PhD defence: Effects of exercise training on haematology and maximal cardiac output

Thomas Christian Bonne

PhD thesis

After a few weeks of endurance exercise training maximal cardiac output is increased. This is due to an increase in blood volume as well as changes in heart structure and function. In the present thesis the relative contribution from blood volume and heart structure and function on maximal cardiac output was examined.

Other methods to improve aerobic capacity include altitude training which is often used by elite athletes. The effect of altitude training for sea-level performance is still debatable and the literature is divergent on this matter. The ffect of a classical altitude training camp on haemoglobin mass and VO_2max was examined in Olympic swimmers.

Even if haematological changes aren’t sufficient to improve performance they can pose a challenge in an anti-doping context. In conclusion, the effect of haematological changes for the Athlete Biological Passport following altitude training was examined.

2015, 89 pages,
ISBN 978 87 7611 880 8

Time

6 May 2015, 10:00

Place

Store Auditorium, Department of Computer Science, Universitetsparken 1-3, 2100 Copenhagen.

Opponents

Mogens Theisen Pedersen (chair), Associate Professor, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen,Denmark.

Jon Wehrlin, Head of the Endurance Physiology Department at the Swiss Federal Institute of Sport in Magglingen, Switzerland.

Klavs Madsen, Research Manager, University of Gothenburg, Department of food and nutrtion and sport science, Sweden.

Supervisor

Nikolai Baastrup Nordsborg, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Co-supervisor

Carsten Lundby, Universität Zurich, Switzerland.