Public Research Case: Hypercapnic-Hypoxic Training and Oxygen-Carrying Capacity

The video link below refers to a presentation by Patrick McKeown from Oxygen Advantage, where he summarises public research on hypercapnic-hypoxic training — repeated breath-hold training designed to create controlled oxygen desaturation and increased CO₂ exposure.

The findings are highly relevant because they support the physiological principle behind RedPlus: short, controlled hypoxic stress can stimulate mechanisms linked to oxygen transport, hemoglobin concentration, EPO response, spleen contraction and aerobic performance.

Key findings presented in the video:

1. Eight weeks of hypercapnic-hypoxic training improved hemoglobin and VO₂max in elite swimmers.
   In a study of 16 elite Croatian male swimmers, the experimental group added hypercapnic-hypoxic sessions for 30–45 minutes, three times per week, over eight weeks. The group improved hemoglobin from 144.63 to 152.38 g/L and VO₂max from 63.80 to 70.38 ml/kg/min. The authors reported a 5.35% increase in hemoglobin and a 10.79% increase in VO₂max.

2. Breath-hold hypoxia can acutely increase EPO.
   A study by de Bruijn, Richardson and Schagatay found that repeated apneas increased circulating EPO concentration by an average maximum of 24%, with the peak occurring around three hours after the final breath-hold.

3. Repeated breath-holds can trigger spleen contraction.
   Baković et al. showed rapid spleen contraction in response to repeated breath-hold apneas. Oxygen Advantage summarises this as a spleen-size reduction of approximately 20%, which is relevant because spleen contraction can temporarily increase circulating red blood cells and oxygen-carrying capacity.

4. The mechanism overlaps with altitude training, but is not identical.
   The public research supports the concept that intermittent breath-hold hypoxia/hypercapnia can affect oxygen-transport markers. RedPlus builds on this principle by measuring the individual SpO₂ response and turning the stimulus into a trackable, dose-controlled training signal.

Important note:
This is not presented as a RedPlus clinical trial. It is a public research case showing that controlled breath-hold hypoxia has documented effects on physiological markers connected to endurance performance. RedPlus is designed to make this type of stimulus measurable, repeatable and individually trackable.

• Natural EPO response

• Higher hemoglobin levels

• Improved VO₂max

• Increased oxygen-carrying capacity

• Breath-hold hypoxia stimulus