Effects of concurrent heat and hypoxic training on cycling anaerobic capacity in men.

Plain-language summary

This study tested whether making training harder by adding heat, thin air, or both improves short-burst cycling power. Eighty untrained young men were split into five groups of 16: no training at all, training in ordinary conditions, training at 31 degrees Celsius, training in low oxygen equivalent to moderate altitude, and training in both heat and low oxygen together. Everyone in the four training groups did interval cycling for 60 minutes, three times a week, for four weeks. Power was measured with the Wingate test, a short all-out sprint on a bike. Only the two low-oxygen groups improved their peak power. Heat on its own did nothing, and adding heat to low oxygen added nothing beyond what low oxygen did alone. Mean power did not move in any group. Nothing got worse either, so neither condition harmed anyone.

Key findings

• Training in low oxygen, with or without added heat, raised peak power in the Wingate test.
• Training in heat alone did not raise peak power.
• Adding heat to low-oxygen training gave no benefit over low oxygen alone.
• Mean power did not change in any group.
• Neither heat nor low oxygen caused any decline.