Want to get fitter by sitting on your backside? Well now it seems you really can – at a new ?acclimatisation training centre?. The facility, run by IO in Manchester, is the first of its type in Britain. It provides an altitude simulation course where you do nothing more strenuous than sit down and breathe increasingly reduced-oxygen air up to the equivalent height of 6700 metres, or Camp 2 on Everest. But the course isn?t just for folks off to the Himalayas; the centre is attended by all sorts of sportspeople, from fell-runners to rugby-players. This type of ?itermittent hypoxia training? (IHT) has a proven track record for enhancing performance and has become an established part of many professional athletes? training programmes. But at £350, this doesn´t come cheap. So is it worth it? Reporter Dave Mycroft has just completed the 15-day IHT course in Manchester and has written an exclusive two-part article for planetFear, starting this Monday. Dave will assess the potential benefits of IHT, explaining in detail his experience of the course. He will then reveal some interesting results!
