If you're a fan of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), then chances are you've been following the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Tito Ortiz, who recently demolished Ken Shamrock, has come back on the fighting scene with a hard as a rock style of conditioning never seen before in the Octagon!

While many so called "champions" walk into the Octagon tough, they later blame their conditioning. In the fight against Matt Hughes it was evident that BJ Penn was not in shape. This one factor has cost many good fighters their titles recently.

Tito recently revealed his secret on the Ultimate Fighting show on Spike T.V.

Did you catch it?

Boxers stumbled on to the secret years ago. So it should come as no surprise that Tito trains at Oscar DeLa Hoya's Camp.

If you live and train at high altitude for a minimum of 1 to 2 months you're body begins to adapt to the shortage of oxygen. The most important adaptation for the MMA athlete is an increase in the number of red blood cells, which are produced in response to greater release of the hormone erythropoietin (EPO) by the kidneys.

Red cells carry oxygen from your lungs to your muscles. More red cells means your blood can carry more oxygen, which partly makes up for the shortage of oxygen in the air. So to compete in an MMA event, you should live and train at altitude for several weeks before the event.

But what about when you come back to sea level?

Will the extra blood cells supercharge your muscles with oxygen and push you along with greater endurance than ever?

Many athletes and coaches have generally accepted the idea that traditional altitude training--living and training high--benefits sea-level endurance performance.

In a recent discussion between four experts on altitude training for athletics, the average best altitude and best duration at altitude were 2200 m for 4 weeks.

These coaches also thought that the effects of altitude training were optimal 2 to 3 weeks after return from altitude. But, what produces the optimal endurance benefit? Live in high altitude and train in high altitude or live high and train in low altitude?

The results of some recent tests have revealed the best strategy and in part 2 I will answer that question for you.