Pro Athletes do it! Oxygen

Pro athletes do it.
Do what you ask?

Receive oxygen when they are overly stressed or exerted during competition. Now that we’re headed into the summer months and water temperatures are rising, it’s time to think about doing the same with the bass we catch and hold during tournaments. A recent press release has some good data on using oxygen injection systems hooked into bass boat livewells.
Different bass boats have different livewell configurations. Most of them work similarly when it comes to keeping oxygen at an adequate level when a small limit of bass is in the livewell and the water is still relatively cool (<75F). Once temperatures start rising above that level, or you start catching Elite Series size limits of bass, they usually become woefully short when it comes to supplying enough oxygen to stave off delayed mortality. One way that solves this problem is to install an oxygen infusion system into your existing boats livewell system.

Nova research with Oxygen with athletes

A test of fitness

A range of physical traits and well-honed skills distinguishes elite distance runners from huffing joggers—lean yet muscular bodies, a linear and efficient stride, and a high threshold for pain and muscle fatigue among them. Yet exercise physiologists often focus on one measure of fitness, called VO₂max, as the key to a person's aptitude for endurance sports. It's also a good gauge of overall cardiovascular health. Because it's quantifiable, it also offered a way to assess how much progress NOVA's runners made from start to finish of their nine-month training for the Boston Marathon.
VO₂max, theoretically, is the volume of oxygen a person can consume in one minute as he or she exercises at maximum exertion. In practice, it's measured by hooking up test subjects (in our case, NOVA runners) to a breathing apparatus and having them run as hard as they can.
Oxygen is essential for converting the fuel you get from food into energy for your muscles, and endurance athletes process oxygen efficiently to keep themselves going. VO₂max is not simply a matter of oxygen consumption, however—it's usually expressed in terms of body weight (milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight), so merely losing weight can improve your score over time.

The NOVA runners had their oxygen consumption measured with an apparatus similar to this one, which includes a heart monitor to check for signs of dangerous overexertion. EnlargePhoto credit: © Dimitri Iundt; Jean-Yves Ruszniewski/TempSport/Corbis

Nurturing what nature gave you

Elite endurance athletes, including distance runners and cyclists, consume vast amounts of oxygen when they compete; they can have VO₂max scores twice as high as most of us mere mortals. Lance Armstrong once registered at 83.8 ml/kg/min; the average man his age would measure between 40 and 50. Even if Armstrong had never taken up cycling or any sport, he likely would have scored exceptionally high.
We are all born with a genetic predisposition for a certain VO₂max range, and most of us, even if we work out daily, will never hit the marks of champions. Yet where we fall within our own ranges hinges on how often and how strenuously we exercise. More critically, this exercise, like a wonder drug, can boost our physical and emotional well-being.
So what innate physiological factors determined the NOVA runners' scores, how could training change them, and what impact could this have on their health? For the answers, it helps to trace how oxygen moves from the air you breathe all the way to the mitochondria of your muscle cells, where it is ultimately consumed.

Into the lungs

Given that VO₂max is a measure of oxygen consumption, you might think that lung capacity—the volume of air a person can inhale—plays a major role in determining VO₂max scores. Indeed, Lance Armstrong is renowned, among many more significant things, for having strikingly large lungs. However, lung size isn't a limiting factor; even people with smaller-than-average lung capacity breathe in far more oxygen than the rest of their bodies can process.
From the lungs, oxygen diffuses into the bloodstream. For most of us, the rate at which the oxygen moves at this point is also insignificant. Only elite athletes might have their VO₂max scores hampered by the rate of diffusion, because their blood flows so rapidly that it might not have time to pick up all the oxygen it could carry. In any case, no amount of training will alter the lungs to make the oxygen flow from them any faster or make them healthier in general.

Regular aerobic exercise, whether it's marathon training or simply brisk walking, can dramatically enhance the health of your entire cardiovascular system. EnlargePhoto credit: © Howard Sochurek/CORBIS

Red-blooded athletes

Exactly how much oxygen your blood can absorb and deliver to your muscles is critical to your VO₂max and your performance in endurance sports. At the lungs, oxygen attaches to hemoglobin, a protein complex in red blood cells. Oxygen-enriched, the blood turns bright red and remains this vivid color until the oxygen is "dropped off" in all the various tissues of your body that need it—not just to power muscles, but to keep the heart, brain, and other vital organs functioning.
The sheer volume of blood in your body, the number of red blood cells it contains, and the quality of hemoglobin within these cells all affect the amount of oxygen your blood can shuttle to your muscles. If you are anemic and your hemoglobin lacks iron, for instance, it is less able to bond with oxygen. And cigarette smoking can dramatically compromise oxygen delivery, because tobacco smoke's carbon monoxide, rather than oxygen, holds onto hemoglobin.

With sweat and perseverance, all of us can strengthen our hearts.

"Born" runners may naturally generate high numbers of red blood cells that are particularly effective at transporting oxygen. World-class athletes also frequently train at high altitudes, where their bodies make more red blood cells in response to "thin" (low-oxygen) air. All too often, competitive athletes also temporarily boost blood oxygen levels through illicit means, including blood transfusions and doping with EPO (Erythropoietin), a hormone that triggers red blood cell production.
Team NOVA, of course, never turned to such underhanded tactics. Fortunately, legitimate training, even at sea level, could enhance the ability of their blood and vascular systems to carry more oxygen to hard-working muscles.

Red blood cells within a capillary. Such tiny blood vessels directly feed oxygen and nutrients to muscle and other tissues of the body. EnlargePhoto credit: © Visuals Unlimited/Corbis

Regular and fairly intense training like the NOVA runners experienced spawns the growth of new capillaries, tiny blood vessels that supply oxygen and nutrients to skeletal muscles, the heart, the brain, and elsewhere. What's more, such exercise can make blood vessels throughout the body less stiff, improving blood flow and reducing risk of arteriosclerosis. By improving cholesterol levels, exercise also helps keep the vascular system, including vital coronary arteries, free of clogs.

The heart of the matter

Perhaps the greatest determiner of VO₂max scores is cardiac output, the amount of oxygen-rich blood your heart sends through your body in a single minute. Elite endurance athletes have extraordinarily powerful, and often unusually large, hearts. A typical jogger might pump over 15 quarts of blood per minute, while a frontrunner in the Boston Marathon is capable of pumping twice that.
Cardiac output is the product of heart rate (the number of beats per minute) times stroke volume (how much blood the heart ejects with each contraction). For champions and recreational runners alike, even the most arduous training won't increase maximal heart rate, and this rate inevitably drops as we get older.
On the other hand, with sweat and perseverance, all of us can strengthen our hearts and increase stroke volume. Elite marathoners rack up thousands of training miles each year to extend the muscles of the heart and increase stroke volume. Even Team NOVA's workouts—which eventually had the runners pounding pavement (and dirt) about 30 miles a week—could improve the efficiency of their hearts.

Muscle work

Elite distance runners may look almost waif-like, certainly not muscle-bound. Yet they have muscles that are exceptionally good at processing oxygen and propelling them through 26.2 miles—muscles that, despite maintaining nearly a five-minute-per-mile pace, don't seem to tire. How is it possible?
Part of the answer lies in the type of muscle fiber that predominates in their bodies. Physiologists call it "slow-twitch" fiber (as opposed to bulkier "fast-twitch" fiber that helps sprinters and weightlifters with quick bursts of power). Team NOVA's athletic muse, Uta Pippig, is likely graced with an abundance of slow-twitch fiber, while fast-twitch muscles probably contour NOVA runner Steve DeOssie, a former NFL linebacker.

While bodybuilders relish the bulky muscles created by resistance training, marathoners covet a different type of muscle adept at using oxygen. EnlargePhoto credit: © Bryan Smith/istockphoto.com

A person's tendency to develop either slow- or fast-twitch muscle is largely genetic, yet specific training techniques—long runs verses bench presses, for instance—practiced over many years may change the balance of fiber types slightly. Endurance training can also alter the physiology of either muscle type, in essence making fast-twitch muscles perform more like slow-twitch, and making slow-twitch muscles do better at what they already do well, namely use oxygen for energy production.
The key is mitochondria, tiny structures that act as power plants within all cells. Mitochondria combine oxygen with glucose or other food fuels to make ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the so-called "universal energy molecule" that powers cellular work. In muscle cells, ATP is essential for muscle contraction. Slow-twitch fiber inherently contains more mitochondria than fast-twitch. But endurance training increases the number of mitochondria in both types of muscle. It also can make mitochondria larger and more metabolically active.

No pain, no gain?

Bigger and more active mitochondria don't just produce extra energy to keep muscles moving, they also cut down on muscle fatigue. Tired, sore muscles during exercise are linked to a buildup of lactic acid, and mitochondria can sweep up and consume lactic acid as a fuel source. Once again, champion athletes may have an innate edge; their mitochondria might be particularly well suited for this cellular housekeeping. But anyone can condition his or her muscles to be less crippled by lactic acid.

It's possible that some of the positive change evident in Team NOVA's scores has little to do with red blood cells or mitochondria or any other physiological factor.

The members of Team NOVA conditioned their muscles over nine months of rigorous training, and they were capable of runs at the end that would have been excruciating for them at the start. In the summer of 2006 some of them couldn't even make it through a single mile without cramping up and stopping. By the spring of 2007, they were aiming to take on the grueling 26.2-mile course of perhaps the world's most famous marathon, Heartbreak Hill and all.

Coleman dependents on supplemental oxygen

Coleman, stepping off the stage after a competition, is dependent on supplemental oxygen. “The strain of intense dieting, dehydration and muscle-flexing,” says Zed Nelson (who took the picture) “places high levels of strain on the heart and lungs, rendering many contestants dizzy, light-headed and weak.”
So, the image we see on the stage, of a man who has refined his body and built up his strength in a way we can envy and wish to achieve (or come close to), is a lie.

Gold Medalist Ireen Wust of Netherlands breathes oxygen during the Speed Skating

VANCOUVER, BC - FEBRUARY 21: Ireen Wust of Netherlands breathes oxygen during the Speed Skating Ladies' 1,500 m on day 10 of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics at Richmond Olympic Oval on February 21, 2010 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)










VANCOUVER, BC - FEBRUARY 21: Ireen Wust of Netherlands celebrates winning the gold medal during the medal ceremony for the women's 1500 m speed skating on day 10 of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics at Richmond Olympic Oval on February 21, 2010 in Vancouver, Canada.

Researching Oxygen Intake with athletes

It’s one of the hottest summers in Florida. As the temperature rises, so does the risk for athletes.
Under the piles of padding and hard helmets, athletes or others working in the high heat and humidity put themselves in danger of heat illness. If unchecked, the body’s inability to cool itself can lead to potentially life-threatening heat stroke, the severest form of heat illness.
“If we can start to identify those athletes, those kids, those workers … before they get into real trouble,” said USF Health’s Dr. Eric Coris, director of Primary Care Sports Medicine. “Maybe we can prevent some morbidity, sickness, or mortality, death.”

In general, Dr. Coris says, the bigger the players the hotter they get. Defensive and offensive linemen appear to be at more risk than quarterbacks and receivers. The researchers want to find out why.

This year, Dr. Coris – collaborating with Dr. Douglass Casa from the University of Connecticut and Dr. Ollie Jay from the University of Ottawa – has used some new technology to help predict which players are at most risk for heat illness. The researchers worked with athletic training staff and volunteers from the University of South Florida Bulls football team.
“We’re trying to get at the underlying question – which is what can we do to prevent these young kids from getting sick or dying of heat stroke on the field?” said Dr. Coris, associate professor of family medicine and orthopaedics and sports medicine.
With funding from NFL Charities, the foundation of the National Football League, the researchers used several different tools to measure players’ physiological responses to rising temperatures during strenuous exercise – both in a controlled heat chamber and on the playing field during preseason practices.

A portable metabolic analyzer device strapped to the back measures how quickly the player uses oxygen during exertion in heat and humidity.

The research started about five years ago, but this year a few new devices were added to the tiny electronic pills (basically ingestible thermometers) that players swallow before practice to monitor their internal body temperature. These include sensors on the skin to assess sweat concentrations and vests with built-in GPS systems to measure workload – the movement and acceleration of athletes playing different positions on the field. An oxygen mask with a portable device strapped to players’ backs analyzed how much energy they expended during specific drills.

Tim Tebow And His Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber

The celebrity website TMZ.com is reporting that Denver Broncos rookie and Florida Gator hero Tim Tebow has had a hyperbaric oxygen chamber delivered to his hotel room at the Broncos' training camp and TMZ says he's been using the device for more than two years -- since his days as a Gator. TMZ quotes Ric Rooney, owner of Pikes Peak Hyperbaric, as saying Tebow purchased the $20,000 device in 2008. The chambers, which are used by a number of professional athletes, including former Braves pitcher John Smoltz, "greatly accelerate the recovery process," Rooney told TMZ. Tebow has been getting "banged up" at practice and felt the chamber could help him heal quicker, Rooney told the website, which reported that Tebow's routine is to sit in the chamber for 60 to 90 minutes after every practice. Former Georgia Bulldog Hines Ward of the Pittsburgh Steelers is also reported to use a hyperbaric chamber.

Novak Djokovic's Secret: Sitting in a Pressurized Egg

By HANNAH KARP Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic hasn't earned his No. 1 ranking by taking the conventional road. There's his odd ritual of excessive ball bouncing before serves, which can break an opponent's concentration. There's his new gluten-free diet, which he's said has helped him feel stronger on the court. Novak Djokovic and other athletes are using a secret weapon called a CVAC pod that they believe boosts performance by simulating high altitude. WSJ's Reed Albergotti spends some time in the hyperbaric chamber to see if he can feel any difference. But now there's something truly weird: the CVAC Pod. Ever since last year's U.S. Open, Djokovic has been trying to improve his fitness by climbing into a rare $75,000 egg-shaped, bobsled-sized pressure chamber. The machine, which is made by a California-based company called CVAC Systems and hasn't been banned by any sports governing bodies, is one of only 20 in the world. Unlike the increasingly trendy $5,000 hyperbaric chambers many professional athletes use to saturate the blood with oxygen and stimulate healing, the CVAC is a considerably more-ambitious contraption. It uses a computer-controlled valve and a vacuum pump to simulate high altitude and compress the muscles at rhythmic intervals. More U.S. Open Coverage View Interactive • U.S. Open Scoreboard • The Daily Fix: Reviewing Another Kind of Pod The company claims that spending up to 20 minutes in the pod three times a week can boost athletic performance by improving circulation, boosting oxygen-rich red-blood cells, removing lactic acid and possibly even stimulating mitochondrial biogenesis and stem-cell production. Djokovic is so convinced that the pod helps his game that during the U.S. Open, which starts Monday, he's staying (for the fourth year) with a wealthy tennis-trainer friend in Alpine, N.J. who keeps one of the machines on his property. Djokovic has never mentioned the pod publicly before. He acknowledged using it for the first time last week during a sponsor event in New York after he was asked about it for this article. "I think it really helps—not with muscle but more with recovery after an exhausting set," he said. "It's like a spaceship. It's very interesting technology." The pod, which is seven feet long, three feet wide and seven feet high with the lid open, looks like a cross between a tanning bed and the giant egg Lady Gaga emerged from at the Grammys. CVAC says its pod is different from other pressurized chambers on the market because it combines altitude pressure with cyclic compression (a combination some studies suggest is more effective than one or the other). Because the pressure, temperature and air density in the CVAC pod can be adjusted, the company says it enhances an athlete's ability to adapt to a range of conditions. Enlarge Image Close Daniella Zalcman for The Wall Street Journal A CVAC pod simulates high altitude and compresses muscles at rhythmic intervals. While pod users don't do much beyond sitting while they are inside (cellphone use is permitted), CVAC Systems chief executive Allen Ruszkowski says the treatment seems to have many of the same effects on the body as intense exercise. He claims that the technology may be twice as effective at helping the body absorb oxygen as blood doping—a banned form of performance enhancement. Former U.S. Olympic wrestling coach Bob Anderson, motocross racer Ivan Tedesco and ultra cyclist George Vargas say they've used the pod and believe it helps. CVAC's Ruszkowski says a slew of other high-profile athletes use the Pod but often insist the company doesn't tell anyone, "because they feel it's a competitive advantage." Rock star Axl Rose owns a pod as well, according to his spokeswoman. The pod Djokovic is using for the Open belongs to 38-year-old tennis pro Gordon Uehling III, who reached a career-high ranking of No. 925 on the ATP Tour in 2001 and now runs a tennis school called CourtSense at the Tenafly Racquet Club in Tenafly, N.J. He has also worked with rising American star Christina McHale, who is ranked No. 66 and beat the top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki in Cincinnati earlier this month. In addition to the indoor court, Uehling's family estate features outdoor courts with different surfaces—plus an artificial lake, where Djokovic says he's gone fishing. "We have absolutely everything here!" Djokovic wrote last August in a diary entry on his website. "You wouldn't believe it." Uehling declined to comment for this article. Djokovic and other players who know him say he's a visionary obsessed with cutting-edge performance technologies. "He loves to explore the future of athletic edges—and he has the resources to do it," says former top-20 player Vince Spadea, who hit with Djokovic in Alpine last summer when he says Novak was first "experimenting" with the pod at Uehling's estate. "He was looking to improve some of the challenges he was having—breathing capacity, allergies—and definitely something clicked there." Southcreek Global/Zuma Press Novak Djokovic returns a shot at a tournament in Cincinnati on Aug. 21. Spadea says he didn't dare set foot in the pod himself because he doesn't share Djokovic's "daredevil mentality." Djokovic's Serbian countryman, Janko Tipsarevic, currently ranked No. 20, says he's heard about the pod but hasn't tried it yet, either. Geoff Grant, tennis director at at Tenafly Racquet Club, says he braved the pressure chamber at Uehling's request and felt like he was taking off in an airplane as his ears popped. He says he hasn't used it enough to notice a difference in his play, but adds that some of his clients who go more regularly are hooked and "say it's like a drug." "It's weird—it's definitely something from the future," Grant said last week at the racquet club. "I think Novak was going to get in it today." In 2006 the World Anti-Doping Agency ruled that such oxygen tents enhance performance and violate "the spirit of sport," but did not add them to the list of banned substances and methods, saying they would wait until further studies were conducted. Patrick McEnroe, the USTA's general manager of player development, says he's skeptical that any such contraption could have much impact on tennis performance. "I don't really take this stuff particularly seriously," says McEnroe, noting that Djokovic has not only improved his fitness this year but has also fixed key problems in his game, revamping his serve and developing a newly devastating forehand. "Maybe there are a few things that have helped (Djokovic) mentally, but let's remember that before he tried his gluten-free diet or went into a hyperbaric chamber he had already won a Grand Slam and beat Roger Federer." Lou Lamoriello, the general manager of the NHL's New Jersey Devils, says he attended a presentation last year with his coaching staff in which Uehling cited Djokovic's defeat of Roger Federer in the 2010 U.S. Open semifinal as evidence of the CVAC unit's effectiveness. Lamoriello says he was intrigued but not entirely convinced—and isn't ready to have his players try it out yet. He said he wonders if some of the effect is psychological. "If you believe in something it's going to be a lot more powerful," he says. Djokovic is the No. 1 seed in the mens' singles draw at the Open. But he may need all the extra help he can get: A shoulder injury forced him to retire from the final against Britain's Andy Murray at a tournament in Cincinnati earlier this month.