[kelly315]

I'm thinking about applying to a feild school in the Himalayas, and oxygen is going to be a serious problem. I've been overweight for so long, it's time to work on making sure my lungs can get enough oxygen up there.

So I was thinking about just doing a ton of cardio, keeping my heart rate up for at least half an hour a day. But there's go to be something else I can do....

Any ideas how to make my lungs/heart work as well as possible?

Does anyone live in or visited high altitude already? What are your experiences?

Thanks!

[zenor77]

I recently moved from 1500 to 5000+ elevation. I only really notice my lungs working harder during exercise and even then, it's not unbearable. The one thing I have a hard time with is staying hydrated. I drink water constantly and I still feel thirsty quite often.

How high up are we talking? I'm sure the locals will have some sort of traditional cure for altitude sickness if that's a problem. I believe in Peru they drink tea made from Coca leaves (not that I'm recommending this by any means.)

[kelly315]

Well, we'll be traveling in India and Nepal (if I decide to go), so at certain points we'll be going as high as 18,000 feet. I guess there's a lot of hiking and carrying involved.

[Shereel]

Years ago, I went on a 10 day camping trip in Nepal and hiked up to the last base camp before Everest. During the trip, we had to carry our things on our back but also had the help of sherpas for the rest of our things (tents, food etc). In order to qualify physically for the trip, all the travellers were trained in the months before by gradually taking more and more difficult hikes and getting accustomed to carrying weight while hiking.

I'm by no means an expert but I'm not sure doing more cardio will necessarily improve your ability to intake oxygen from high altitudes because the problem is that there is little oxygen in the air, not that you're not breathing fast enough to absorb it through your lungs. While at the highest point we climbed, the air was thin and it was more difficult to breath but breathing faster didn't make it easier. Instead we maintained a slow and steady pace and stopped whenever we felt short of breath.

you may experience light headed-ness from the thin air but unless you're a smoker or something like that, you should actually get used to it. at rest, you probably won't have a problem at all, it's really just when your body is exerted that the thin air may have an effect on your breathing.

[kelly315]

thanks for your answers. I figured that the cardio would help me by making my heart more used to exercise, and also by increasing my physical fitness and endurance. I figure if I make it easier to breathe while exercising down here, it might be easier up there.

Any thoughts? Does this sound like a good theory?

[junebug41]

I think the only thing that that can really prepare you for high altitude is high altitude. But doing cardio and working on increasing your lung capacity certainly couldn't hurt... but no matter how long you train, extreme altitude WILL affect you, so just be prepared. I live at high altitude (5280) and grew up at 8000 and am well adjusted to it. However, when I climb anywhere above, say, 13k I feel like I dropped acid or something. You just have take it slowly and gradually and stay very hydrated.

I also think strength and balance work will help most of all when you start to feel the effects because you're going to need muscle and balance to stay stable even if you feel shaky.

[ennay]

Just work on getting as fit as possible.

Altitude adjustment will be best served by increasing your VO2max which is mostly done with higher intensity work. But you cant do that every day. But finding the highest intensity that you can hold for 30 minutes to an hour will give you an idea of the level that is VO2Max training. The longer you can stay at high heart rates (~80% of Actual maxHR) the more your VO2 will adapt until you reach your genetic potential.

However on some days going longer and easier will give you other benefits that will allow you to do the VO2 training. You would want to do Intervals some days and sustained work on others.

http://www.bodyresults.com/e2vo2max.asp

[junebug41]

Originally Posted by ennay

Just work on getting as fit as possible.

Altitude adjustment will be best served by increasing your VO2max which is mostly done with higher intensity work. But you cant do that every day. But finding the highest intensity that you can hold for 30 minutes to an hour will give you an idea of the level that is VO2Max training. The longer you can stay at high heart rates (~80% of Actual maxHR) the more your VO2 will adapt until you reach your genetic potential.

However on some days going longer and easier will give you other benefits that will allow you to do the VO2 training. You would want to do Intervals some days and sustained work on others.

http://www.bodyresults.com/e2vo2max.asp

Interesting! for the link, ennay!

[JulieJ08]

Part of the way the body adapts to altitude is increasing your red blood cell mass, so that's something only time at altitude will accomplish. Maybe try googling something about athletes and competitions at altitude.

[slimmingsi]

as mentioned the vo2 is the most important, this is how much oxygen the body can consume whilst exercising, i believe in litres per min. the fitter you are easier it will be for you heart and lungs to cope with the altitiude. also lots of cardio will help you with the hiking.

you need to do something called fartlek training. that is varying intensity. so a few mins walking then getting faster then jogging untill you can't jog no more, then walking again to recover and so on. this means that whilst jogging and getting out of breath quickly your are training well above whats called your lactate threshold this will increase your aerobic capacity.

if you can get to a library try and find books by mcardell katch and katch (applied physiology) and astrand (although this is hardcore science)

both will give a very good indepth study into aerobic training

[sws19]

i agree with the previous posters in that trainer and improving your overall cardiovascular health wouldn't be a bad idea.
however, you still have to bear in mind that no matter how fit you are, it's about the oxygen in the air and it's still going to take some adjusting to and will be more difficult than what you're used to. i went hiking a bit in the "foothills" around leh (the leh valley is about 11,500 ft) and it was pretty brutal even though i had been there for a week and was faaaaaar fitter than i am right now.

[Eves]

Originally Posted by zenor77

I believe in Peru they drink tea made from Coca leaves (not that I'm recommending this by any means.)

Why not? It's not like you're asking her to snort cocaine, the alkaloids in the coca leaves have to be processed several times plus huge amounts of chemicals have to be added to get more than a minuscule amount of cocaine from the leaf.

That being said, when I was doing archaeological survey though the Andes 9,000 - 16,000 feet I chewed enough coca leaves to make a llama cry. When all tourists get to Cuzco the first thing they give them is coca leaf tea since it keeps them from puking and helps with lightheadedness.

But, coca isn't helpful since I doubt they sell it in Nepal. Anyway, here are my two cents, based on two fieldschools I taught in the Andes.

Unless you're flying into high altitude you should be okay for the most part. If you're flying into more than 8,000 feet, then REST. Don't go out of your hotel to look around, don't run around, REST, take it easy, sleep. Don't eat a heavy meal right away. Trust me, digestion at altitude slows down. Eat something light.

Hopefully, they'll give you a couple of days before hiking in altitude. For the field school I taught in the Andes I asked everyone to be there at least 4 days before I made them run up and down the mountains. That said, don't exercise at all for a couple of days.

If this is for school, then I'm sure that your school has to have portable oxygen for the highest climbs, I know I had to for the field school for anything above 10,000 feet when hiking was involved.

Drink about twice as much water as you normally would. The air is super dry so you'll dehydrate easily.

Don't drink any alcohol at all at first.

Lemon candies. When hiking in really dry air it's hard to keep your throat from going dry, so when I wasn't chewing coca, I was sucking on lemon hard candy. My students would buy them from the market in the 20 pound bags and that would last through all 10 of us maybe a week.

SUNSCREEN! And not the 15 spf kind, get the industrial strength stuff. I'm not sure if it's as bad in Himalayas because they're so far north and the Andes are right at the equator, but, less oxygen means less atmosphere to keep the worst of the sun's rays off of you. I mean it, take a lot of sunscreen.

You will get a headache at first, it's going to be bad, but don't take tylenol or anything with acetominophen, especially within the first week. Don't know why, but absolutely every high altitude guide says that in Peru. I would trust them, just in case.

While it's a really good idea to get your cardio fitness up before going, you shouldn't feel bad you get sick. It happens to everyone of all sizes and of all fitness levels. I tend to acclimate fairly quickly, but many people don't. The only time I've ever beaten a 20-year old guy in a race up a flight of stairs was when I was at around 12,000 feet. I weighed over 200 pounds, he ran for fun. It wasn't even close, I kicked his ace!

GOOD LUCK!