Abstract
The present experiment, which lasted for five weeks, was performed to investigate the effects of additional respiratory dead space on morphotic elements of blood. Twelve amateur mountain bikers were divided into two groups: experimental (E) and control (C). Apart from performing their daily training, the participants had three endurance training sessions per week: the experimental group with additional respiratory dead space (mask and tube – 1000 ml), the control group without any difficulty in respiration. The haematocrit (HCT), hemoglobin (HGB), red blood cell (RBC), mean cell haemoglobin mass (MCH), mean cell volume (MCV), mean cell haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and total work in progressive test for each subject were lab-measured before and after the experiment. Following the experiment HGB, HCT and RBC were significantly decreased only in E. Despite the above-mentioned changes, the amount of work performed by participants during the progressive test was significantly higher in the experimental group.