In literal terms, continuous exposure to Hypoxia would only be that in which you spent 24 hours a day breathing hypoxic air. This would be a classic regimen of Live High – Train High LHTH – Live Up and Train Up as it could be done in a High Performance Center at Altitude like the CAR of Sierra Nevada which is located at 2320m, for example.
This method would be of particular interest to mountaineers and other types of athletes who have to practice physical activity and / or compete at altitude.
A variation of this method is the Live High Train High & Low LHTHL, Live Up and Train Up and Down, you live and train at altitude but for some workouts you descend to a lower altitude.
This hypoxic regime has the characteristic of being natural due to the hypobaric hypoxia that occurs when ascending in altitude and the air becomes less dense, becoming rarefied and making breathing difficult as the amount of O2 in it decreases.
Continuous Artificial Hypoxia
Performing continuous hypoxia artificially is possible. There are hotels / apartments / chambers that recreate a normobaric hypoxic environment inside, in such a way that you can spend 24 hours a day in hypoxia and even undergo training in hypoxia if they have adequate installation and equipment for this purpose inside.
It is a viable option for those who cannot easily access a concentration at altitude due to the logistical and economic difficulties they require.
In practice, it is not an optimal solution for an athlete to have to be locked up in an enclosure 24 hours a day for 12-60 days, where most likely they will not be able to carry out all their training inside the enclosure. Therefore, whoever wants to perform continuous hypoxia will opt for a “real” altitude concentration, or for a semi-continuity regimen sleeping in a Hypoxia Tent and adding the maximum number of hours per day in Hypoxia at Rest (HI and / or IHE) breathing through mask and hypoxia generator.