What's your personal hematocrit level?

[SlantParallelogram]

What's your personal hematocrit level? Has anybody has their level tested?

Can I just ask my regular doctor to test it, or would I have to see a sports-medicine guy?

 

[GuyIncognito]

40,1%. It's in my yearly at-work medical check results

 

[kingjr]

42,8 %. I didn't have it tested specifically to find that out though, it was part of a blood test after a grand mal seizure.

 

[Benotti69]

What's your personal hematocrit level? Has anybody has their level tested?

Can I just ask my regular doctor to test it, or would I have to see a sports-medicine guy?

IIRC a regular blood test should test for sugar levels, salt levels, white/red blood cell count, Hema, cholesterol, kidney function, etc

 

[zlev11]

yeah i had a blood test and asked to see the print out of the results just so i could see my hematocrit. it was 45.

 

[GraftPunk]

Mine was 44%, but I'm over a mile up, I'm not sure if that makes a difference.

 

[robow7]

A couple months ago 43.9%

 

[veganrob]

In a blood test last year it was 44%. Does it stay more or less constant through life? Does fitness level affect HCT? Maybe i should look it up.

 

[IzzyStradlin]

I've been as low as 39 and as high as 47. Usually around 44. Living at sea level.

 

[Aragon]

My figure is around 49-50, but for one reason or another, the hemoglobin concentration is higher than should be calculated from HCT, last value being 17.8 g/dl. I have my blood checked by the healthcare system of my employers roughly once a year.

When I first heard about the high figures as a teen, I started running regularly and participated in a few quarter and half marathons. Full of hubris and with full confidence on my (presumably high) oxygen uptake, I got my ass handed to me every time. In the end, hematocrit is just a relative figure and even tends to be higher with non-talented people like me.

 

[RedheadDane]

I dunno, I haven't actually checked it. I suppose it's pretty average...
Whatever they are, they're definitely not giving me any kind of advantage. Can't even get up the hills around here without getting short-of-breath.

How can you have a non-personal hematocrit level though?










(Yeah... useless post is useless...)

 

[May0maniac]

Usually between 49 and 49.5%, it's probably a combination of living at moderate altitude (1180m) and good genetics.

 

[spiritualride]

Usually 48-50% . Always lived at low altitude, and of only moderate fitness at best. Highest was 50.3% if my memory serves. It's funny because I have really bad endurance.

 

[MartinGT]

41%

 

[Nomad]

Average - 45.

I'm a mid-50s competitive runner who lives at about 5300 ft. I've had yearly labs for about 30 yrs when I started running in the late 80s. I've been as high as 47 and no lower than 44.

Interestingly, back in my younger days when I was hitting 40 mpw and racing a lot, my Hct was the same as it is now when I can barely manage 20 mpw with limited racing due to chronic injuries. I used to be obsessed with Hct levels & race performance, now it's all about getting this old body out there and trying to get some decent workouts. Lol.

 

[zalacain]

My last one was 51% I remember joking with the doctor about it

 

[red_flanders]

Pretty steady 46 on all recent test.

Live at sea level with fairly regular weekend trips to 6200 feet.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Around 41.5% on my two most recent tests

 

[rekhyt]

46-48% while living at 200m.

 

[Escarabajo]

Anywhere between 45 and 47%.

 

[therhodeo]

I'm going to work backwards from my climbing abilities and say its somewhere in the teens...

 

[Le breton]

It has varied considerably even while living at or near sea-level.
Since about 1980, every year, I have had at least one blood analysis done and I have tried to do it on different months.
When out of shape - end of winter - my Hct has been as high as 46.2 %, but still with only 14.9 g/l.
When in great shape, in summer, as low as 38% with 12.8 g/l.
Which means that properly doped up with EPO I could have been in my late forties climbing at 1650 m/h (for 30 min) instead of 1250 m/h on 7%

A few years ago i started eating black chocolate regularly ( 20 g/day) as my iron values always tended to be low and I don't want to eat too much red meat. In the past 3 years, end of spring, my Hct has been around 45%, but then I don't exhaust myself on the bike as I used to (age, you know, well past 70).

50 years ago, when I lived at an average weekly altitude of 4500 m, I probably approached 55%, unfortunately not confirmed by an analysis.

 

[Bigdog55]

66yo male living at 5,000ft my hematocrit runs 62-64%. NO doping or chemicals. Trying to get it down into the 50’s

 

[Sciatic]

63 yo male living at sea level, I have had HCT tests as part of my regular blood work since I started doing annual physicals 10-15 yrs. ago.

HCT for years was always around 41.5. Then for a few years it dropped to 36-37. That's when (for completely different endocrine reasons) I started monthly prescribed T injections. The next time I had blood work done it was 43.4, then it dropped back down to 41.5 range in the following years.

Interesting considering the clinic discussions re: T use and blood values.

 

[sir fly]

66yo male living at 5,000ft my hematocrit runs 62-64%. NO doping or chemicals. Trying to get it down into the 50’s

Yeti!

47,2 on my behalf.