Guest guest Posted July 18, 2004 Report Share Posted July 18, 2004 I wonder if anyone in the group has experience with anemia in athletes. I'm 33 years old, I have a very physical job, and when I'm not working I do various types of gymnastics, acrobatics, martial arts, as well as yoga, pilates, and some infrequent weight training. I would say that I typically train 30-40 hours a week. About a year ago I had some blood tests and the doctor told me I was anemic. I thought maybe this had something to do with my vegetarian diet, so I took some iron supplements for a while and forgot about it. A year later I've been tested again and I'm still anemic. I have no nutritional deficiencies. Iron and folate levels normal, and so on. I don't feel the least bit tired. If anything, I seem to have unusually fast recovery times. My various coaches are horrified by my schedule and accuse me of over-training. But I'm rarely sore for more than a few hours, and continue to gain strength and muscle mass. My only symptom seems to be my unusually pale skin tone. My doctors are ordering more tests in order to determine why I'm anemic, but this has made me curious. I had always been under the impression that having a low red blood cell count would inevitably result in diminished athletic performance. Is this actually true? Has there been any study correlating red blood cell count with athletic performance? Yellin Los Angeles, CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 , Red blood cell count does effect athletic performance. This is why blood doping works for sports with a high aerobic demand. However, If you are borderline you may notice no difference especially if your activities drain more energy from anaerobic sources. A low red blood cell count will affect your body's ability to deliver O2 to the cells. If O2 demand isn't increased beyond your bodies ability to deliver it then no difference will be noticed. It is also important to note that the body has the ability to increase the amount of O2 stored onto and removed from each red blood cell. This is because at normal levels the red blood cell is neither completely stripped of O2 nor is it completely saturated @ any given instance. The degree to which each occurs varies among individuals and at different intensities of work. J s, MS, CSCS, USAW, NSCA-CPT Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach College of ton 30 Street ton, SC 29424 (843)953-1424 (865)405-2136 jjacobs24@... Yellin wrote: > I wonder if anyone in the group has experience with anemia in > athletes. I'm 33 years old, I have a very physical job, and when I'm > not working I do various types of gymnastics, acrobatics, martial > arts, as well as yoga, pilates, and some infrequent weight training. I > would say that I typically train 30-40 hours a week. About a year ago > I had some blood tests and the doctor told me I was anemic. I thought > maybe this had something to do with my vegetarian diet, so I took some > iron supplements for a while and forgot about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 You could do a Google under " athlete's anemia " . It is fairly common among athletes, especially runners and endurance athletes. Of course, " anemia " can refer to different things. Athlete's anemia, and I'm sure others can do a better job of this, is largely a result of increased Blood Plasma Volume, this leads to a relative decrease in the Red blood cell count. Like diluting Kool-Aid, there is the same amount of sugar but more water. By the way, if you have recently switched to training in the hot conditions, this makes the condition more pronounced, as you get heat acclimated. If this is the " anemia " that you have then there isn't anything to worry about. Of course, check it out with your doctors, this may not be it. How do you have 30-40 hours a week to work out? Randy Dixon Harlingen, Texas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 21, 2004 Report Share Posted July 21, 2004 Could you explain a little more about this to me? I know that with pulse oxymetry we find blood oxygen saturation around 97% which is fully saturated (not 100% because of other factors), we can also find arterial desaturation in well trained athletes when working at very high intensities, this is likely do to the shortened transit time during the gas exchange, but I am not familiar with the mechanism that selectively saturates or strips a red blood cell. I believed the number of oxygen molecules a red blood cell can carry is fixed. Thanks, Randy Dixon Harlingen, Texas, USA s [jjacobs24@...] wrote: > It is also important to note that the body has the ability to increase the > amount of O2 stored onto and removed from each red blood cell. This is > because at normal levels the red blood cell is neither completely stripped > of O2 nor is it completely saturated @ any given instance. The degree to > which each occurs varies among individuals and at different intensities of > work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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