmers following a 3-week live-high, train-high camp at 2320 m. Eur J Appl Physiol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-024-05454-x

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