Alright, so I decided to give one of those altitude machines a whirl. Heard some chatter about them, folks training for climbs or races, thought maybe it’d give me a little edge, you know?
Getting Started With It
First off, the thing arrived. Box was bigger than I pictured. Hauled it inside, unpacked it. Looked kinda like a serious piece of kit, not just some flimsy gadget. Lots of tubes and a mask thing, plus this main unit that hummed when I plugged it in to test.
Setting it up wasn’t rocket science, thankfully. Plugged in the main box, connected a long tube, and attached the mask to the other end. There were some dials to set the ‘altitude’. Started pretty low, didn’t want to overdo it right off the bat. The instructions were there, but I mostly just figured it out by looking at the pieces. Seemed straightforward enough.
The Actual Use Part
So, the plan was to use the mask while just sitting around, maybe reading or watching something. First time I strapped it on, felt really weird. Like, consciously breathing, you know? The air didn’t feel ‘thin’ like I expected, just… different. And the machine makes a constant noise. Not like a lawnmower, but definitely a background hum you notice in a quiet room.
- First few sessions: Kept them short. Maybe 30 minutes. Just getting used to the sensation and the sound.
- Longer sessions: Tried wearing it for an hour or so. No massive discomfort, but sometimes I’d get a bit of a dry throat from the air.
- Consistency: Tried to do it most days for a few weeks. That was the hard part, actually remembering and making time to just sit there, hooked up to a machine.
Some folks use tents you sleep in. Seemed like way too much hassle for me. Imagine being zipped into a plastic bubble all night? Nah, the mask while relaxing seemed like the easier route to try first.
So, Did It Do Anything?
Here’s the kicker. After several weeks of using this thing pretty regularly… did I feel like a superhero? Honestly? Not really.
Maybe, just maybe, I felt a tiny bit less out of breath on my usual jogging route? But it was subtle. So subtle, it could have just been in my head, or maybe I was just having a good couple of weeks. There wasn’t any dramatic change where I suddenly felt like I had extra lungs.
It wasn’t like flipping a switch. I read online that the science behind some of these methods, especially just using a mask for short periods, is kinda debated anyway. Seemed like you really need to live high up and train lower down for the real effects, or spend serious hours breathing the low-oxygen air.
My Takeaway
Look, it was an interesting experiment. The machine worked, it pumped out the air it was supposed to. But the commitment needed, sitting there tethered to it, the constant hum, the space it took up… for the maybe-sorta-kinda-small benefit I felt? The jury’s still out for me personally.
It wasn’t some magic performance booster, at least not the way I used it. Maybe if I was training for Everest base camp it’d be different. But for my regular fitness goals, it felt like a lot of effort for a questionable return. It’s now sitting in the corner, gathering a bit of dust, if I’m being honest. Might give it another go someday, but not rushing back to it.