Wanderlei Silva is an intense human being. The way he fights is intense. The way he looks is intense. And his conditioning regimen is intense. Another way to describe Silva’s conditioning is innovative – he wears a snorkel. Besides looking badass, there is supposed science behind this training tool. Firstly, don’t think that snorkel training is a good idea just because Wanderlei does it. Rookie move. Many athletes are successful despite their training methods, not because of it. Time to take a deeper look…
At high altitude, there is a decrease in oxygen saturation (known as hypoxia). A lot of fighters train at high altitude because after roughly ten to twenty days, the body adapts to these conditions by increasing their Red Blood Cell mass (which increases the oxygen’s blood carrying capacity). Snorkels create a similar ‘hypoxic effect’, minimizing the amount of oxygen you will take in each breath. This however, WON’T have the same affect as altitude training. You may spend 15-20mins training with a snorkel, which is a lot different to living day in, day out at high altitude. The benefits of snorkel training exists elsewhere… When you breathe out, some of the air remains in the snorkel. This air will have high levels of carbon dioxide. This means that your next breath will have more carbon dioxide than normal, and your blood carbon dioxide levels will increase. This will make your training bout a lot tougher, and will probably improve the ability to remove carbon dioxide from your blood.
Some controversy does surround this method. Firstly, as a fighter, one of the first rules you learn is breathe through your nose. As soon as your mouth is open, your chin is a bigger target, and you are more likely to be knocked out. Encouraging breathing through your mouth during hard bouts of work may not be the best habit to develop. Secondly, if you use a snorkel without being highly trained, your training bout will not be that effective. It will make you feel gassed early, and the power output during your training bout will be greatly diminished.
So, we now know that snorkel training won’t cause the same adaptations as altitude acclimatization, and that breathing through your mouth might not be the best thing to encourage. Being innovative with your training isn’t always a good thing. Save the snorkel for snorkelling!
