Once your BOLT score is 25 or over, you're ready to push your physiology a little more to get the full 'Oxygen Advantage'.

Using breath-holds while moving we induce hypoxia, which is a gradual drop in blood oxygen, that simulates training at an altitude of 3,000 - 4,000m. Your body responds by releasing fresh red blood cells from your spleen, and after several days of training in this way, you'll also get an increase in erythopoetin (EPO) which assists oxygen carrying capacity.

Athletes training with low breathing volumes, and breath-holds, see an improvement in anaerobic capacity with increased tolerance to lactic acid. Many see an increase in running economy and VO2 max.

On the course, you'll also train your breathing muscles to be stronger and to tolerate fatigue better. When you breathe more efficiently, there is more oxygen available to the limbs. Tired respiratory muscles will steal oxygen from your legs, because breathing obviously needs to continue more than moving your legs does!

A research team in France have been studying hypoxic training for some time. Here are some findings;

• Runners training with reduced breath volumes saw a 2.4% average increase in speed.
• Swimmers (triathlete) trained with breath-holds twice a week and saw averages of 3.7s increase in speed for 100m; 6.9s for 200m and 13.6s for 400m
• Repeat sprint training in elite Rugby athletes - running all out breath-hold sprints of 40m (two-three sets of 8) - achieved more sprints (~4) before exhaustion than those not training in that way.

Woorons et al - see papers here.

This course also includes a section on using breath-holds, visualisation and sound for pre-race preparation. We encourage you to create your own routine which fits into how you like to prepare, but there is also a guided audio to get you started.

See the curriculum and enrolment here

There are discount codes for Fast Track graduates and if you take the time to provide feedback on this course - see next page.