Maximize Oxygen Physiology & Be at the Top of Your Game.
In Sport, at Work, in Life.
This is an outtake from our training classes where we show you how to easily put a system like this together for well under $2k and at the same time it can revolutionize and better the health of every client you see.
Keep reading to get insights as to why this is so...
Velocity O2 Training (VO2T) is an athletic and life style enhancement exercise done for the goal of increasing one’s maximum performance to better meet life’s endeavors. VO2T uses a basic oxygen concentrator to simply fill an air reservoir bag for the purpose of delivering highly oxygenated air on-demand when doing specific high velocity athletic exercise. It incorporates a specifically designed training mask that serves to enhance performance on non VO2T training days and an optional singlet oxygen air conditioner for night time - at sleep - enhancement. A basic system, mask, and air conditioner are shown here.
Velocity O2 Training is based around the findings and work of Manfred von Ardenne who discovered powerful performance and life enhancing benefits when doing this specific form of exercise. He called it Multistep Oxygen Therapy and there is a scientific treatise of his work in his textbook of the same name.
Key to the exercise is to breathe in air saturated with oxygen which in turn saturates the blood. In combination with this (which is VERY important) is to generate a HIGH VELOCITY of blood flow which accelerates the push of oxygen through the arterial system. This is accomplished via peddling on a stationary bike at high velocity (at least 80% of max heart rate for age).
With the concurrent high CO2 production that is occurring from the intense exercise, the oxygen that is brought in is more effectively transferred to the body’s cells. (We'll talk more about the CO2 connection later.)
Manfred von Ardenne's research had uncovered a bit of interesting physiology: Pushing O2 saturated blood under the high velocity of a training workout unswells endothelial cells back to a more youthful state!
THAT FINDING IS HUGE! In his work he also found that a single training session could improve arterial oxygen concentration and cell transfer for many weeks thereafter improving the quality of life for many as they enhance overall life performance and essentially turn back the aging clock on their physiology.
This Work Raises a Question.
How Does Aging Occur?
While there are many factors to answering this fully, one thing is absolute: the body's provisioning of oxygen and the utilization of it is intimately associated with the aging process.
Manfred von Ardenne's work specifically points out that the effective utilization of oxygen in the human condition decreases with age.
Here is a graph from the textbook showing the mean partial pressure of oxygen in the arterial system of people at age 20 through age 90. Note that as one ages the oxygen level simply decreases over time.
Physical inactivity reduces oxygen more and stress can bring on acute reductions in arterial oxygen levels. The note on the right of the chart is pretty explicit; things start to fall apart when the oxygen level falls and you can see that happening as it relates to age, stress, and inactivity.
In one expression of an answer to our question, aging is a process of decreased oxygen provisioning to the body. While children jumping around a yard with boundless energy are on one end of the spectrum, the old man in the rocker on the porch watching them is on the other as he says to himself, "I wish I had that kind of energy again." Keep reading and you'll discover how he can.
Age Related O2 Loss - Stress Related O2 Loss
This is what the chart above is highlighting. Concurrent with this is a bit of physiology wherein a picture will tell us more of the story. We can look at the picture here as an overall map of what we could call the ground matrix of the body which is made up of 3 fluid/gel compartments being the blood, the intercellular/interstitial space, and the intracellular compartment inside the cells. These three compartments are all separated by membranes.
Oxygen needs to permeate the entire cellular region shown on the map. But what happens when PO2-art (partial pressure of arterial oxygen) falls as we have seen due to natural aging or various stressors? Well oxygen doesn't get pushed to the deeper cell structure which is the area denoted below the dashed line.
Cells need oxygen to produce energy and if they don't get it, they will turn to alternative pathways particularly the anaerobic fermentative process to get it. Problem with that is it is a very poor energy generator and one of its by-products is lactic acid - which is not really a good thing to have hanging around your body's tissues.
When this happens to an athlete, they hit the wall faster, recovery after performance suffers.
When it happens to an everyday guy or gal, they can drag through the day, work performance suffers.
When it happens to an elder, the aches and pains magnify, the rocker gets more use.
The GOOD NEWS....
Where ever you are on the curve,
you can push yourself to the left on the curve through Velocity O2 Training!
This was one of the most astounding findings of von Ardenne's work. Breathing high oxygen concentrated air while doing high velocity exercise can "flip the switch" on swelled endothelial cells which is hurting body oxygen utilization. It flips those cells to an unswelled state thereby helping the body use oxygen more efficiently.
And it can do it fast.
von Ardenne had two types of exercise routines, one done over 36 hours, another done in 15 minutes - both with virtually the same result.
The chart here shows the results of arterial oxygen level before exercise, through the next 36 hours, and then what that level is 7 weeks after the initial exercise itself.
LOOK CLOSELY at 7 WEEKS. And be ASTOUNDED!
What you are looking at is one of the most effective and proven anti-aging and performance enhancing methodologies in existence.
This is exactly how you push the aging and performance curve to the left in the previously seen chart above.
Velocity O2 Training helps you flip the switch on your arterial system to help your body gain better oxygen uptake for increased sports and life performance.
But Wait! There’s More to this O2 Story...
From Guyton’s Textbook of Medical Physiology, 5th:
“All chronic pain, suffering and diseases are caused
from a lack of oxygen at the cell level.”
Question: Next to low arterial blood oxygen pressure as we've just seen, what else causes a lack of oxygen at the cell level?
Answer: Insufficient carbon dioxide to transfer the oxygen.
After you’ve done a Velocity O2 Training routine to 'reset' your endothelial system and make your oxygen utilization more efficient, be aware that ultimately the transfer and release of oxygen to your cells is dependent on having sufficient carbon dioxide to affect that release.
Why?
Because of the Scientific Principle Known as the Bohr effect.
The end effect of this effect, is that when you have a fall of CO2 in the blood, the bond between oxygen and hemoglobin becomes stronger, and with that stronger bond, oxygen does not easily let go and release to the cell.
So that means having sufficient CO2 in your blood is critical to getting sufficient oxygen to your cells. And this raises another question:
What is the #1 cause of insufficient CO2 in the body?
This would be over-breathing.
How it Happens
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- Modern society presents many stressors that affect our Central Nervous System which pushes a response to hyperventilate to meet those stresses.
- This hyperventilation causes us to blow off disproportionate amounts of CO2 and over time we over-breathe as a habit and it attenuates the CO2 receptors system wide and we in turn get habituated to lower levels of CO2 in our body.
- Without sufficient CO2, we don’t effectively transfer O2.
A large body of research in this area comes to us via Russia and more specifically from the clinical work of Dr. Konstantin Buteyko. The bottom line is this...
The more you breath, the less oxygen you get!
Artour Rakhimov, a strong advocate of Buteyko's work and author of many books, illustrates in the image here how hyperventilation totally reduces oxygen to the brain. How can this be? Well, hyper breathing not only brings in oxygen, but it also blows out all the CO2. With no CO2, oxygen does not transfer.
When someone is having a panic attack and hyperventilating and is totally whacked, what is it suggested they do? Breathe into a paper bag. That's right, they re-breathe their exhaled air therein bringing up their CO2 supply so they can finally get some oxygen to their brain and then they start to calm down and think better.
Unfolding Physiology.
You will see that Velocity O2 Training is not just exercising in a specific way with oxygen - which it is - but it is also multi-modal in its approach to obtaining maximum performance through basic physiological principles that can benefit everyone, from the athlete to the couch potato.
Part of this multi-modal approach is the training mask we use.
This is the mask used for the core Velocity O2 Exercise. It also has a special valve system incorporated in it so that on days when not doing the O2 exercise, the mask can be worn during workouts or when just sitting around the house. It is a way to mimic breathing at high altitude where the lungs work harder, deeper, and there is more CO2 in relationship to O2 to provide enhanced cellular oxygenation and adaptation for better physiological breathing which begins to enhance performance everywhere.
Velocity O2 Training helps you learn and engage breathing at another level to maximize your body's oxygen delivery.
And there's even more...
Question: Next to low arterial blood oxygen pressure (the stress and aging equation), and next to insufficient carbon dioxide to transfer the oxygen due to wrong breathing (the breathing equation), what else interferes with maximizing oxygen utilization for sports and life performance ?
Answer: It is the epigentic equation.
Epigentic = the environment above the gene.
It is the ENVIRONMENT around body cells and tissues that can be optimized for accepting the oxygen you are wanting to deliver.
This is EPIGENTIC basics 101 and it relates to getting in the zone.
In the Zone with Velocity O2 Training
We are talking here about being in the optimal 'cellular zone' which maximizes the body's oxygen utilization.
This knowledge comes to us by way of Dr. Emanuel Revici and his enormous wealth of research that showed how the body's physiology is diphasic in nature. Of particular importance for energy and maximum performance is the balance at the cellular level that maximizes oxygen and nutrient uptake for proper energy production.
You can be one of three things:
- balanced,
- out of balance with an anabolic/ anaerobic disposition,
- out of balance with a catabolic/ dysaerobic disposition.
How you move out of balance is largely a function of diet, fats in the diet, supplements to your diet (Rx or nutritional), lifestyle and exercise routines.
Either out of balance disposition is not good and it can lead to symptoms and conditions most people can do without.
While the Velocity O2 Training exercise itself is designed to flip the switch on our endothelial cells in order to increase overall arterial O2 and oxygen transport and utilization, it is at the tissue level where that oxygen is going to be used.
It is here we want to optimize the ground matrix itself and deal with our own epigenetics to fine tune the environment around and of the cells.
Epigenetics: the environment above your genes.
Positive environment = good gene expression. Good metabolism.
Negative environment = bad gene expression. Bad metabolism.
Honing Positive Epigentics
Looking at our earlier picture of the ground matrix we could visualize what a lack of oxygen could do at deeper tissue levels on performance with it's decrease in energy production and increase in lactic acid output . Now we'll highlight the cellular environmental variable of what happens when there is an anaerobic or dysaerobic disposition at play again looking at our ground matrix picture.
An Anaerobic Disposition
This sees cell membranes predisposed to having a more sterol oriented fat composition over fatty acids which leads to more anaerobic energy production and an under-utilization of oxygen.
In our picture oxygen just flat out is being under-utilized from the get go. Stuck with this environment too long it can lead to pathological hyperplasia, i.e. the body grows things in places you don't want things growing.
A Dysaerobic Disposition
This sees cell membranes predisposed to having more fatty acid composition over sterols which leads to more dysaerobic energy production and an over-utilization of oxygen.
In our picture, oxygen is getting right to the cells but it is over-utilized, i.e., oxygen burns up and is used up before it ever gets down to our dashed line to feed deeper tissues where now anaerobic energy production begins. But meanwhile everywhere else, pathological disintegration can be pushed into play where you are breaking down things in the body you don't want to break down.
Measure to Manage.
Getting into the zone requires knowing where you're at to begin with. You can get there through a basic question and answer guide and by taking a look at your body's pH levels and urine specific gravity.
As a system bonus, we include not only an educational discourse on breathing for performance, we also include a discourse on tuning cellular balance and give you the pH paper and refractometer to help you out.
Not everyone will want to pursue things down at this level, but if you do, you will have some tools to help you.
As a further bonus, the refractometer comes with a chart that shows you where the "weight" of the juice from a fruit or vegetable should ideally be for maximum mineral content (which is what you want from your food). It's an ideal kitchen tool to test your produce giving you an idea of which brand or farm offers the better fruit or vegetable for your money and your health.
Velocity O2 Training helps you learn how to tune your cellular zone for balanced oxygen utilization.
A multi-modal approach to enhancing performance for sport, work, life.
Velocity O2 Training encompasses:
1. the methodology and equipment to engage the exercise methods of Manfred von Ardenne,
2. a specific training mask to engage better physiological breathing and help establish a strong biological reset to enhance the body's everyday oxygen utilization,
3. a switch mechanism (included) for the training mask's breather hose that allow a hard training athlete/ individual to engage a 'CO2 push' during the exercise. This flips the air intake from high O2 to low O2/high CO2 vis a vis a re-breather tube and bag. This accelerates the push of oxygen to the cells to really flush things out - like lactic acid build up - and is akin to the hyperventilating person breathing into a paper bag to push oxygen to their brain.
4. A pulse oximeter with plethysmograph and perfusion index so you can monitor your blood O2 concentration and your heart rate with wave pulse.
5. a bonus educational discourse on mindful/ performance breathing and how to test if your breathing is maximizing body oxygen or not. Most people do not pay attention to how they breathe - but breathing to retain CO2 and reeducate cellular receptors is key to optimizing oxygen utilization.
6. a bonus educational discourse providing knowledge of how oxygen utilization can go errant two specific ways based on body chemistry, and how it can be driven through diet. We include a roll of pH paper and a specific gravity refractometer to help you measure if you're in the zone or not.
7. an optional oxygen enhancement tool that provides high energy singlet oxygen to your entire system passively while you sleep to more fully engage your entire physiology when you are awake.
#7 above is the SOEMAC - the Singlet Oxygen Energized Micro Air Conditioner. The full information on this device is covered in our SOEMAC product section on this website so we won't go into it here.
If you are a health care practitioner or researcher, you might be inclined to investigate what Manfred von Ardenne's textbook methodologies might be able to do in a clinical environment that go beyond the sports and life performance aspects we've discussed. Click the image for context.
To expand on this idea in a parallel direction, read the study abstract.
We will leave this without comment save one: The Velocity O2 Training as outlined here is designed as a toolset for exercise physiology in order to to enhance life performance and has NOT been designed with any capability nor is it intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or medical condition. The FDA has not evaluated any statement herein nor this methodology for any such intended purpose.
It's for the Game of an Active Life!
Turn back the aging clock with Velocity O2 Training exercise.
Strengthen lung capacity and CO2/O2 exchange with our dual use training mask and performance breathing.
Tune your cellular environment for optimum oxygen utilization.
Engage the Ultimate Biological Reset Tool for
Peak Performance
SYSTEM PRICING
Velocity O2 Training System
- System can Include:
- 10 LPM (liter per minute) 20 PSI (output pressure) Oxygen Concentrator.
- FDA and USDA approved "food safe" air reservoir bags.
- Dual function training mask with 3' breather connector hose; For Velocity O2 Training and as a high altitude breathing trainer.
- 8' oxygen breather hose with valves for the air supply bag, 10' oxygen hookup hose, deluxe connector hardware.
- Switch valve for high O2/low O2/CO2 push/flip routine with hot washed premium cotton food safe & chemical free rebreather bags.
- Finger pulse oximeter with plethysmograph and perfusion index.
- Quick instructional set-up guide.
- Educational discourse to tune breathing for maximum oxygen performance.
- Educational discourse with pH paper & SG refractometer to tune epigentics.
- Option: SOEMAC - singlet oxygen energy micro air condtioner for optional 20 minute pre-prep to the VO2 exercise. (Adds $500).
If you are ready to build your own Velocity O2 Training system please contact us to put it in motion.
We have been presenting these systems to health care practitioners and enthusiasts for several years at our live workshops while also laying out a lot more detail into the physiology that drives maximum performance.
If you are interested in attending our live health foundations workshop, check the EVENTS link on our menu for upcoming programs.
If you are working with a health coach or performance driven health care practitioner that is not in our system, please have them get in touch with us as we would love to work with them.
Frequently Asked Questions
It does not need to be anything fancy as it will only be used during this training as a way to get your heart rate up and get the velocity of your blood going during the exercise. The bike shown here is sufficient for personal use for this process and one that we use regularly. This will work for a person 5'1" to 6'3" tall and up to 250lbs. This particular unit folds up for easy storage and you can find these and similar units new online for $150-$200.
NOTE: There has been some discussion in physiology circles that stationary bikes (as well as treadmills) should NOT be used for general exercise.
The reason: when you ride a bike or walk or run, your eyes see the landscape coming toward you and moving past your peripheral vision. This is normal. With neural connections from your head to your feet, your brain expects this to occur as it has been wired for it since you were born.
However, when you pedal on a stationary bike for exercise or walk or run on a treadmill, this is not normal to how your brain is wired for its physical perceptual senses and what it expects from the motion of your feet. Over time this can lead to some issues as coordination and neural connections to the 3D space you live in can get a little confused. If you are young, this disconnect from your eyes to your feet might not be noticed so much, but as one ages it has more of an impact on movement, potential for forward motion stumbles, and overall eye feet coordination issues.
If that is a tool you already have to get your heart rate up sure. But note that our mask is used for a dual purpose. For stand alone high-altitude breath training a valve sits in place of where the hose would be placed for Vo2T training. With a simple pressure fit of that hose into the mask, if you get a lot of head bobbing when jogging on the treadmill the hose could just pop out. That is just something to be aware. During use, having your head in as fixed a position as possible is best.
Regarding treadmills overall, see the note that was added about using both a stationary bike or treadmill for general exercise in the prior question.
It is not practical. With the forward and back movement and the breather hose press fit into the mask, it is too easy to knock the hose or pull the hose out of the mask. Also, if you are doing the CO2 push/flip routine, you need a hand which is otherwise occupied to flip the valve to go from one mode to the other.
On the positive side for overall exercise the rowing machine is far better than a stationary bike or treadmill. As it relates to the note given about stationary cycling and using a treadmill in the first FAQ, a rowing machine provides that 'brain expected' movement in the vision field that the other two tools do not.
No. It is not recommended to ever breathe straight oxygen if you are not doing the concurrent physical exercise which is generating the necessary CO2 in order to effectively transfer the oxygen you are breathing.
While oxygen bars in some cities have become popular for just such a thing as they administer oxygen as a fad, it does not make physiological sense absent the appropriate level of CO2 as just mentioned.
Far better than breathing straight oxygen is simply use the training mask in stand alone high altitude mode and learn HOW to breathe to effect maximum oxygen transfer in your system.
You will have the mask and the knowledge for this when you put together your own Velocity O2 System.
Totally different. Some have said Velocity O2 Training is like hyperbaric on steroids. Although we don't like that analogy it does impart the general idea of how much better it can be.
Hyperbaric is passive. You sit in a high oxygen pressure chamber while the pressure works from the outside of you pushing the oxygen in.
Velocity O2 Training is active. You engage your physiology to increase oxygenation starting from the inside, most importantly pushing from the inside of your blood stream out to everything else like your tissues. This is also following the natural flow of things.
Concurrent with this is the ability to 'flip the switch' on your arterial endothelial cells to thereafter increase overall PO2-art (partial pressure of oxygen in the arteries) while providing them a lower inflammatory profile for continued better cellular oxygenation.
Add the altitude training mask, learning how to breathe, and actually having to take an active role in exercise as opposed to just passively laying in a chamber, Velocity O2 Training for most is far superior to hyperbaric oxygen.
And it is also a fraction of the cost of what a hyperbaric chamber can run.
NOTE: There has been some discussion in physiology circles that stationary bikes (as well as treadmills) should not really be used for general exercise.
The reason: when you ride a bike or walk or run, your eyes see the landscape coming toward you and moving past your peripheral vision. This is normal. With neural connections from your head to your feet, your brain expects this to occur as it has been wired for it since you were born.
However, when you pedal on a stationary bike for exercise or walk or run on a treadmill, this is not normal to how your brain is wired for its physical perceptual senses and what it expects from the motion of your feet. Over time this can lead to some issues as coordination and neural connections to the 3D space you live in can get a little confused. If you are young, this disconnect from your eyes to your feet might not be noticed so much, but as one ages it has more of an impact on movement, potential for forward motion stumbles, and overall eye feet coordination issues.
This is something we just thought you should know.