Finding Another Gear: My Experience with HBOT

During a recent article I mentioned a new Wellness Centre opened in the town centre. When I first visited, I booked a couple of treatments to test the waters, one was Cryotherapy and the other was the Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber.

Initially I leaned heavily towards Cryo on a weekly basis to aid my recovery but recently I’ve re-balanced my membership to have equal allocation to Cryo and HBOT (Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy) as I increasingly started to notice the additional benefits I was getting after the HBOT sessions.

Between regular visits for both treatments and slight tweaks to my training to include more functional work, I’m feeling like I’m in a real sweet spot again with strength and cardio capacity. Adding both therapies to support improved recovery seems to have created a flywheel effect: better recovery → more intense training → greater momentum → stronger performance → improved overall balance throughout my body.

Cryotherapy probably gets more mainstream attention than HBOT, but if you can stretch your finances to cover both, I think it’s worth it. Before going deeper into the benefits I’ve personally experienced, it’s worth briefly touching on what HBOT actually is.

HBOT in a Nutshell

At its simplest, HBOT involves sitting or lying inside a pressurised chamber and breathing highly oxygenated air. The centre I visit uses a sit-in chamber, which has additional benefits I’ll come to shortly.

Inside the highly pressurised chamber, you’re breathing around 93% oxygen, compared to the ~23% you take in during normal conditions. The increased oxygen absorption supports tissue repair, enhanced recovery and mental clarity in a way your body can’t achieve naturally. So far, I’m getting the full benefits across both body and mind.

Sharper Mind, Deeper Focus

Initially, when I first started using HBOT, I treated it as enforced quiet time. I’d take a book in, stay off the Wi-Fi, and enjoy the fact that nothing could reach me for the duration I was in the chamber. No messages, no noise, just a rare break from the outside world.

One of the team mentioned that some people use it for deep work because of the mental clarity it brings. At the time, as tempting as it sounded, I dismissed it in favour of keeping this my short time of calm during the week - “no chance, this is my quiet time.” One of my visits came during a particularly manic day though and due to some tight deadlines, I had to take my laptop in out of necessity more than anything else.

In that thirty-minute slot, I hammered through work, finishing some coding for an MVP I was building, alongside wrapping up a few other bits I needed to get done. It probably helped I’d also taken an Alphabrain not long before my visit so the combination of the nootropics, the increased oxygen and the calm of an empty chamber combined with my working soundtrack led to an optimal work state.

Since that session, I tend to take my laptop with me now. I still clock out of all instant messaging and email, but for deep, intensive tasks, it’s perfect. So far, my experience is that alongside my general nootropic stack the focus continues to the remainder of the day and into the evening.

Given that I primarily work from home and a lot of my work requires a high degree of mental intensity, finding a therapy that supports both physical recovery and deep-focus cognitive work has been a genuinely welcome addition. In a noisy world, carving out a pocket of stillness, whether to get work done or simply to switch off if I choose is worth the investment on its own.

Improved Pace and Cardio Performance

I’m also continually noticing improved cardio and anaerobic performance the days following HBOT. My running pace is subject to fluctuating for a variety of reasons, whether it be switching from podcasts to music, needing a mental release where I just let my legs go, or simply having one of those rare days where I actually enjoy running. Still, the correlation between HBOT and increased morning and evening run pace the next day or two is becoming a pretty consistent theme.

Finding The Sweet Spot

It’s not necessarily about HBOT alone. Instead, it’s about the compounding effect from doubling down on recovery and overall wellbeing to support a fairly intense training regime. I’m not a professional athlete, but neither do I live a tidy 9–5 routine. My work, whilst mostly from home, demands deep focus and often runs late into the evening. When you mix that with 85–90+ mile weeks and seven days in the gym, the end result is a pretty stacked routine.

Collectively, introducing the following into my routine has created an optimised structure for me:

• Cryotherapy

• HBOT

• Targeted adjustments to training volume and intensity

• Improved recovery habits including stretching, icing, and massage gun work

The end result?

• My running pace feels consistently stronger

• Gym sessions feel more motivated and focused

• Recovery feels quicker

• Focus feels sharper

• My body feels more resilient

The combination of everything together has got me back in a groove that I haven’t felt for a while.

Final Thoughts

I’m at a stage in my life where I can’t just keep battering my body with continual work absent giving recovery the necessary attention. As I march toward the big 40, I’m paying closer attention to what my body needs to maintain high performance both physically and mentally. Anything that supports recovery or offers marginal gains is something I’m willing to explore.

Hot Yoga, Cryo, HBOT, increased stretching; it all adds up, and the benefits are starting to compound already.

Small advantages make a massive difference especially when implemented consistently, whether you’re aiming to optimise personal performance or competing as an athlete. Whilst HBOT is another treatment that may not be the cheapest, much like Cryotherapy, it’s one I’d firmly place in the “worth it” category if you’re serious about training longevity and performance.

Optimal recovery, optimal focus, optimal performance – it’s all about finding the right formula.