The Wall Street Journal reported in a video titled (somewhat ridiculously), “Athletes Swear by Sessions in a Pressurized Egg,” that a new altitude simulator called the CVAC Pod, may boost athletic performance. The pod works by suctioning out air from the pod to simulate being at a high altitude, and that the effects will theoretically increase an athlete’s VO2Max. However, the effects haven’t been widely studied. Altitude tents for sleeping have been increasing in popularity with the professional athlete sect, but a pod that you just sit in?
The long and short of it? While altitude eggs or tents might benefit performance, so will a trip to a high-altitude training location like Boulder, Colorado, and at the end of the day, isn’t that more fun?
Cyclocross Magazine may not have started reviewing altitude tents for our readers just yet, but we did look at heat training and the potential positive impacts that it can have on your season, whether the weather is hot or cold.
Of course, for cyclocross, you might find more benefits by just practicing remounts, like our most recent training video suggests, or improving your nutrition by reading what sports nutrition expert Matt Fitzgerald had to say.