RC's right I got the inhale /exhale % backwards. The comment about oxygen in cells is about how muscles cells have no way to deal with extra free oxygen. They can't store it so they would have to use up chemicals to tie it up. Isn't that why it goes back to the lung? But I wonder at what point does breathing more oxygen become a bad thing? Could the practice of breathing oxygen be worse than useless but actually harmful? I don't know. Too much of a good thing? Do your lungs get rusty?
Tom Actually, it is the other way around. In the lab, we'll see expired O2 levels at VO2max in highly trained runners as low as 3-4%. >The limit to our > performance is not the amount of oxygen available at normal pressure, but > the ability of our cells to use it. While this has been debated for many years in excercise physiology, it appears that oxygen delivery is (arguably) more of a limiting factor that oxygen utilization. That's why blood doping and EPO work. The more O2 we can deliver to the muscles, the higher the VO2. AT altitude, less O2 is delivered to the muscles and VO2 and performance is impaired. >Our bodies have to play an delicate > dance to supply us with only the amount of oxygen we can use and no extra > because that would float around in the cells reacting and raising metabolic > havoc. I'm sorry Tom, but that's pretty silly. When the O2 gets to the muscles, if there's no pressure gradient for it to diffuse out of the blood into the muscle, it simply travels back in the blood to the lung. No havoc there. To get back to the original question with supplemental O2 during recovery for football guys at Mile High stadium.....physiologically, it pretty much does nothing to aid recovery. Psychologically, if the players think it helps recovery, then it is an aid. Physiologically, when the blood leaves the lung in our football player (on the sidelines at rest), about 95-97% of the binding sites on the hemoglobin have an O2 attached to it - even at 5200ft. By breathing 100% O2, we increase the amount of O2 bound to Hb and dissolved O2 only incrementally. In terms of recovery, it does ---- basically nothing for the individual, physiologically. If the athlete were wearing an O2 mask during exercise at 5k ft, that would be a different story. RC (PhD and sometimes bfd.... like O'Malley) > > Tom Derderian, Greater Boston Track Club > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Dan Kaplan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2003 10:43 PM > Subject: Re: t-and-f: oxygen masks > > > I've always assumed it's "richer" air, i.e. higher concentration of > > oxygen. If that's the case, and if it really works, then players wouldn't > > need to be on the sideline as long to recharge. Unless you're running a > > two-man relay in track, there isn't nearly the same need to get your wind > > back in a timely fashion. > > > > Dan > > > > --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > ...just something I'm curious about after watching > > > college and pro football for another weekend... > > > > > > After multiple long runs, a running back or wide receiver > > > or kick returner will go over to the sideline and take > > > long drags from an oxygen mask. > > > > > > It's become pretty much an expected thing. > > > Also, late in the game when one team's defense has > > > spent a LOT of time on the field and they are pooped, > > > the entire defensive line can be seen sitting on the > > > bench, sucking on oxygen masks in unison! :) > > > That's become pretty much a joke- literally "sucking > > > air". > > > > > > My question is- do oxygen masks on football sidelines > > > really ACCOMPLISH anything? > > > Can't players get just as much air just by bothering > > > to breathe? Or there some kind of 'happy air' being > > > pumped through those masks? > > > > > > Track athletes exert a heck of a lot more, but I > > > don't see rows and rows of oxygen masks just past > > > the finish line of the men's 10K at the World Championships, > > > for all the finishers to jump on. > > > > > > Are oxygen masks some kind of 'old football coaches tale' > > > that has become gospel in the sport of football, but > > > don't really do anything (except the placebo effect) ? > > > > > > ...just wondered.... > > > > > > RT > > > > > > > > > ===== > > http://AbleDesign.com - Web Design & Custom Programming > > http://Run-Down.com - 10,000 Running Links, Fantasy T&F > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > @ o Dan Kaplan - [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > <|\/ <^- ( [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] ) > > _/ \ \/\ (503)370-9969 phone/fax > > / / > > > > __________________________________ > > Do you Yahoo!? > > Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software > > http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com
