Humidity vs. Altitude

[elkyinzer]

So most of us Eastern guys can't train at altitude, but all summer long we deal with moist, heavy, swamp ass humidity. Perception wise, training in these hot and high-dewpoint conditions feels a similar to altitude as far as breathing and recovery goes (part of which is heat and the lack of evaporative cooling I know, but it also just feels a little harder to fully catch your breath). Does anyone agree that humidity equals altitude training to some extent, or better yet, can this be physiologically affirmed or refuted?

 

[PantherCity]

I think they both suck, but are very different. Humidity will not affect your VO2 max, which is the main variable on how well you handle altitude.

 

[5MilesBack]

I don't know. I don't mind altitude at all, but I hate humidity.

 

[elkyinzer]

I think they both suck, but are very different. Humidity will not affect your VO2 max, which is the main variable on how well you handle altitude.

This is my unscientific reasoning.

VO2 max measures your body's ability or efficiency to utilize oxygen, right? So the amount of oxygen is irrelevant to that measure but would have to be standardized for an accurate measure.

Humidity: You breath X amount of air, the air has more water molecules compared to "dry" air, so wouldn't this displace oxygen available for your lungs to absorb? I guess therein lies the answer to my question.

Altitude: Air is less "dense" so there are less oxygen molecules available for your lungs to absorb.

Not the same thing but similar, right? Does it really matter, no, but like I said I find crap like this interesting.

 

[dotman]

Science or not, it's humid here in KC and it is still hard to breathe at 12k. Try to justify with science all you want but from actually being in both I will say from my experience they are different, much easier to get your breathe when humid, you just sweat a lot more.

Only way to truly train for it is to live where you'll be hunting. My legs are always fine, it's my lungs that slow me down every year, you just come to accept it.

 

[jwatts]

Here is my completely un-scientific observation. Usually we hunt out west during September. In Mississippi the heat is still ridiculous that time of year, but the humidity seems to have calmed down some or I have adjusted to it by that point, not sure which it is. When I get back from a hunt I can typically go out for a run and tell a noticeable difference having been at altitude for a week. Running at lower elevation, and having less humidity or have acclimated to the humidity down south, seems easy after hiking in the mountains for a week.

Earlier this month we scouted in Montana for a week. After we got back to Mississippi I went for a run like I do most afternoons. Our days, and even nights, are about as humid now as they will be for the rest of the summer. It flat out sucked. The humidity zapped me pretty fast. I felt zero gains from having been at altitude for a week compared to what I normally get.

To sum it up, humidity seems to drain me faster than altitude does. I am not saying that I can go from 300ft elevation to over 10k in the same day and act like nothing happened. I will say that it takes me a long time to acclimate to humidity and only a day or so to acclimate to altitude. I don't think that training in the humidity directly helps your ability to acclimate at altitude. I do think that training in the high humidity will greatly increase your cardio conditioning since the heat and lack of cooling makes you work harder, in turn indirectly making it easier on you once you get to altitude.

That may or may not make sense, but it made sense in my head. Trying to explain it in words got kinda tough.

 

[RallySquirrel]

I think about the same as jwatts. I am not sure humidity and heat, which go hand and hand, compare to altitude but do help prepare you for the change to higher elevation. I think the biggest problem with heat and humidity is that it hampers your ability to get the same type of workout you can get at elevation. Personally, I get so hot and sweat so much more in the Midwest in the summer that I don't feel like I get an adequate workout in before I am dehydrated. At the same time, at higher elevations, I am able to stay cooler and can work harder longer.

Scientifically speaking, on average, air can double the amount of water it can hold for every 10 degrees of increased temperature. At the same time, the density of air is decreases as temperature increases. It is easy to say that hot and humid equals less O2 so again I think the preparation part is more dependent on your bodies ability to handle the ambient conditions however they are presented.

All that said, running in 90 deg F with 80% humidity sucks way more than sucking wind at 11,000' in September.

 

[toddb]

Heat and humidity makes it rough here in wisconsin. If it cools down towards evening , then the bugs attack you. That being said, I have to make sure I do not over do it on packing in , before hunt, or on 1st day of hunt to not cover eery canyon 1st day and get worn out. I am 53, work behind a desk 10-15 pounds to heavy , but I still hunt all day long next to my 28 year old son who does not have an ounce of fat on him and does not know the word quit.

 

[Poser]

Heat and humidity are stifling here in Memphis, TN. I can't think of anyway to correlate humidity to altitude, but working out in a gym with no AC for the last few years, I have observed that heat & humidity affect blood pressure which negatively affects your workouts. Do a 100 burpees when its 96 degree/ 100% humidity vs 100 burpees when its 62 degrees out or try a heavy set of deadlifts in the same 2 set of conditions. You do get acclimated to the heat over time, but I'm not sure there is anyway to draw a physiological connection between humidity and altitude. I suppose you could make the case for you being used to gutting it out when conditions are less optimal (be it heat or lack of oxygen), but you going down that road tends to end up at in the same place that arguments about altitude masks ends up. Are you really getting more out of a restricted workout? Or, is the best way to prepare to be kicked in the balls to actually practice getting kicked in the balls?

 

[307]

The only way that humidity would prepare you for altitude is that you become accustomed to misery.

The %O2 does not change from sea level to 28k feet, only the pressure.

 

[kpk]

The only way that humidity would prepare you for altitude is that you become accustomed to misery.

LMAO. The 90% humidity days are definitely miserable.

For me personally, it's much easier being at high altitude than dealing with high humidity. I usually get pretty well acclimated after the first day. If I start to suck wind or get hot out west - I can take a couple minute break to catch my breath and cool off and I'm good to go again.

High humidity on the other hand - Once I get too hot and sweaty that's pretty much it.

 

[jmez]

A lot of scientific work out there on training at altitude and also the physiologic changes that occur with doing that. Nothing that I can find on training in humidity. Never heard of an elite athletes heading to the deep south to train in August. If training in humidity was equivalent, or even close, there would be athletes doing this. There would also be scientific research on the subject.

 

[ianpadron]

The only way that humidity would prepare you for altitude is that you become accustomed to misery.

The %O2 does not change from sea level to 28k feet, only the pressure.

THANK YOU, don't know why people think %O2 is dependent on altitude.

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[Mike7]

Humidity has nothing to do with your performance if the temperature is cool enough. Some of the fastest marathons I believe were run on cool humid days. Why you feel weak, is because your body is trying to keep you alive by keeping you cool...and at some point this becomes very difficult when it is hot and humid. Evaporative cooling is the main way your body is able to dissipate heat just based upon simple physics. When you are over heating, blood gets shunted away from your brain and muscles to your dilated skin vessels as cooling begins to take precedence over performance.

There does seem to be some acclimation that occurs during the first couple of weeks in hot humid environments, but this does nothing to prepare you for high altitudes, which require functioning with "less" oxygen. A greater acclimation seems to be possible as well with significant altitude changes compared to that possible in hot humid enviorments, so that is probably why you see more talk about this amongst outdoor athletes compared to the more meager acclimation to hot, humid enviroments. The military has a lot of rules about training in hot humid weather because this can be a really big problem in the tropics with troops doing prolonged endurance activities, particularly when carrying heavy gear or while wearing NBC clothing.

 

[Wojo14]

Humidity Suck! Enough said.

 

[justinspicher]

Having just moved from eastern Kansas to SW Colorado I can say that living in the humidity did nothing to help me live/work at the attitudes I am dealing with. I just know that the humidity sucks and I will take high altitude over humidity any day.

 

[camping1601]

Being from PA I'd say the humidity does nothing to prepare me. I can bike my azz off in the humidity and not get winded, but get winded staking out my tent the first night in the high country.

I've grown to hate summer here.

 

[kadler]

I heard this idea before and thought hmmm kind of makes sense. However, I'm from southern Indiana (smothering swamp ass humidity) and workout 5+ days a week. I recently went to Colorado to hike some 14ers and I was gassed from no Oxygen. Just my two cents. I don't think they are very relatable.


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[chuckeglenn]

Training here in Little Rock, Arkansas, I've often wondered this very question. I don't think it's the same thing, but training in the humidity here definitely gets me mentally tougher. The humidity just serves as a training tool and another obstacle to overcome.
Someone smarter than me maybe able to answer this question....... Does all the amount of moisture in the air from the humidity not decrease the amount of O2 you breath in????

 

[TurkeyBowMaster]

There is humidity, and there is the deep south humidity. Even north Alabama does not have humidity like the southern half, and when you get near the coast you get the wind off the gulf and it's not as uncomfortable there either. Southern Louisiana is really bad too. I have to tough out training here plus do it working southern swing shift. Still it takes a few days to get use to altitudes.. so much that I really don't ever want to kill on the first day out. Pack out would be brutal before acclimated.