My local gym has an altitude training room, which has standard exercise bikes in there - I’ve asked if I can bring my road bike and just my rollers, or change the pedals on their stationary bikes if I’m allowed to.
Question is - is this worth the investment of AU$30 per week ( pay as you go, no lock in contracts )?
How many sessions of altitude would I realistically need to actually have a benefit?
I’d intend to use this component of training only prior to A events.
Option B is to pay $300 for a two week rental of an altitude tent…
It’s been shown multiple times now altitude training is a bit of a crock. It’s the adaptions that come with living at altitude that make people faster, not training at altitude.
What you actually need is to live at altitude and then train at sea level.
Why not try it out and see what results you get? the investment is pretty low so you’re not going to lose much, my wife has been doing spin classes in an altitude modified environment but I’m not entirely convinced, but there could be adaptations to be gained, sounds like a great topic for a deep dive for @chad!
IMO an altitude room would actually work great if you were already at a really high elevation. (Thinking Mexico City, Denver, Quito, etc.) then the altitude room would simulate sea level. Then you live high but also get the training benefits of full oxygen.
Actually, that makes me wonder now, would having an “altitude room” at sea level that simulates say -5000ft allow you to work even harder make sense? So if you live low, you can train REALLY low?
Back when I was an EMT a couple of my coworkers would breath off the O2 tanks for a bit (not long) if they were sleepy. I never tried it myself but they said it helped (briefly).
Sorry to reopen an old thread, but I thought it may be easier than a new one. I have an altitude tent that I’m sleeping in (13k feet) and will be racing Leadville. My altitude machine came with the exercise mask as well.
I understand sleep high train low, but would it make sense to do at least some of my rides (endurance maybe) with the mask on? Assuming the tent is working, which I think it is (and that’s all that matters) would doing some training at the altitude that I’ll be racing help more with getting used to effort at that level?
No. It is no different than riding up to elevation on a training ride and then descending down. You are not spending (or in this case simulating) enough time at altitude to generate any response…while in the meantime, your training will be suffering because you can’t put out as many watts as you can at lower altitudes.
Agree with this from a physiological standpoint. That said, it might be worth trying a few efforts with the mask to mimic the sensation of breathing through a straw when at altitude. I remember my first time racing at Leadville and experienced a panic/drowning sensation with the constant gasping for air. Just taking a drink from my bottle would freak me out because I could never catch my breath. I’m not sure if the mask would simulate that, but maybe good mental training.
FWIW: I’m now back living in CO but for years I was living near sea level and would take trips to CO to visit and ride. On some of those visits I’d ride as high as 3000m without any prior acclimatization. Breathing never felt any different, I just wound up going a lot slower.
He is also sleeping in it so it’s not just the hour or so of training at altitude but ~8hrs of sleep plus training.
But I agree that it’s probably not worth it since you’ll likely get better physiological adaptations by doing more power for the same effort.
If you work from home then maybe you’d get more benefit by also working in the tent or with the mask on since you’re not trying to put out effort and you likely spend lots more time working than you do training.
Yeah, it must be a very individual thing. I’m sucking wind hard on just about every climb. I’ll go out for a ride with some locals and they are chit-chatting on the climbs while I’m breathing through my eyeballs. And we’ll have similar finishing times. Even at around 220w, I’m breathing really hard. At sea level, I can push 300+ and carry a conversation. I assume o2 intake/respiration isn’t a bottleneck for me at sea level, but becomes my limiter at high altitude. I’ve gotten used to it after spending at least a couple weeks every summer in the high mountains, but o2 intake still feels like a limiter and I’m still breathing hard on any effort. I’m just not good at altitude, but there’s nowhere I’d rather be when it’s 100f+ during the summer in Texas.
