Since the early overview article of Randall Wilber and the characterization of three main types of altitude/hypoxic training (live high-train high, LHTH; live high-train low, LHTL; and live low-train high, LLTH), many variations of these types have been described in the last 15 years: FIrst, we proposed a new combination of hypoxic methods (live high-train low and high, LHTLH) associating LHTL (sleeping between 2,500 and 3,000 m) with training near sea-level except for a new (2-3 per week) LLTH high-intensity sessiongs) at altitude; second, the development of different types of LLTH methods (e.g. RDH, repeated sprint training in hypoxia or RTH, resistance training in hypoxia originally dedicated for team- or racket sports - see Chapter 17) let to a widening (or maybe a sophistication) of the available methods (see Figure 16.1 for the panorama of all methods currently proposed). As a consequence, several important questions arise for the endurance athletes and for their support staff. 1. What are the benefits for each method of altitude training for endurance athletes? 2. What are the potential risks and drawbacks for each method of altitude training for endurance athletes? 3. How can the benefical effects be optimized and potential deleterious ones be mitigated? 4. Which are the consequences in term of periodization?
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