I have no idea how altitude training works. Some say "train low, sleep high" (the guys who sell altitude tents usually pitch this method) and we also have the "train high, sleep low" crowd. My guess is no one really knows for sure. There seems to be proponents of both methods, but doing any type of altitude training/or sleeping for us lowlanders is quite an expensive proposition. Aside from the exorbitant cost (bordering on lunacy) the plastic tent that wraps around one's bed is unsightly and cumbersome.

The link I've posted is from an advertisement from the latest issue of the Australian "Ride" magazine (excellent magazine, by the way-even their advert pages are more interesting than anything CycleSport prints) and this gym offers altitude training on a per-session basis in it's own dedicated altitude room. I was wondering if any of you guys out there do any type of altitude training using either this method or the tent and what do you guys think of this type of training.

I have no idea whether this is available in the states, as this gym (TBC-Total Body Conditioning) is in Sydney, Australia, but would love to hear from anyone who has tried it.

http://tbc.net.au/altitudeRoom.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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This is another option.
If I remember correctly altitude tents are now illegal for athletic purposes in some countries and I do not know were the UCI stands on them now. In Lance's day he (and others) used tents openly. In the 1930's Germany built some expensive facilities based on the train high sleep low. They got it totally wrong. Yes you can set record high but that is due to less air pressure. The adaption to altitude comes from spending time at altitude. The problem is while you adapt there is not enough oxygen for your muscles to perform optimally. Simply put you can't train hard enough. Intervals require oxygen. So its clear, sleep high and train low and I will add set hour records high
If you go this route be careful that the system has alarms to let you know if the oxygen level drops to low. Dying in your sleep sucks

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WW Velocipedist Gargantuan

Not only is the air thinner at altitude, and hence wind resistance lower, but bikes and everything else weigh less too!! Mass (kg) is unaffected, but weight (pounds) decreases. A 3.3 km increase in altitude would decrease the weight by 1/10 of a percent, corresponding to that same percent reduction in earth's gravity at that altitude.

HT, what happens when you subtract out the reduction of buoyancy which results from moving to a less dense fluid? That may completely counter the gravitational force decrease

At higher altitude:

Climbing:
* Thinner air:
** Less oxygen = negative
** Less wind resistance = positive
* Lower gravity = positive

Descending:
* Thinner air:
** Less oxygen = negligible
** Less wind resistance = positive (unless your braking's not up to par)
* Lower gravity = negative (unless your braking's not up to par)

It is left as an exercise to the reader to net these out, and the netting is scenario dependent (riding in pack vs. alone, speed, etc.). However, the impact of lower gravity will generally be much smaller than the impact of wind resistance (and decrease of oxygen level for climbing), so flat out descending is faster at higher atltitude for the same gradient, road surface, etc.
l

dont need to do the excercise as i rode at 3.3km quite a few times.
Trust me, the oxygen depletion wins

Is this a joke?

I sometimes struggle to tell when you're being sarcastic (forum posts have no 'tone' etc)

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Bike Pure

Weight and mass are not the same http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_versus_weight . kg is a unit of mass, and pound is a unit of force. A Newton is a unit of force, and can be considered the metric analog of pound (ever hear of a Newton-meter (Nm), which is unit of torque?). A slug is a unit of mass, and can be considered the analog of kg. So, not a joke, but a little cutesy.

While you've got the Wikipedia fired up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_%28mass%29

KGs and pounds are both units of mass

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Bike Pure

The pound(mass) is kind of a fraud. The real pound is a unit of force. Nevetheless, my original post referred to mass and weight, and listed kg and pounds, respectively, as parentheticals.

Now,

Sleep high, train low.

I can tell you from my brief experience sleeping in a tend that it has a huge impact.
But prepare to suffer, specially if you are doing it ove the summer, besides the lack of oxigen it gets really hot inside.

Anyhow you will be happy with the result!

Well, with the short term performance result, anyhow. How do the longer term health consequnces compare to EPO use? Is use of an altitude tent good, or at least not bad, for long term health?

Hasn't done much long term damage to those living in high altitude areas, why would the use of an altitude tent differ other than the ability to train and be at low altitude during the day?

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EPO is a steroid the body reacts to as opposed to the body's own natural response to altitude training.

Altitude training does not involve messing with your endocrine system. If you do altitude training, the body's natural hematocrit production does not shut down due to an influx of external introduction of the steroid as in EPO use.

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As other have said, and even if I haven't seen any studies on the subject, I believe you cannot compare both things.
If the tend system is running well and filters are clean I don't see a reason for this to be any different than living in the highs anywhere in the world.

One thing is for sure, I wouldn't hesitate in sleeping in the tend again, but I would never get close to EPO.