For those who know...What's your natural hematocrit levels?

[donrhummy]

1. What's everyone's natural hematocrit levels?
2. How much does a high hematocrit really help? (How good of a cyclist are you?)

The reason I ask is that I'm natural, never taken drugs in my life and my hematocrit has been measured regularly at 47-49 (never goes below 47). Yet, I am not a very good cyclist. Obviously there are other factors but still...

 

[donrhummy]

1. What's everyone's natural hematocrit levels?
2. How much does a high hematocrit really help? (How good of a cyclist are you?)

The reason I ask is that I'm natural, never taken drugs in my life and my hematocrit has been measured regularly at 47-49 (never goes below 47). Yet, I am not a very good cyclist. Obviously there are other factors but still...

Wow, not one single person voted?

 

[iliveonnitro]

44 from like 2 years ago. I was probably dehydrated though, so that could have skewed it upwards. I could care less as a cat4, though.

 

[carpediemracing]

1. What's everyone's natural hematocrit levels?
2. How much does a high hematocrit really help? (How good of a cyclist are you?)

The reason I ask is that I'm natural, never taken drugs in my life and my hematocrit has been measured regularly at 47-49 (never goes below 47). Yet, I am not a very good cyclist. Obviously there are other factors but still...

My hematocrit tested at 47, 48, and 49% in the last three physical checkups I've had. I didn't vote since it would have been inaccurate.

I'm a Cat 3. I'm not a TTer or a climber. I get dropped in a lot of races I do. Although I'm not grossly overweight I am for a cyclist - however, even when I was 103 pounds I still couldn't climb or TT and I could still sprint.

Hematocrit is really just a number. How much power you can sustain is key I think, having seen some numbers which astound me (from a Cat 1). Sprinting is peak power - and I would believe that mine probably hasn't changed significantly since I started racing.

cdr

 

[DrWJODonnell]

always around 48. I tend to be a TTist. Cat 3, FTP 360ish.

 

[Piotr]

1. What's everyone's natural hematocrit levels?
2. How much does a high hematocrit really help? (How good of a cyclist are you?)

The reason I ask is that I'm natural, never taken drugs in my life and my hematocrit has been measured regularly at 47-49 (never goes below 47). Yet, I am not a very good cyclist. Obviously there are other factors but still...

I think you may be confusing hematocrit with VO2max. High HTC is not indicative of cycling performance unless you're highly trained to begin with. From what have read somewhere training will actually lower your HTC ratio because of increased blood plasma volume. After all, hematocrit is not a red blood cell count but a ratio of RB to the "rest of blood". This is why high ratios are so suspect in highly trained cyclists.

BTW, why do you measure your HTC regularly?

 

[Doctor.House]

Dehydration raises hct and lowers performeance.

hct = red herring

Next question

The Gas transfusion Bus = the real issue

 

[john979]

Mine last test mine was 44 in the off-season, reasonably well rested.

Hematocrit is not an indicator of performance capability when comparing individuals. However, increasing one's own hematocrit will produce a linear response to FTP (and VO2 max power) of just under 0.60% per 1.0% increase in hematocrit. Thus, someone with a hematocrit of 44 who increases it to 48 could expect to see about a 5% change in FTP. Bump that to 49.7 (i.e., LA) and FTP would increase 7.5%.

However, slight plasma volume expansion will about increase both VO2 max power and FTP. By increasing hematocrit to, say 52-52 percent then bringing it back down to 49.7% with dextran solution could push FTP gains by "hematocrit manipulation" and plasma volume expansion to the 10%+ range.