Indigenous Ability

We’ve all heard the competitive wisdom that if one is going to fight at altitude, one needs to train at altitude.  Is this advice correct? We’ll come back to that in a moment, but first, let’s wade though a little science, touch on some myth-busting, do a little truth-telling and then finally settle on a hack that does, indeed, seem to do the job we set out to do by altitude training. First, just why are we a bit out of breath as we increase elevation?  As we increase elevation the air thins, and our lungs have to work harder to increase the amount of oxygen absorbed thru the surface layer of the lungs.  This “thinning” has more to do with air-pressure then mere decreased oxygen availability at higher altitude.  Just as with working underwater, just below the surface we feel very little pressure, but the deeper we descend the greater the pressure until the organism or diving device reaches crush-depth. The deeper we go, the greater th...