Welcome to Denver, Colorado…known as the Mile High City for being 5280 feet above sea level. Many MMA fighters have made the move to Denver or live here during their training camps to take advantage of training at high altitude.
In a recent interview, Curtis “Razor” Blaydes, discusses with Mike from Caught on the Mike how the higher elevation was appealing to him and impacted his decision to move to Denver. MMA legend, Alistair “The Demolition Man” Overeem, comes to Denver for his training camps but takes it a step further and lives in the mountains at even higher elevation to help with his endurance training.
Training at a high altitude makes your body work harder. It’s harder to catch your breath so your body acclimates over time to reduce oxygen levels. With this acclimation, your body is able to improve the delivery of oxygen to the muscles which improves the athletes performance. This is especially beneficial when the fight is 5 rounds (25 minutes). This can also provide an advantage in stamina and conditioning, essentially training your body to work less.
Training at higher elevation should be done slowly, over time, in increasing intervals. Mountain sickness can occur, if not careful.
Proper breathing techniques during a fight are extremely important. This can play a huge factor in the outcome of the fight. If your breathing is disrupted, knowing how to control your breathing so oxygen can continue to fuel your body will help you continue to fight.
The advantages of high altitude training:
- Increased hemoglobin production
- Increased red blood cell mass
- Increased muscle metabolism
- Increased oxygen usage by the muscles
In a perfect world, one would want to live in high altitude, train in high altitude, and compete in lower altitude.
