Elevate Your Training with Wattbike & The Altitude Centre

The Altitude Centre in London is at the forefront of simulated altitude training. Founded by Director Richard Pullan in 2003, they have become the leader in simulated altitude training technology and expertise, offering cutting-edge solutions for endurance athletes, adventurers, and those aiming to improve their overall fitness.

Their Liverpool Street, London, gym is unique offering not just simulated altitude training in the heart of London, but giving individuals elite level sport science support, from strength & conditioning, to heat training, via a range of physiological testing like VO₂max and lactate threshold testing.  At the core of The Altitude Centre’s advanced training lies the Wattbike—which is a critical component of their training approach. The Altitude Centre has eight bikes in total to help support their client’s training. 

Whether they’re preparing for sportives, marathons, high-altitude expeditions, or any number of exciting challenges that pop-up, the Wattbike plays an essential role in delivering precise, data-driven conditioning that complements their altitude and heat training.

We’ll delve into the unique training opportunities offered at The Altitude Centre and explore how the Wattbike supports and enhances its innovative methodologies. From improving cardiovascular efficiency to providing joint-friendly "off-feet" conditioning for those longer sessions. As the Wattbike seamlessly integrates with the gym to help their clients push their limits and achieve their goals.

Training At Altitude

The higher up the mountain you go, the thinner the air becomes, and the less oxygen is available to you. Altitude generators recreate this low-oxygen environment by removing oxygen from the air you breath. The jewel in The Altitude Centre’s crown is their altitude chamber on site at their Liverpool Street gym; a room set at 2700 m of altitude with 5 Wattbikes to get the best training stimulus to achieve your goals. If you can’t get to London, they also offer smaller generators that can be rented for you to train in the (dis)comfort of your own home. Research has consistently shown that training at moderate altitudes (~2700m) can enhance cardiovascular efficiency and improve oxygen utilisation, offering significant performance benefits, whilst higher altitudes (up to ~6400m) can be used to acclimatise to altitude before high altitude treks. Training at simulated altitudes helps boost red blood cell production, improve mitochondrial function, and reduce recovery time between sessions—ideal for endurance-focused athletes.

Heat Chamber Training for Extreme Conditions

Anyone who’s slogged up Alpe d’Huez at the end of L’Etape knows the debilitating effects of heat on endurance performance. In the past year, The Altitude Centre saw an ever increasing demand for a heat chamber, to prepare athletes for extreme conditions found in desert races like the Marathon des Sables, and more recently for events like L’Etape which would previously have been safe from heat stress but are coming under increasing temperatures. Heat acclimation is considered the most important preparation strategy for performance in the heat, making The Altitude Centre’s heat chamber invaluable for these athletes. Training in controlled high-temperature, and/or high-humidity conditions enhances heat acclimatisation, reducing the risk of heat exhaustion or heat related illness on race day. This approach enables athletes to maintain performance even in challenging environments.

Hear From the Altitude Centre Team

We caught up with Nick Hart, Senior Performance Specialist at the Altitude Centre, to delve into who uses the gym and how they’ve helped their clients with the support of Wattbike…

Who typically comes to The Altitude Centre and what are they preparing for?

Traditionally, it’s been endurance athletes preparing for events like the L’Etape du Tour, the Marmotte etc, or running events like the London Marathon. There’s a rich history of altitude training in these sports, that athletes were keen to tap into. In the last few years, especially post-covid, high altitude mountaineering has taken off in a big way, and we spend a lot of time working with clients aspiring to their first summit, heading to the summit of Everest in record time, and everything in between. Preparing well for high altitude is critical in maximising the chances of success and enjoyment, and has allowed some of our clients to set some very impressive records climbing at high altitude, including climbing Everest and Lhotse (4^th highest peak in the world) in a 17 day round trip from Heathrow to Heathrow!

The Altitude Centre also works closely with a number of clubs in the Premier League and internation rugby teams to provide altitude training for their players, whether looking to rehab an injury quickly and accelerate return to play, quickly build fitness during an international window, camp, or pre-season, or manage high training loads. 

How do you incorporate Wattbikes into the training at the Altitude Centre?

Wattbikes are central to what we do here on site. We believe in a test-train-re-test philosophy, and our training is always data guided. The Atom is a key tool in our arsenal to get the most accurate data in testing, whether we are assessing an athlete’s VO₂max/Lactate Thresholds, or their tolerance to high altitude. Training happens on the Nucleus (and even before that we were huge fans of the Pro and Trainer models!). The kit is incredibly well built meaning we can put huge miles on them, and generally speaking at very high intensities in a variety of simulated conditions, and we know they will stand the test of time. Their ability to link into Zwift and Garmin headunits means we can track client progress session on session and ensure their plan is optimised.

Do you conduct any form of testing and assessments using the Wattbikes?

Oh yes! The Atom is a key part of our testing on site. We pair it with the VO2master and Lactate Pro to deliver gold standard VO₂max and lactate threshold testing for our athletes, allowing us to objectively assess fitness levels and set the most accurate training zones possible for smarter training. The Erg mode on the Atom lets us execute precise graded exercise tests so we can be confident in the data collected. The high build quality on the Nucleus lets us undertake repeat sprint ability testing on our team, racket and combat athletes. Putting out close to 2000W requires a serious piece of kit, so it’s a no brainer to track progress of our explosive athletes. Plus in a rehab setting, the pedal efficiency score and left-right balance have provided a lot of insight into injury rehab, across all the Wattbikes we use.

Why did you choose Wattbikes as your off-foot conditioning equipment?

Wattbikes have always been the gold standard. When selecting kit, we knew we needed it to be hard wearing, owing to the sheer volume of use they receive, but would not sacrifice the quality of data. This was at a time when the Wattbike Pro and Trainer were newly released, and since then we’ve only seen the quality of product improve; the build quality and data accuracy have remained, with enhanced user experience, connectivity and design making Wattbike a no-brainer.

Wattbike For Off-Feet Conditioning

Complementing altitude and heat training, Wattbike Wattbikes offer precise, low-impact conditioning. These bikes provide customisable resistance, accurate performance metrics, and biomechanical insights. The perfect piece of equipment for off-feet conditioning reducing strain on joints while still building cardiovascular endurance and power—an essential aspect of any endurance event preparation.

Incorporating altitude, heat, and off-feet conditioning into your training can give you a critical edge, enabling you to push boundaries and achieve your goals. Interested to see how Wattbike can help your business and members reach new performance heights, check out our commercial page below and see how we can support you further. 

https://commercial.wattbike.com/collections/commercial-wattbikes