ALTITUDE VARIATIONS ON ATHLETES’ PERFORMANCE ON SELECTED HEMATOLOGICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL VARIABLES

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of altitude training on athletes’ performance on selected hematological and physiological variables and to forward possible solutions. In this study, a quasi-experimental design was employed. To select the subjects of the study, a simple random sampling technique particularly the lottery method was employed. The study subjects (N=45) male trainees from Jinka, Hagereselam, and Bekoji athletics training centers aged from 16-20 were included. The selected samples were grouped into three (n=15) short-distance groups, (n=15) middle-distance group and (n=15) long-distance group. The selected Hematological variables were, RBC, Hb, HCT, and PLT vribles were tasted by Hematology Analyzer and the Physiological variables were, Vo2max tasted by Beep test, ResHR and RecHR tasted by portable FT1 Polar Heart Rate Monitor, BHC tasted by Nose clipper, SAP, and MAP tasted by mercury sphygmomanometer. To gather the necessary data standardized instruments and measurements were employed. The statistical techniques used in this study were ANCOVA; post hoc multiple comparison and LSD post hoc test confident interval at the significant level of 0.05. Besides this to compare the post hoc test results mean differences between the three groups were employed. Results of the hematological variables indicated that the Red Blood Cell showed no significant difference but Hemoglobin, Hematocritic, and Platelet count significant differences were seen between short, middle, and long-distance trainees. The physiological variables result also indicated that Vo2max, resting heart rate, breath-holding capacity, systolic blood pressure, and Mean Arterial Pressure no significant difference was observed between short and long-distance trainees but the middle-distance trainees were rated a significant difference in Vo2max and systolic blood pressure but on resting heart rate, recovery heart rate breath holding capacity, and mean arterial pressure no significant difference was observed. The result concluded that both the hematological and physiological variables showed insignificant among the training center trainees