Faster recovery after sport: how athletes use oxygen
Training is the stimulus, recovery is where you get better. How athletes and teams use HBOT, IHHT and hydrogen around their training, and what studies measured.
Anyone who trains seriously knows it: you do not get better during training, but in the hours and days after it. Training is the stimulus; during recovery your body adapts. The faster and better that recovery goes, the sooner you can give it everything again. That is why more and more athletes, teams and sports clubs are looking at oxygen.
Recovery is where you get better
After a hard match or training your muscles are tired and your energy stores are drawn down. Sleep, nutrition and rest do most of the work. Athletes add oxygen systems alongside them: as a moment of rest after exercise, and as an extra training stimulus on days when the legs need a break.
Three moments in your week
- After hard exercise: HBOT. An HBOT training is an hour of sitting or lying still under raised pressure while you breathe extra oxygen. Many athletes schedule one on the day of a match or a hard session.
- On rest days: IHHT. Through a mask you alternate low-oxygen and oxygen-rich air. It is a stimulus for your energy system while you sit relaxed, also on days when you cannot train hard.
- Around sprints and matches: hydrogen. Athletes use hydrogen inhalation around repeated efforts and fatigue.
What studies in athletes measured
Studies in athletes measured better performance in a second exercise test after post-exercise hyperbaric oxygen, higher VO2max after a series of HBOT trainings, better sea-level sprint performance after repeated-sprint training in hypoxia, and less drop-off in late sprints with hydrogen.
You will find these studies, with source and summary, on our theme pages Faster recovery and better performance and Cycling, and in the research library.
For teams and sports clubs
For a team or club it is all about capacity: several athletes one after another, short changeovers and a fixed place in the training schedule. A recovery zone with a hyperbaric chamber, IHHT systems and hydrogen fits that well. Anyone can supply equipment; the difference is everything around it. We help plan the layout, install, train your staff and remain your point of contact for service.
A training says more than an article. Our showroom in Goes, the Netherlands, has many of our systems set up and running. Plan a visit or browse all themes.
This article is for information only and is not medical advice. Experiences differ from person to person; always consult your doctor about health complaints.
