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A larger concentration of red blood cells allows more oxygen to be supplied to the muscles allowing higher performance. This effect can also be obtained through the illegal drug EPO or via Blood Doping . The benefits of altitude training are debated in the sports community. Scientific studies have been performed but have yielded apparently conflicting results, as some tests appear to show that altitude training has no effect whatsoever, while other tests seem to demonstrate an improvement in athletic abilities. Opponents of altitude training argue that an athlete's red blood cell concentration returns to normal levels within days of returning to sea level and that it is impossible to train at the same intensity that one could at sea level, reducing the training effect and wasting training time due to Altitude Sickness . Supporters feel that even if no training effect is obtained, training at altitude is much more difficult and builds an athlete's Mental Toughness and Confidence . In Finland , a scientist named Heikki Rusko has designed a "high-altitude house". The air inside the house, which is situated at sea level, is at normal pressure but modified to a low concentration of oxygen, about 15.3% (below the 21% at sea level), the same concentration as that at the altitudes often used for altitude training. Athletes live and sleep inside the house but perform their training outside (at normal pressure). Rusko's results show improvements of EPO and red-cell levels. EXTERNAL LINKS
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