Video: Oxygen, Athletic Performance, and Stamina
Oxygen’s Role in Athletic Stamina and Endurance
If anything limits the peak performance of athletes, it is how efficiently the cells of the body access oxygen.
Sports medicine experts agree: that a significant factor limiting athletic endurance and performance is limited oxygen supply!
Whether your sport requires strength, speed, endurance, or all three, you must decide how to load your cells with oxygen to reach your peak performance.
Until now, you’ve probably been concentrating on developing your skills, psychological training, rest/recovery, and nutrition.
All these are important, AND They ALL depend on how your body uses oxygen.
- Oxygen Fact #1: The oxygen content in the blood of a healthy person is approximately three times that of air.
- Oxygen Fact #2: Oxygen regulates all body functions.
- Oxygen Fact #3: Oxygen must be replaced on a moment-to-moment basis because 90% of our life energy depends on it.
- Oxygen Fact #4: Increased oxygen will enhance athletic performance, stamina, and overall energy levels because well-oxygenated cells can better metabolize stored energy.
Welcome to the cutting-edge world of bio-available liquid oxygen!
The athlete who knows the secret of increased oxygen will have an unbelievable edge over the competition.
Let’s take a closer look at how oxygen functions in your body.
Your body stores its fuel, known as carbohydrates, in the form of glycogen, mainly in the liver & smaller amounts in the muscles.
When you put your muscles to work, the glycogen transforms into glucose then the body burns the glucose for the energy the muscles need.
Q: What does your body absolutely need to transform glycogen into glucose?
OXYGEN!
So, the more oxygen you have available for your cells to use, the faster the transformation of glycogen into glucose. And the faster the transformation, the more energy, and stamina you’ll have.
If you could super-load your blood and cells with available oxygen, the engine of your body would be able to reach its maximum capacity!
Do you know your actual maximum capacity?
You can take a test to determine how efficiently you handle oxygen or maximal oxygen uptake.
VO2 Max measures how to fit an athlete: It expresses the volume of oxygen a body consumes per minute.
As your exercise intensity increases, so do your oxygen consumption.
The point where exercise intensity continues to increase without a rise in oxygen consumption is your VO2 Max.
The test can be painful when your body hits the point where it can not supply enough oxygen to sustain the effort.
The pain occurs when your body cannot supply your body enough oxygen to the muscle fibers fast enough.
This ‘oxygen debt’ is directly related to the buildup of the metabolic waste product known as lactic acid.
The signs of excess lactic acid include rapid breathing, muscle cramping, muscle spasms, and pain.
It stands to reason that the more oxygen you can get to your cells, the higher your VO2 Max and the lower your lactic acid.
