Low Air Pressure Training (exercise)

[matt56]

Main Question or Discussion Point

Looking to do a experiment on the effects of air resistance training on the body.
doing basic exercises such as jogging push ups. Maybe a couple of curls ;).


got facility design here


wondering what your thoughts and opinions on this would be.

 

[sophiecentaur]

If you want to produce low concentrations of Oxygen, it may be cheaper (the mechanics of it) to obtain Nitrogen to dilute the O₂ level in the air.
Needless to say, Health and Safety would be a huge consideration here. You would need continuous and reliable checking.
If you want to drop the ambient pressure to the equivalent of high altitudes you may find the physical design could be expensive.
PS I don't like the idea of a re-circulating system. Using fresh air would avoid the problem of hypoxia and CO₂ (or even CO) poisoning that you can get with a closed system.

 

[A.T.]

got facility design here

wondering what your thoughts and opinions on this would be.

What shortcomings of currently available training methods are your trying to address, that would justify building such a facility?

 

[Mark44]

What shortcomings of currently available training methods are your trying to address, that would justify building such a facility?

A facility to simulate conditions at high altitude?

 

[berkeman]

Looking to do a experiment on the effects of air resistance training on the body.
doing basic exercises such as jogging push ups. Maybe a couple of curls ;).


got facility design here


wondering what your thoughts and opinions on this would be.

Maybe look for a Hypobaric Chamber (not Hyperbaric Chamber) facility near you, and see if you can rent time there. That would be much safer than you trying to McGyver some setup of your own.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypobaric_chamber

 

[CWatters]

At low speeds air resistance/drag is negligible. I think the reduction in air pressure would have a much greater impact on the persons physiology.

Not sure if it helps but in some countries pressures chambers are used to treat MS. Perhaps you could borrow one?

 

[A.T.]

If you want to produce low concentrations of Oxygen,.

A facility to simulate conditions at high altitude?

Maybe look for a Hypobaric Chamber

My interpretation of the proposed setup is a vertical wind tunnel, where you train in a downdraft. The OP is asking about the effects of air resistance, which is quite different than the title.

 

[Mark44]

I think the reduction in air pressure would have a much greater impact on the persons physiology.

Which was why I asked if the setup was to prepare for high altitudes. It didn't occur to me that the OP was concerned that air resistance would have any effect on jogging or pushups, which would be minimal if not actually unmeasurable.

 

[sophiecentaur]

We need more info about the purpose of all this. To reproduce the effect of low air pressure on drag you could just compensate with fan-assist. By far the cheaper option would be to follow a runner with a large fan, run at a suitable speed - arrived at by calculation. The sort of fan that's used to propel hovercraft could do the job.
Alternatively, why not run on a treadmill with a fan pushing you backwards - again with the appropriate air speed to produce the drag you'd expect at high altitude.
But what sort of drag are we talking about for a runner at 10km/hr?

 

[sophiecentaur]

@matt56 Have you been put off by an over -enthusiastic response? PF is like that.