HIF Agent vs Altitude Tent

I don't know the answer but as a dr I think it's an extremely interesting question. The results would be similar, however HIF would be more effective and safer. HIF would also have less side effects.

HIF's are banned by Wada. They are a form of doping that acts on an athletes genes.During mountain stages of the Tour de France youll often hear Phil Liggett use the term oxygen debt when the muscles lack an adequate amount of oxygen due to high-intensity anaerobic efforts. Oxygen debt is more formally known as hypoxemia.

The most important mediators of the cellular response to hypoxia are transcription factors (proteins which influence which genes are used in which cell) called HIFs (or hypoxia-inducible factors).

HIF activates the genes that influence adaptive responses to hypoxia, including:

the production of EPO

the way the cells generate energy

the creation of veins and blood vessels (called VEGF: vascular endothelial growth factor)

the supply of iron (important for red cell production).

From this list, it is clear that the HIFs have the potential to improve the performance of an athlete. Does that mean administering HIFs will have an immediate effect on performance?

The short answer is no, because the HIFs are targeted for degradation in the absence of sustained blood hypoxia, so providing an external source isnt the best way to increase their activity. Instead HIF stabilisers can be used to prolong the activity of the HIFs and provide ongoing production of natural EPO when there is no biological need for it (i.e. when oxygen levels are normal in the blood).

HIF stabilisers

As mentioned above, HIFs also stimulate the formation of new blood vessels (a process called angiogenesis) and therefore HIF stabilisers will improve this process. For an endurance athlete, this means more blood vessels supplying the muscle, which are normally generated over time in response to training.

By using HIF stabilisers, an athlete may be able to decrease the training period required to improve the blood supply to the muscles from weeks or months to a matter of days. Think about this: More oxygen-rich blood being delivered to more blood vessels generated within new muscle tissue. Add to this an improvement in carbohydrate metabolism and you have a very attractive performance-enhancing drug. You can quickly see the consequences (or benefits) here.

tl;dr.Altitude tent adaptions are very slow take place compared to HIF's and the benefits go far beyond just blood-boosting.

No that's what knowledge looks like folks. There is still knowledge within these boards.

Question. Would the blood profile of someone living at 8,000ft for a year be much different than someone who lived a sea level and took a cycle of what you are referring to as "HIF stabilizers"?

I assume someone already living at altitude would have their profile go outside of the limitations if they used the Stabilisers?

Sounds like the benefit here would be to head up to a high altitude camp for a week, use, and receive the same benefits/result/blood profile as someone who lived at altitude for the year. So, basically bringing a sea level athlete on par with one who has the benefit of living at altitude? Or no?