EndurElite Chief Endurance Officer Matt Mosman explains why elevation training masks are a waste of money for endurance athletes and weightlifters.
Video Transcription:
These training masks have cost you your strength, endurance athletes. Victory has been your defeat.
Get this fuggin' thing off me. Oh, man. Oh, that smells like the inside of a fake leg.
Good morning, endurance athletes. Matt Mosman, the Endurance Guru over at EndurElite, the maker of premium supplements for endurance athletes and endurance training and supplement expert.
We're just gonna get right to it today.
Do Elevation Masks Work?
Due to popular demand on one of my last videos, we're gonna talk about training masks and, you know, if they work.
Now, you know, obviously, this isn't a training mask and this isn't a training mask. It's actually something I use to cover my face when I blow snow out of my driveway during the cold-ass winters in South Dakota, and this is a sawdust mask.
Now, I didn't wanna spend $80 on a training/elevation mask just to have it collect dust. Besides, I can give you two alternatives to a training mask that work just as good, and they're a lot cheaper. One's even free.
The first one I'm going to show you is this. You take your left hand, you put it over your face like this.
Hell, you can cover your ears if you wanna stop all the oxygen.
Then you just breathe. If you want more oxygen, just open up your little fingers like this, and take a breath.
The second option is, you go to your local, friendly Walmart, you grab a straw for, you know, five cents, you put it in your mouth, and you kinda work out like that.
But enough of this tomfoolery.
Let's talk about training/elevation masks, and if they work for endurance athletes.
And even, you know, I'll give you some...the bros some love today, and let you know if it works for weight training. Back to the endurance athletes and the training and elevation masks. Here's the theory.
What do elevation training masks do?
They say you wear a training and elevation mask, that it's gonna simulate high altitude training, so you should expect to see, you know, increases in VO2 max, and concentrations of hemoglobin and myoglobin rise if you wear a training mask. But that is a load of crap.
Why altitude masks don't work
Basically, let's talk about altitude training real quick.
As you go up in elevation, the partial pressure of oxygen decreases, so there's less molecules of oxygen to breathe in.
This is what causes, you know, the adaptations to high altitude. Then when you come back down lower, you know, you feel faster and fitter.
What happens when you go up to elevation is, basically again, the partial pressure of oxygen is decreased. There's less oxygen in the air. This basically makes your body create more hemoglobin, myoglobin, higher capillary density.
Then this can lead to some pretty cool endurance training adaptations when you come back down to sea level.
But regardless, if you're at sea level or, you know, if at the top of Mount Everest, the percentage of oxygen in the air is the same.
It's just the density of oxygen in the air is no different. With the training mask, it doesn't simulate high altitude training at all.
The percentage of oxygen in the air is just the same. You're just basically getting in less air with each breath you take, not less oxygen, which would lead to those adaptations.
The training mask, it doesn't work for endurance athletes, you know?
What elevation training masks CAN be used for
Granted, you know, I'll give 'em this.
Because it makes it harder to breathe with the training mask on, it may strengthen your breathing muscles, like the diaphragm and the intercostals, but again, if you're an endurance athlete and you are working out, especially doing harder workouts on a weekly basis, the training mask isn't gonna do jack squat for you.
So, should you use a training mask? No, no, hell no. Save your 80 bucks, and buy something useful, like, you know, a one millionth share of Bitcoin. You'll get a better return on investment than you will with a training mask.
Now, because I love you bros at the gym, I'm gonna tell you why it doesn't work, either.
If you remember my last video, I saw a guy in the gym with a training mask, and I went up to him, like, "Hey, bro, you got something on your face, right here."
He said something to the effect of, "When the air's restrained, I make my gains," and again, I don't have time for that crap. It just makes my brain hurt, just even thinking about it.
Do altitude masks work for weight lifters?
For you weightlifters, the training mask isn't gonna do jack squat, again, because guess what?
With weight training, you're basically using your two energy systems that don't require oxygen, the ATP-PC system, which provides energy for efforts lasting, you know, zero to six seconds.
Beyond that, you know, you're rarely lifting weights for more than 30 to 45 seconds, and the energy system that is, you know, helping you lift those weights during that period of time is anaerobic glycolysis, which, ding ding ding, doesn't require oxygen.
Here's what I want you to do, my weight train bros. I want you to remove your training mask, take a deep breath, get off those high-stim pre-workouts, maybe try some PerformElite, and breathe in all that beautiful, rich oxygen, and just feel good.
Repeat After Me. Altitude masks ARE NOT effective!
We're gonna conclude like this.
- One, you know, training masks don't work. They don't work. They don't work. Don't buy one. Save your $80.
- Two, you know, I'm really here to kinda help you cut through the BS of, you know, the latest fad, the latest diet, the latest supplements, even. You know, there's a lotta BS on the internet, and one of my primary goals with EndurElite is to help you cut through that BS. You can basically come and watch these videos, and you don't have to wade through all the BS that's on the internet.
- Third, if you like this video, I highly encourage you to share it with your friends. I've also started a new YouTube channel, EndurElite, and then on Instagram at EndurElite as well. Let's make this thing spread like wildfire. Let's bring some legitimacy back to the health and fitness world, you know, to get some good information out to endurance athletes, for everyone's benefit.
That's about all I have for today. If, like I said, you like this video, share it. If you'd like more content like this, go to www.endurelite.com, E-N-D-U-R-E-L-I-T-E.com. Until next time, my endurance friends, stay fueled, stay focused, stay fast, and remember, oxygen is good for you, so just breathe.
