Reducing Body Fat with Altitude Hypoxia Training in Swimmers: Role of Blood Perfusion to Skeletal Muscles

Abstract

Swimmers tend to have greater body fat than athletes from other sports. The purpose of the study was to examine changes in body composition after altitude hypoxia exposure and the role of blood distribution to the skeletal muscle in swimmers. With a constant training volume of 12.3 km/day, young male swimmers (N = 10, 14.8 ± 0.5 years) moved from sea-level to a higher altitude of 2,300 meters. Body composition was measured before and after translocation to altitude using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) along with 8 control male subjects who resided at sea level for the same period of time. To determine the effects of hypoxia on muscle blood perfusion, total hemoglobin concentration (THC) was traced by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in the triceps and quadriceps muscles under glucose-ingested and insulin-secreted conditions during hypoxia exposure (16% O2) after training. While no change in body composition was found in the control group, subjects who trained at altitude had unequivocally decreased fat mass (-1.7 ± 0.3 kg, -11.4%) with increased lean mass (+0.8 ± 0.2 kg, +1.5%). Arterial oxygen saturation significantly decreased with increased plasma lactate during hypoxia recovery mimicking 2,300 meters at altitude (~93% versus ~97%). Intriguingly, hypoxia resulted in elevated muscle THC, and sympathetic nervous activities occurred in parallel with greater-percent oxygen saturation in both muscle groups. In conclusion, the present study provides evidence that increased blood distribution to the skeletal muscle under postprandial condition may contribute to the reciprocally increased muscle mass and decreased body mass after a 3-week altitude exposure in swimmers.

Effects of combined linear and nonlinear periodic training on physical fitness and competition times in finswimmers

“…Furthermore, because muscle characteristics such as strength and quick adaptation are correlated with speed ( Hawley et al, 1992 ), muscular strength training can improve the athletic performance of finswimmers. Previous studies ( Chia et al, 2013 ; Garrido et al, 2012 ; Oshita et al, 2013 ) reported that physical strength and performance of swimmers and finswimmers significantly improved after muscular strength training.…”

Regulation of Intermittent Hypoxia on Brain Dopamine in Amphetaminized Rats

“…These might explain the difference of DA release in mPFC and the striatum in this study. Striatal expression of VMAT-2 and D1 receptor proteins was increased in consequence of persistent reductions in extracellular levels of DA in post-hypoxic rat pups (11). Similarly, decreased expression of TH, VMAT-2 and DAT was noted in rat striatum treated with AMPH, which caused the depletion of DA (48).…”

“…IH increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) ensued by the activation of TH via phosphorylation and increase in DA synthesis (34). Vesicular monoamine transporter (VMAT) and DA D1-receptor protein expression was upregulated within the striatum of adults rats exposed to IH insults as neonates and diminished extracellular DA observed in the post-hypoxic rat striatum which exhibited increased novelty-induced behavioral activation and increased basal levels of locomotor activity (11). IH prevented the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system from iron-induced oxidative injuries compared to normoxic status in rats (25).…”

Effects of Living High-Training Low and High on Body Composition and Metabolic Risk Markers in Overweight and Obese Females

“…e underlying mechanism is not clear. is finding may be related to the lower absolute exercise workload [20] and partly due to the increase in blood perfusion and the elevated number of capillaries in skeletal muscle after hypoxic training [43,44]. e concentration of serum TC is still considered to be the gold standard for the estimation of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk [45,46].…”