Lower blood temperature leads to better physical abilities...??

[dimitris33]

Last night I was bored on the couch mid-watching an episode of Hawai 5-0 series while surfing over the net... when suddenly one of the actor said that some tri-athlon athletes remove a small bag of blood from their vains, they put this bag in the refrigerator to make it cold and then they injecting the blood again back to their body.

This way, he said, the red blood vessels have the ability of absorbing and carrying more oxygen to the body faster than usual thus these athletes have super physical abilities for the next 36 hours.

I have no idea what is this but I linked this immediately with apnea and freediving and especially with Murat's diving style where cold plays a significant role.

The most experienced might be able to give an explanation....?

And ofcourse DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME OR ANYWHERE!

 

[trux]

I do not think that the effect they mention is due to the temperature - it would certainly not hold 36 hours. I think they spoke about the reaction of the body that starts generating new red blood cells when you remove some blood. So when you then put back what you removed (and I guess they do not really inject the blood cooled), you have some extra hematocrit and hence better O2 transfer capacity.

 

[dimitris33]

Ivo, I have no idea what they do, if they do, how they do it and if it is true of just a Hollywood myth. The policeman said that very fast on a single sentence while talking to another policeman and I was just heard it very fast, not even read the subtitles.

They were talking about pre triathon preparation..

Could this be a non traceable doping way in freediving....???

 

[trux]

It was aready proposed by Eric Fattah, and by others, that the only way to avoid blood doping, EPO, and other hematocrit enhancing methods, are regular blood tests, where any unusual sudden change of blood quality could be easily spotted. Some sports already decided for this way, but I am afraid AIDA is not yet that far, and that it will take a long time before AIDA starts fighting doping seriously.

 

[efattah]

It was aready proposed by Eric Fattah, and by others, that the only way to avoid blood doping, EPO, and other hematocrit enhancing methods, are regular blood tests, where any unusual sudden change of blood quality could be easily spotted. Some sports already decided for this way, but I am afraid AIDA is not yet that far, and that it will take a long time before AIDA starts fighting doping seriously.

The technique is called 'blood doping', or more technically 'autologous blood doping' and it has been used since the 1980's. It is banned in most sports but virtually impossible to detect. In my mind it certainly is a type of cheating, and also extremely dangerous if you do it wrong.

 

[Bill]

I don't know much about drugs and doping. The last time I used an illegal 'drug' was Aug '59 when I joined the service and it became legal to drink at any age. I don't think you understand blood doping and as Ivan pointed out, you can be caught, depending on the level and sport you're in. In diving, where speed of O2 transportation isn't a limiting factor, the maximum possible gain in static is about 15 seconds. Much better to train a little more than cheat or gamble with your health.
P.S. One US athlete lost an Olympic medal with what seems to be a very questionable call on this subject. Of course I don't have all the evidence.

 

[grantl]

Blood doping was an issue in pro cycling some time ago, however I guess it must have advantages in any sport.
You'd need to be pretty serious about it if you dope though - the consequences could be real bad if you got it wrong.

 

[Simos]

Interesting subject and info. There is also the pregnancy doping which would lead to a lot more RBCs and increased muscular strength but I seriously doubt that anyone would go this far in a sport like freediving.