High altitude training

[Cadsky]

I notice more and more clubs are heading to Colorado and Arizona etc for high altitude training. Even the gc and brissy have gone over this off season. So I was wondering, if it is the in thing to do, why aren't the swans doing it? Does anyone know the swans pre season plans when they get back?

 

[Blood Bath]

we've just won the premiership. we don't need no training

 

[scottwade]

To the best of my knowledge;
Recent premiers who didn't use high altitude training; Sydney, Geelong (x3), Hawthorn, WCE and every other premiership team before them.

Recent premiers who did use high altitude training; Collingwood

Carlton have recently, at Malthouse's insistence, headed off to an altitude training camp in Arizona for the grand total of two weeks.
Might be great for team bonding, good start to his training/fitness regime, but seriously the season proper doesn't start until 22 March 2013, what long lasting 'artificial' benefit could there possibly be?

Last pre-season we were running up sand dunes in the summer heat, Percy Cerutty style.
Worked for Herb Elliott and the 2012 AFL Premiers.

 

[SM]

Clearly not going to Colorado for the high altitude..

 

[Superstar swan]

All the power to the teams that are doing it , I don't think the swans need it. We have excellent sport science staff and we are with out doubt the best drilled team in the league. I can't wait for the pre season to begin

 

[Cadsky]

To the best of my knowledge;
Recent premiers who didn't use high altitude training; Sydney, Geelong (x3), Hawthorn, WCE and every other premiership team before them.

Recent premiers who did use high altitude training; Collingwood

when you put it that way its kinda hard to see the point isnt it. but surely there is some merit to it. if it is mostly just a team bonding thing then we really dont need it, having "the best culture" in the league.

 

[Membling]

As it see it high altitude is only good if you are there for an extended period of time so your blood cells become more aefficient in absorbing oxygen. Endurance in heat is a much better option IMO.Boosting endurance is far better than trying to increase oxygen absorbsion which is generally has a very short benefit

 

[Bloodz2005]

One of the best initiatives the Swans undertook was having players complete the Kokoda track, what they discovered about themselves and their team mates set them up for great careers as players and leaders, from memory Kirky and Goodsey were on these, from an Australian history and a life perspective I wish we continued this it obviously had a fantastic impact.

 

[Ed_Gein]

As it see it high altitude is only good if you are there for an extended period of time so your blood cells become more aefficient in absorbing oxygen. Endurance in heat is a much better option IMO.Boosting endurance is far better than trying to increase oxygen absorbsion which is generally has a very short benefit

Fair enough. I wonder what the benefits are in doing it so early in the pre-season, and only for 2 weeks? Doesn't seem like it would have much of an effect by the time the season kicks off.

 

[Membling]

Fair enough. I wonder what the benefits are in doing it so early in the pre-season, and only for 2 weeks? Doesn't seem like it would have much of an effect by the time the season kicks off.

Possibly accelerate fitness base. Not entirely sure but you'd need more than 2 weeks to really see an effect

 

[CAS79]

As it see it high altitude is only good if you are there for an extended period of time so your blood cells become more aefficient in absorbing oxygen. Endurance in heat is a much better option IMO.Boosting endurance is far better than trying to increase oxygen absorbsion which is generally has a very short benefit

Agreed.. Power athletes who need to train there bodies into a state of reduced oxygen or to perform on muscle power without aerobic capacity immediately are going to benefit from high altitude training, a number of long jumpers and cycling track sprinters use it. The player from our team most likely to benefit from it would be Lewis Jetta.

And your point about staying put is a factor. Australian Long jumper Fabrice Lapierre has based himself in mexico city for this very reason.

there are some benefits to it without a doubt but first and foremost no matter where you is to train properly. And the Swans are known to have the the highest labor intensive game plan in the competition and have used it repeatedly well with the ultimate success twice. Our repetitive dune training at the start of their pre season has been a big factor for us and Debbie Flintofff King before she won the 1988 400 metre hurdles at Seoul too. prepared to back our fitness staff, they've proven to get it right.

 

[replicant]

A lot of clubs do have "altitude rooms" where high altitude is simulated. It can also be done with just a breathing mask and a low-oxygen air mix. So clubs might be able to do a high-altitude camp, and the get the effects to last longer by using an altitude room.

Or you could skip the altitude camp altogether, and just use an altitude room.

 

[Wagamama]

Swans are building a high altitude room at the club, as well as overhaul of the dungeon and other facilities (not a moment too soon). No need to travel overseas.

 

[GoTheSwannies]

I don't know much about the science behind h.a.t. but I figure its good if you want to jump out of the blocks and have the jump early in the season. But as weve seen time and again, the afl premiership is a marathon, not a race. It's all aboit being primed come September, and you work on your match fitness throughout the course of a season. As we saw with the swans last season, we had an intensive gameplan that was extremely taxing on our players as evidenced by our late-game fadeouta early in the season. By the end of the season our squad had worked up the fitness to carry out the gameplan for 4 quarters.

I question the long-term benefits of h.a.t, it may give teams an edge early on, but doesnt mean much late in the season. The rigors of weekly competition determines a teams fitness come finals. if you wotk hard throughout the season you will reap the rewards

 

[Cadsky]

Swans are building a high altitude room at the club, as well as overhaul of the dungeon and other facilities (not a moment too soon). No need to travel overseas.

That's awesome. Sydney have always been ahead of the pack when it cones to specialist training equipment.

 

[lock33]

I agree with those saying the gains are very short term and wouldnt help at all in general, however the recuperative effects during this time are enhanced.. its all about the inches. The high altitude rooms will never recreate actual training at the altitude though.. unless you build one 100ms long and do sprints in it.

 

[Wagamama]

We seem to have done ok without the trips overseas. I wonder at the long term effects of taking an individual repeatedly to high altitude. I'm assuming the rooms can reach an altitude much quicker. Are people likely to get altitude sickness?
I don't really know much about it and how high these things get to.

 

[scottwade]

I do recall the first trip that Collingwood undertook and the reports that walking up a mountain trail was the hardest thing they had ever done, blah, blah, blah.

So I googled the mountain and the first result was a journal entry from a woman aged (IIRC) in her late 50s who had just done the same trek with a female friend of the same vintage and she described it as basically a enjoyable, albeit, steep walk and absolutely no suggestion that it was the arduous, lung busting, energy sapping, body crippling climb that the Magpies had supposedly endured.

 

[Jakeeboy]

Clearly not going to Colorado for the high altitude..

They're just going there for the high...

 

[CAS79]

They're just going there for the high...

You raise an excellent point... when Collingwood are in Colorado what drug testers are going to chase them down for tests... the american's are not going to have a clue who these guys are and unlikely to test them and Australian testers would carry no weight or authority to trek round the US doing this...

So if Scott Wades story about treking is true....

 

[drivative]

I'm pretty sure the club said in the past one reason they don't do it is because we don't have enough money for it. We are not as financially secure as many other clubs and have one of the smallest membership bases.
Now we obviously don't need it either. As said, one reason clubs do it is for team bonding. Being pretty isolated from the highly intense footy cultures of Melb, Adelaide and Perth, our guys tend to bond without needing such artificial getaways.

 

[magic.merkin]

What bonds a side more than winning a flag together?

Also didn't we just win a million bucks hence the reno's?

 

[Cadsky]

All news to me. Maybe someone can enlighten us with some facts?

 

[magic.merkin]

should have been a cool $1,000,000
http://www.afr.com/p/lifestyle/sport/afl_nrl_grand_finalists_reap_memorable_08t3IacUn090DvVrIjLFGO

 

[CAS79]

What bonds a side more than winning a flag together?

Also didn't we just win a million bucks hence the reno's?

We won a million bucks at Reno...... wow.