Steve Magness

Author of Do Hard Things & Win the Inside Game: Coach: Mental & Physical Performance

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

I’ve been waiting a long time to announce this: My new book, WIN THE INSIDE GAME, is available for preorder!

Learn to:
-Perform under pressure
-Find Courage
-Come through in the clutch
-Free yourself from insecurity

Order today & get great bonuses here: https://t.co/hM6RIeomP6

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

@AreteMindset Placebo is real. Not a bad plan honestly.

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

England takes on Mexico at home, at 7,000 feet altitude in the round of 16 at the World Cup…It's the greatest home field advantage in sport…

As an exercise scientist, here’s exactly what I’d do to prepare for the altitude if I were England: https://t.co/3snOM4n374

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

@Angad_Red @nxthompson They could have flown in right after Congo and it would have been better than 2 days out.

[Chirag @jackedengineer_]

Weekendmaxxing starts.

Book is “win the inside game” by @stevemagness

Highly recommended.

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

People have asked about altitude tents:

Yes. They help you adapt. The problem is you basically need 12+hrs a day in it to get adaptations and for a while.

So to not interfere with recovery, England would have had to use these pre-World cup for a while.

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

A lot have asked what you do about the altitude if your England...Finally, a soccer question in my area of expertise! Here's what I'd do if I were England.

First, the impact at 7k feet is real and significant. You can see it in the soccer data, total distance covered and high speed running drop significantly. 3-9% for the former, 10-15% for later. The higher the altitude, the bigger the effect. The less acclimated, the bigger the effect.

At 7k feet VO2max would drop about 10-13%. We saw this in track performances at the 1968 Olympics. And performance drops about 5-6% depending on race distance. Jim Ryun ran lights out in the 1500, but ended up second to Kenya's Keino because he was better at altitude.

So what do we do?

1. Acclimate...if you had more time this would be the key. You train at altitude, maybe even use altitude tents, etc. But it takes time...

About a 3 week acclimatization cuts the VO2max/performance drop in half as your physiology adapts. One study on track athletes showed it took 19 days to fully acclimate.

England doesn't have that time.

2. Arrival time

The research points to two different approaches: compete as soon as possible (within ~24 hours) after arrival. Why? You compete before poor sleep and plasma-volume loss sets in.

Generally, plasma shifts starts right after arrival but reach the level that impairs endurance capacity by about 24 hours and increase from there before leveling off.

Or you arrive 5+ days before and hope to acclimate. While it varies for each individual, generally 1-3 days after arrival, performance sucks as your body is adapting to the drastic change.

But...fly in/out is also risky as it involves travel, sleep disturbance, etc. close to the match.

So in their situation, it's all about tradeoffs. Altitude is a massive stressor. Everything from blood to respiration is put under stress to adapt. So you've got this dip before adaptation.

You can lessen that dip being acclimated. But who knows what England did.

Honestly, depending on travel, I would have flown straight from the last game to altitude. Buy yourself as close to 5 days as possible. And if possible maybe even somewhere like 5k feet within driving distance. No idea on planning, but if I didn't acclimate. That's what I'd likely do. I'd avoid the coming in 2 days before. Worst tradeoff.

So what do you do now?

1. Hydration and plasma volume.

Altitude drives respiratory water loss and diuresis, and plasma volume decreases acutely. Hydration strategies can blunt this. Folks have even tried manipulating high sodium intake to help sh9ift plasma volume

2. Fuel with carbohydrate.

We generally will burn more carbs at higher altitude. Make sure you are fueled up. AND use fueling strategies mid-game more like an elite endurance athlete. Something like maurten's gels would work well.

3. Bicarb it up.

Altitude is going to harm aerobic abilities. All those sprints and high speed running will build up more fatigue. The new sodicum bicarbonate is a must here. I'd load up if I were England. Plus, altitude tends to lower blood bicarb. Also,, it tends to help more for folks who aren't fully acclimated.

4. Protect sleep.

Disrupted sleep is a major part of it. So do everything you can to help get a good nights sleep. Limits screen time, blue light blockers, all the stuff.

5. Tactics and pacing.

You've got to adjust. Mexico will be adapted. You won't. Learning how to pace better and time your runs will be key. If you try to do the same thing as always, you will be screwed.

6. Beet Root juice.

It can boost endurance performance. Works better on non-elite endurance athletes. Which would honestly be a lot of these soccer guys. And altitude can impair the natural turning of nitrite into nitric oxide, so theoretically beet root juice would help even more at altitude. Though, you'd hoped to test it, or else you could be peeing red stuff that might scare folks, ha.

7. Caffeine.

Not altitude specific, but boosts endurance performance. A well timed dose to peak in the 2nd half would be helpful.

8. Heat adaptation.

Where England may have benefited from playing in the US is that heat addaptation (and its boost in plasma volume) can help with altitude. So even if they aren't altitude adapted, the heat wave in the US may have helped them.

There you go. The science of altitude adaptation for performing. Hopefully, England is prepared! And if not, maybe they see this post and start downing the bicarb, maurten, beet root, and caffeine. Ha

-Steve

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

Only 25% of kids regularly play out on their street.

This number used to be 80%.

Adults have ruined play.

Why? Traffic + fear and Safetyism.

When we see threats everywhere, we default to avoid and protect mode.

And it's ruining our kids mental health.

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

@richie_bruce12 If they were completely adapted to altitude camps before, then yes they could do it. Elite runners have set records sleeping in an altitude camp the night before a race.

All depends if they were used to it.

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

A lot have asked what you do about the altitude if your England...Finally, a soccer question in my area of expertise! Here's what I'd do if I were England.

First, the impact at 7k feet is real and significant. You can see it in the soccer data, total distance covered and high speed running drop significantly. 3-9% for the former, 10-15% for later. The higher the altitude, the bigger the effect. The less acclimated, the bigger the effect.

At 7k feet VO2max would drop about 10-13%. We saw this in track performances at the 1968 Olympics. And performance drops about 5-6% depending on race distance. Jim Ryun ran lights out in the 1500, but ended up second to Kenya's Keino because he was better at altitude.

So what do we do?

1. Acclimate...if you had more time this would be the key. You train at altitude, maybe even use altitude tents, etc. But it takes time...

About a 3 week acclimatization cuts the VO2max/performance drop in half as your physiology adapts. One study on track athletes showed it took 19 days to fully acclimate.

England doesn't have that time.

2. Arrival time

The research points to two different approaches: compete as soon as possible (within ~24 hours) after arrival. Why? You compete before poor sleep and plasma-volume loss sets in.

Generally, plasma shifts starts right after arrival but reach the level that impairs endurance capacity by about 24 hours and increase from there before leveling off.

Or you arrive 5+ days before and hope to acclimate. While it varies for each individual, generally 1-3 days after arrival, performance sucks as your body is adapting to the drastic change.

But...fly in/out is also risky as it involves travel, sleep disturbance, etc. close to the match.

So in their situation, it's all about tradeoffs. Altitude is a massive stressor. Everything from blood to respiration is put under stress to adapt. So you've got this dip before adaptation.

You can lessen that dip being acclimated. But who knows what England did.

Honestly, depending on travel, I would have flown straight from the last game to altitude. Buy yourself as close to 5 days as possible. And if possible maybe even somewhere like 5k feet within driving distance. No idea on planning, but if I didn't acclimate. That's what I'd likely do. I'd avoid the coming in 2 days before. Worst tradeoff.

So what do you do now?

1. Hydration and plasma volume.

Altitude drives respiratory water loss and diuresis, and plasma volume decreases acutely. Hydration strategies can blunt this. Folks have even tried manipulating high sodium intake to help sh9ift plasma volume

2. Fuel with carbohydrate.

We generally will burn more carbs at higher altitude. Make sure you are fueled up. AND use fueling strategies mid-game more like an elite endurance athlete. Something like maurten's gels would work well.

3. Bicarb it up.

Altitude is going to harm aerobic abilities. All those sprints and high speed running will build up more fatigue. The new sodicum bicarbonate is a must here. I'd load up if I were England. Plus, altitude tends to lower blood bicarb. Also,, it tends to help more for folks who aren't fully acclimated.

4. Protect sleep.

Disrupted sleep is a major part of it. So do everything you can to help get a good nights sleep. Limits screen time, blue light blockers, all the stuff.

5. Tactics and pacing.

You've got to adjust. Mexico will be adapted. You won't. Learning how to pace better and time your runs will be key. If you try to do the same thing as always, you will be screwed.

6. Beet Root juice.

It can boost endurance performance. Works better on non-elite endurance athletes. Which would honestly be a lot of these soccer guys. And altitude can impair the natural turning of nitrite into nitric oxide, so theoretically beet root juice would help even more at altitude. Though, you'd hoped to test it, or else you could be peeing red stuff that might scare folks, ha.

7. Caffeine.

Not altitude specific, but boosts endurance performance. A well timed dose to peak in the 2nd half would be helpful.

8. Heat adaptation.

Where England may have benefited from playing in the US is that heat addaptation (and its boost in plasma volume) can help with altitude. So even if they aren't altitude adapted, the heat wave in the US may have helped them.

There you go. The science of altitude adaptation for performing. Hopefully, England is prepared! And if not, maybe they see this post and start downing the bicarb, maurten, beet root, and caffeine. Ha

-Steve

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

Mexico vs. England is going to be fantastic.

Fans better hope they've prepared for competing at 7k feet altitude. It's a whole different ballgame. And if I'm Mexico, I'm making those guys run...

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

When your whole identity rides on one outcome, you don't get tougher. You get brittle.

Keep your identity bigger than your performance.

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

Whenever we face a stressful situation, we tend to overestimate its importance.

We need to gain perspective.

Perspective isn’t about downplaying the significance of the event, it’s about reframing it to its proper level: https://t.co/9KsvJaoFAV

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

Here's the full piece in article form for folks: https://t.co/ncNi5DiiEO

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

Some bad news for England fans...reports say they are arriving almost exactly 48 hours before the big game...

Probably one of the worst arrival times for performance. It's smack dab in the middle of the "dip" of performance with limited acclimatization...

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

A lot have asked what you do about the altitude if your England...Finally, a soccer question in my area of expertise! Here's what I'd do if I were England.

First, the impact at 7k feet is real and significant. You can see it in the soccer data, total distance covered and high speed running drop significantly. 3-9% for the former, 10-15% for later. The higher the altitude, the bigger the effect. The less acclimated, the bigger the effect.

At 7k feet VO2max would drop about 10-13%. We saw this in track performances at the 1968 Olympics. And performance drops about 5-6% depending on race distance. Jim Ryun ran lights out in the 1500, but ended up second to Kenya's Keino because he was better at altitude.

So what do we do?

1. Acclimate...if you had more time this would be the key. You train at altitude, maybe even use altitude tents, etc. But it takes time...

About a 3 week acclimatization cuts the VO2max/performance drop in half as your physiology adapts. One study on track athletes showed it took 19 days to fully acclimate.

England doesn't have that time.

2. Arrival time

The research points to two different approaches: compete as soon as possible (within ~24 hours) after arrival. Why? You compete before poor sleep and plasma-volume loss sets in.

Generally, plasma shifts starts right after arrival but reach the level that impairs endurance capacity by about 24 hours and increase from there before leveling off.

Or you arrive 5+ days before and hope to acclimate. While it varies for each individual, generally 1-3 days after arrival, performance sucks as your body is adapting to the drastic change.

But...fly in/out is also risky as it involves travel, sleep disturbance, etc. close to the match.

So in their situation, it's all about tradeoffs. Altitude is a massive stressor. Everything from blood to respiration is put under stress to adapt. So you've got this dip before adaptation.

You can lessen that dip being acclimated. But who knows what England did.

Honestly, depending on travel, I would have flown straight from the last game to altitude. Buy yourself as close to 5 days as possible. And if possible maybe even somewhere like 5k feet within driving distance. No idea on planning, but if I didn't acclimate. That's what I'd likely do. I'd avoid the coming in 2 days before. Worst tradeoff.

So what do you do now?

1. Hydration and plasma volume.

Altitude drives respiratory water loss and diuresis, and plasma volume decreases acutely. Hydration strategies can blunt this. Folks have even tried manipulating high sodium intake to help sh9ift plasma volume

2. Fuel with carbohydrate.

We generally will burn more carbs at higher altitude. Make sure you are fueled up. AND use fueling strategies mid-game more like an elite endurance athlete. Something like maurten's gels would work well.

3. Bicarb it up.

Altitude is going to harm aerobic abilities. All those sprints and high speed running will build up more fatigue. The new sodicum bicarbonate is a must here. I'd load up if I were England. Plus, altitude tends to lower blood bicarb. Also,, it tends to help more for folks who aren't fully acclimated.

4. Protect sleep.

Disrupted sleep is a major part of it. So do everything you can to help get a good nights sleep. Limits screen time, blue light blockers, all the stuff.

5. Tactics and pacing.

You've got to adjust. Mexico will be adapted. You won't. Learning how to pace better and time your runs will be key. If you try to do the same thing as always, you will be screwed.

6. Beet Root juice.

It can boost endurance performance. Works better on non-elite endurance athletes. Which would honestly be a lot of these soccer guys. And altitude can impair the natural turning of nitrite into nitric oxide, so theoretically beet root juice would help even more at altitude. Though, you'd hoped to test it, or else you could be peeing red stuff that might scare folks, ha.

7. Caffeine.

Not altitude specific, but boosts endurance performance. A well timed dose to peak in the 2nd half would be helpful.

8. Heat adaptation.

Where England may have benefited from playing in the US is that heat addaptation (and its boost in plasma volume) can help with altitude. So even if they aren't altitude adapted, the heat wave in the US may have helped them.

There you go. The science of altitude adaptation for performing. Hopefully, England is prepared! And if not, maybe they see this post and start downing the bicarb, maurten, beet root, and caffeine. Ha

-Steve

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

@davidarngar None of that is relevant to the thing that causes the actual impact we're discussing: altitude.

[nxthompson @nxthompson]

Smart thread about how to adapt to altitude and why England showing up in Mexico City two days before game day is dumb.

When I ran the Aspen Marathon a few years back, I arrived the night before. My body didn't have time to get screwed up and confused--and the race went great.

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

@SibsTHFC Modern systems greatly reduce any GI issues. It’s why runners can finally use it consistently.

You’d need to use Maureen’s version.

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

@purplepatch Ah, well that sucks. Definite disadvantage. Not really fair at an international tournament where so much of the game depends on fitness. It's Mexico City Olympics all over...

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

@JasonLBogle It’s out of line with nearly any other sport. Not just NBA.

The vast vast majority of sports you get ejected for that game. It doesn’t linger unless exceedingly dangerous. Which is rare.

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

Seriously, imagine a routine technical foul in basketball that sends Lebron off for multiple games of the NBA finals.

Or that Wemby elbow, gone for 3 days...AND no mechanism to review it. Just refs final word.

That's the equivalent. NBA fandom would absolutely melt down.

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

For the full piece, it originally came from my Substack which tackles deep dives on performance. Read it here: https://t.co/3snOM4n374

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

@Coachjonhughes England manager Tuchel, if you're out there on twitter, I didn't give you the super duper secret to actually performing at 7k feet...give me a call...for a big fee! 😆

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

@infinitehumanai Generally teams like England have sports science support. But...sometimes it's hit or miss. Sometimes teams/countries you'd expect to be keyed in...don't and have crazy ideas.

So I don't have any inside info on England. I'd bet they have someone. But sadly...you never know...