I live in Florida and train on zwift 90% of the time. From May to September the temp has been over 80 degrees(26-27 celsius). I did 100 miles with the peak temp was 105(40+) degrees at Hotter n’ Hell last weekend. My ride was so easy and finished in around 5 and a half hours. There are some serious benefits to heat training.
Last year I lived for 8 months in a tiny house while working away. I had to train next to a radiator in the kitchen which couldn’t be switched off. At one point I hit a run of form which was unreal. Hitting all my numbers every session. At the time I just thought I’d hit a sweet spot but this has made me wonder if it was training next to that radiator which I developed a deep hatred of. Unfortunately a dose of flu stripped the fitness back off me.
The military has been on to this for decades. We called this getting poor man's altitude training, especially in the hot and humid environments. When you then go to less humid areas you would not overheat as quickly and your endurance would feel much better. Our 3 mile run times were much faster. I averaged two to three minutes faster, because I was able to maintain speed and not cook myself. In fact, Runner's magazine published an article, circa 2012, suggesting to run steady 5ks for training in the summer and save the interval training and long runs for winter to see improvement in pace and endurance.
Our cross country running assistant coach in the early 90's was a competitive runner himself and trained on a treadmill in his sauna. We all thought he was just nuts. We didn't actually think there was any benefit to it, but I'm sure the idea of training under stressful conditions has been around for a long time. There just was never really any scientific proof of its efficacy.
just cuz it's warm, doesn't mean you're heating up. sometimes my core is cruising 38.5 C and outside is 40C, while sometimes i'm at 40C+ and it's 17C outside
@@gcnoh yes! Living and riding in Singapore 11month a year and probably one month in native Switzerland in autumn. The autumn rides feel so much easier, both: during the ride but also recovery seems faster.
I live in Hawaii. Avg speed rider here. Hawaii is year long 90% humidity 32C. When I traveled to cold climate country, noticed I suddenly have no shortage of energy and faster than locals. Best proof, North African riders are starting to excel in TDF too.
Except, if memory serves, Biniam lives in the Netherlands most of the time. Also, you'd need to also consider that Eritrea is a country at altitude, so that's a factor. But, yes, being forced to ride in heat makes you faster when you're suddenly somplace cooler. I lived in Doha, Qatar for six years and heat training was a feature of any ride outside.
@@mathewrose2951 the problem with constantly being in high heat environment is that the quality of top end training is reduced. Your ability to produce max watts for given duration is diminished. That’s why arguably it’s better to do heat training sessions than live in the heat.
Just tried my first session. I live in a tropical country and temperature in my room was 32c and 90% humidity when i did it. No fan, big jacket, door and windows closed, 45-minute session. The first 15-20 minutes was ok. After 20 minutes, things were getting harder every minute. Had to stop for a drink a few times. After 30 minutes, HELL. Struggled to hold even 55% of FTP although heart rate was still around mid zone 2. Struggled to breath with nose and felt almost like bonking. Drank around 2.8l of water and 700ml of isotonic drink. Harder than those vo2max training by GCN training. Beyond brutal.
I heat train for 8 months every year here in south central Texas. Learning how to hydrate and keep your electrolyte balance is something you learn from an early age. It can be 35C at 80% humidity at 8:00am increasing up to over 40C by 2:00pm. Heat exhaustion is a real concern just doing yard/garden work. Back in the day Lance Armstrong trained here every summer.
Same here in North Carolina. It's seemed to be especially rough this year, as someone who works outside year-round. Then I realized it's most likely because this year being my 50th trip around d the sun😂
@@yayweredoomedsame, north Florida here. I’ve been doing mainly intense max interval trail workouts. We had a small dip in temps two weekend ago, and I was amazed at the at the speed I had during those two days of reprieve (ie. 90° instead of 96°).
I live in North Scottsdale in Arizona. McNulty is out there every day he's in the US, putting in 4 to 6 hours in the summer, with temps over 100 F for the last couple hours of his ride. He usually is doing structured workouts, e.g., over/unders, block intervals, etc. with peak efforts near 500 W. Just before the Vuelta, he did a ride with over/unders where one of them finished at the top of a climb (2.7 mi, 360' gain) near me. He took the KOM from Ryan Bailie, elite triathlete, who held it for 6 years, 24.3 mph and 442W. He wasn't even trying to do this. I'm not surprised he won the Giro opening TT.
Brandon is a great guy, and a monster on a bike. Very cool and humble. I like him and I like that Isaac del Toro is on the same team. I know Brandon McNulty but have never met Isaac yet. Isaac is my favorite pro tour rider. Brandon is always my horse in the race also. ❤I'm excited to see them work together in a race in the near future.
of course it needs a bit more of experience and studies to proof the effects, but interesting. And I find it… funny how people are defending 1000 € ceramic bearings and 5000 € aero frames which make them 0.? % faster but say a bit uncomfortable training for 5 % or even 10 % is not worth it…😎
I always do heat training. I live in a desert and the cooler temperatures are mid 20-30s most of the year with at least a third of the year in the 40-50 range. Glad I've been doing miracle training all along.
Remco Evenepoel starts his day with this type of training. You can watch his video: "A day in the life on the road to my recovery". During this turbotrainer session, he has to hit a body temperature of 38.5 degrees (Celsius).
When I was in Scouting, our leader, Mr. Yost, always made us cook these foil packet dinners where we just bunged some meat and two veg into a little foil envelope, which we tossed directly on the fire. That memory just kept coming back to mind while watching Conor baste in his own juices (for science).
It’s 95F+ in my garage most of the summer in the Ca Central Valley. It’s punishing and I think of indoor training as torture. My work makes it an evil necessity. I’ve always known there was a benefit to it. Thank you for providing this confirmation of it. Acclimatizing to heat, if nothing, else trains the body to cool efficiently.
Yes, heat expands blood vessels, which is called vasodilation. When your body detects that it's hotter than normal, it dilates blood vessels to allow more blood to flow near the surface of your body. This helps your body lose heat to the air. Heat can also help with pain and stiffness by increasing blood flow and relaxing muscles. This can be especially helpful for chronic pain, rather than new injuries.
I don't understand why people do cold water submersion as "recovery" when it is decreasing blood flow. Surely you want heat baths for increased blood flow directly after exercise?
The blood vessels decrease in size in the cold, when the blood vessels return to normal size there is a rush of blood. The rush of blood pushes out the toxins from the muscles therefore aiding recovery. It's the same reason you put ice in a bruise or cold water in a cut / burn.
@@_Tp___ Be more specific. Recovery from what exactly? It's called "heat stress" for a reason. If in a stage race like the Tour de France, riders use ice baths to be better prepared for the next stage, even though they have been shown to blunt adaptation to exercise.
So the plasma volume increases and dilute the red blood cells concentration, so you can use a little more EPO without getting your hematocrit higher than 50%, got it!
Would love to know a couple of extra bits from this as it is quite a fascinating subject. 1. How is the sweat rate for day to day life during/after the heat training cycle? As a sweaty sod, I can't afford for that to increase 2. Maintenance - what would maintenance look like after a 2 week cycle to try and retain the benefits? 1 or 2 heat sessions a week for instance?
Seems like a great bike block to do during a heavy winter weight training block. Keep the leg muscles fresh for heavy lifting while still getting aerobic gains. May need to give it a try this winter!
I was heat training on zwift for some time. Saw some incredible benefits from it but it will take a little time for you body to adjust.. but when it does you'll be training blood plasma, how you body cools itself will improve, lower heart rate, more power for longer. When I was riding for 3+ hours with no fan, after about 2 hours my body would stop sweating and my performance would kick up, I have yet to understand that. I saw more than 5% gains, especially with body temperature under effforts.
When your body stops sweating it is not a good sign it is showing your dehydrated !! v dangerous and not to be done without proper measure of core temps imho
I'm not dehydrated, I'm constantly drinking water especially on longer rides. I eased into heat training a little bit at the start of every ride and eventually the fan stayed off and i was able to due races on zwift without any cooling. It takes time but yes a multi hour effort no fan is challenging to the body but it you do it correctly, the longer you ride without any assistance the stringer you'll get.
Could be at 2hrs your surface capillaries have swollen allowing more blood cooling reducing need for sweating. If you can quickly restart sweating by going harder or putting on layers it's safe, if not it's likely dangerous territory and you need more fluid WITH electrolytes. If you are on just water you can dehydrate.
I would be interested to know if, after the initial adaptation, you can enter a maintenance phase. If I did the five-day-a-week training for the adaptation, could I then maintain the benefit with only one session a week? Or two? And how long could it be maintained for?
@@francescomancetti8327bro it was over 100 degrees for 80 days last year. Trust me it is heat training. The tar from the roads melts and gets on my bike frame.
@@alecsuggs it's about humidity and you will never have a comparable amount of humidity in air vs. full sweat trapped in your clothes. You could in east asia but Texas isn't in Asia isnt it ? Just you talking about degrees shows you have no idea what you're talking about
Recently, there was a strong heat wave (34-38 C°) where I live, but I couldn't train in the morning like before when it was so hot, only in the afternoon during the hottest period. I didn't have much strength in this heat and towards the end of the period due to a knee problem, I could only train even weaker, typically in zone 1, maybe a little in zone 2. Then the garmin connect indicated top form, which I laughed at first, but then came a performance tour, on which I was much stronger than usual. Then I saw this video and it explained everything! So, since then, cycling has been a step better, so this training really works, even though I did it unintentionally!
As others have said this has been known informally for a long time but just not scientifically. 35 years ago I trained hard through an 8 day 35C high humidity heat wave & was flying the week after it ended. I knew immediately it was due to heat training but didn't know I could duplicate the conditions artificially. It is definitely worth the effort.
been doing this since the start of my indoor training... I only use the fan for online races, but I rarely race anyway. Always felt that indoor training in a hot environment would translate well when I'm riding outdoors.
I have read that Tony Martin made heat training in advance of the TT championchips 2016 in Doha (I think he even used hot air blower), with the focus on getting used to the high temperatures there. As a result he could celebrate the victory after an insane ride in the heat, ahead of Vasil Kiryienka and Jonathan Castroviejo, but I don't know whether this was just to get used to the klimate, and the improve in power output was a bargain, or whether Tony knew already about the possible improvements.
I have tried heat training not on purpose but because I have reptiles that need heat in my room so I keep it on low and allow the room to be humid while keeping my window open a crack and using a fan on my face and chest. Started doing that all last year and made a HUGEEE jump in my ftp of about 35W more when I first took my ftp test (ftp was @190). Definitely worth the training and still do it when I train indoors because now it’s all mental and pushing through the heat
I do heat training. 100 degrees out in the UT sun (105-110 road temperature) and i wear a fleece lined bib tight (Giordana) and Sportful Fiandre rain jacket. No fluids on the bike and i sweat about 4.5-5 pounds in a two hour ride. When i wear my typical Assos summer kit in the group ride, I fly in comparison. I ride past several gas stations along the way so i always have a bailout if i need to, but only needed it once to grab some fluids
Long term organ damage from exertion in extreme heat is a quietly growing problem - I hope sports scientists can verify that this can be done without risking long term health damage.
In the 1970s, I remember Dr. Ken Cooper saying that the first guy to run a sub 3:30 mile will probably be trained in 100 degree F. heat and at high altitude.
I think it makes sense. But I also think ‘’heat training’’ and its benefits might be as simple as something that is already established by medical science: a body that is stressed will react. Often, when controlled, the reaction can be a benefit. In other words: there seems to be a positive gain for health when a person makes themselves uncomfortable. I also would be interested to know if these measurable benefits disappear after a certain time. Very interesting nonetheless. Cheers, MC
And those amazing things people like Wim Hoff did also play into this argument that controlled stressing of the body makes it react and if properly controlled, it can have insane benefits. So it works physically for both hot & cold stimuli !
You want to do "heat training"? I'm here in Arizona and today's high is going to be around 112. Later in the week it will be 117. This has cooled down from the mid 120's for the past three months. I'm doing heat training, and I didn't realize. Hydration is a constant battle; you think you are on top of it, but it is something you MUST be constantly aware of. Even indoor training can be tricky.
I thought it was well known that living in hotter climates increases your blood volume? I was involved in an Alzheimer's research study that used cycling in a facility that had a chamber that had altitude and heat functions. A professional football club used the facility for training at hot altitude.
Due to my work schedule, I usually only ride in the afternoon during the week. Here in the front range of Colorado that often means 95-100 f (35-37C). My wife thinks I am crazy for riding when it's that hot but now I can tease her that I am training harder than her :)
At least the Colorado front range is dry, and once the sun goes down the temperature drops pretty rapidly. I wish I was a cyclist while I lived in Boulder - I missed out. Took a pandemic in Canada to get me. I imagine night cycling in Boulder summer could be pleasant, but mid-day? OUCH.
I could be daft, but I live in the desert with 105-118 degree temps for 4-5 months the year. It seems like I just need to make a point to do races in cooler temps 60-70s during the summer and I should hypothetically do very well against those who reside there locally.
I think these tests will never give terribly useful data with riders that have had significantly higher FTPs in their past. It's a lot easier to improve to a level below your peak.
@@veganpotterthevegan doing Z2 for 30min/45min a day shouldn't give +11,4% increase even to people that had great ftp in the past. And it's not like he didn't cycle at all those past few months
For a minute I thought you said hiit training... the idea of heat training scares me, I get migraines when I get too exhausted on hot days. Heat training is something I couldnt do. Living in a relatively hot place, I am probably more aclitimised than most Europeans but I still hate it.
Ah I have so many questions, here are the first that come to mind: i) I understand that people have a range of core temperatures, so do people with higher on average core temperatures respond less to heat training? And is the response (core temp, performance, vo2max) different if you focus on similar training effort vs. peak core temp? ii) Can you achieve similar effects with non-sport specific heat training, e.g you’re training for a marathon but you heat train on a bike?
This is superb video gcn! Just the kind of science deep dive that I love to watch, with excellent interviews with researchers and a Conor guinea pig case study! (Conor, you should have made Hank do it, or at least with you). My interest was piqued when too when Si referenced the article and I wondered how it worked. Now, I have a clear idea. Thanks gcn for one of the most insightful and informative videos!
I believe heat training works due to one thing: the higher your core temp, the faster all chemical reactions occur so all the factors which trigger muscle growth and increased red blood cells are generated more quickly, ie with less total power output getting the same benefits. This is extremely dangerous however, especially as your blood will get thicker and you'll need more water, you'll be extremely prone to electrolyte imbalances, aka heat exhaustion/stroke. In the southern US this kills several athletes each year who didn't know or weren't allowed to get enough salts and water. Usually you get sick first, and confusion is a big symptom so you might forget what to do once it sets in. It doesn't necessarily become less dangerous with experience because it can also manifest in a sudden heart attack, probably when you're at maximum exertion and you're actually feeling ok. Then you just have to hope medics are nearby.
I will always choose to go out riding during the hottest part of the day and I find that I improve easier when it's warm rather than cold. One thing I really notice is that either I don't need a warm-up or the time to warm-up is significantly decreased
To summarise. Slow long sessions in the heat can potentially boost red cell volume similar to altitude training. HIIT sessions should be done in an environment where external stressors aren't a limiting factor.
Very interesting, thanks for the video! Love learning about new ways of training better! Would love to know how many heat training sessions you did, how long they were and what %of FTP were they? Would be interested to understand how it could be incorporated into a training plan
Thanks alot Conor and GCN, super interesting! Kinda crazy the things people will do for performance gains. Can't believe that prof recommended (regular?) use of a rectal thermometer with a straight face!
This reminds me of two things wrestling training in garbage bags and sweats. That and my time I spent living and riding in Hawaii. Both really did put me in my best shape.
Would be interesting to do a similar experiment with a passive heat exposure protocol using hot tub or sauna. Sounds a bit more comfortable, a lot more expensive and should supposedly have a lot of the same benefits.
Wrestling coaches seem to have been on to this method for decades. The practice rooms in high school and college (in the 1990s for me) were aways small, hot and humid. And the Conor’s clothing choices were the same when we spent hours on the exercise bike trying to lose weight.
if you try to ride with the average value of this hiit workout for 30 minutes for example 250 try to keep those watts from the beginning of the workout and the next day do 60 minutes. After a week add 5-10 watts and start with 30 minutes (255-260w) It is important to have at least 3 days of rest or rides at zone 1-2 (100-125 BPM) or it depends on how your legs feel.
Not sure what to make of this. I ride in the heat year round and continue to get slower as I get older... ;) I'm just happy that at 58, I still can pedal!
Being 63 and many decades past being a cat 2 US racer. I'm mostly riding on the MTB. I live at 6000' in a high valley in Utah. From May to October my daily temperatures are high 80's to 104* F I'm averaging 160-180miles a week and so it's not stupid hot but I'm out for 3.5-.75hrs 40-50mile loops with 3k feet climbing. I'm going through 4 liters, sometimes 5 liters. The biggest thing is the sun the UV index here is often 15-16 average speed not very high nust keep it 11.5 - 13.4 it's
But the key question I have, when are you incorporating it? 4-6 weeks, is this in the off season, is it leading right up to a race, how many times a year are you doing it?
Im a bit surprized about this being a "new" concept amongst top level teams. My brother, post PHD Dr Eric Goulet , is running a performance lab at University of Sherbrooke, including testings in a heated, controlled environment chamber, studying athletetes' performance under various heat and hydration level. His findings, along with other studies results coming from other university had been published and known for well more than a dacade now, at least amongst the scientific community.
Well I did my first 100mi epic ride and.... I was the last woman back. Not because of cramping, or altitude, or cramps, but because I was on the verge of overheating. I was going from tree-shadow to tree-shadow, trying to cool off at each stop. I was stuffing my sports bra with ice at the aid stations. The SAG wagon helped me stay cool for the last bit by pouring water on me. My moving time and speeds were fine, legs tired but okay, but UGH at heat! Now before 100mi epic #2 I've deliberately gone out on more rides over the last month in the heat just to acclimate. Not to the level Connor just did - but in SoCal mid-day for 2hrs at a time. Garmin says it helped heat acclimation. Will see if I can keep moving while toasty next weekend!! I don't think I could bring myself to that level of intense heat training.... but I can survive more "hotter than I want" acclimation rides.
I did the protocol and it works amazing. But it is really really tough (1hour at 38.5 is horribly uncomfortable and your body is doing everything it can to make you stop and cool). One safety mesure you forgot to mention and the most dangerous one is heat stroke. It is easy to notice - if you stop sweating, stop immediately.
@@francescomancetti8327 Ok, in the 1st place it was a facetious joke. In the 2nd you have no idea what you are talking about. But hey, you got to show everyone on the internet just how smart you really are, congrats!
How do you fit in your regular training around these sessions? Do you drop some sessions or do you just do both your heat training alongside your training as normal? Would be interested to hear if Conor only did 5 heat sessions a week? And would it have to be 5 days a week over 2 weeks as per the vid, or can it be 2/3 sessions over 4 or 5 weeks?
How much of an increase in HR for the equivalent power would one expect to see when body temperature rises to the target range? Could you use delta HR to remove the requirement to directly measure body temperature? The fact that ronnestadt recommends post-session rectal temperature would lead me to think they tried to do this an weren't able to show a good association, though it could be more driven by the scientific priority to confirm temperature hits the target range rather than the coaching priority to induce the stress. Also, Conor has had an FTP above 400 in the past--was he riding and training regularly prior to this experiment? How much of this improvement was just due to riding his bike more and recovering fitness he "already had"? It'd be interesting to see someone exchange a different session for a heat training session. Would you replace a hard session or an easy one?
Definitely replace the easier sessions. You want the hard sessions to be hard, so you want good cooling for those. For the easier aerobic sessions, you can still get the training benefit, while getting the heat effect from no fan, additional layers, etc.
I've been living in Thailand for just under 2 years and regularly cycle in 30+ degrees which has become normal, so when I come back to visit the UK how will it affect my performance?
This has been really interesting. I am going to give this ago myself. I mean I’d like to think that summer riding in the uk might go some way towards heat training, but this year it’s been more like winter training.
Well, it's good I'm not a pro. 5% gain for miserable time on a bike, sweat waterfalls, with a chance of getting a heat stroke? No thanks. How about just going to a sauna after a good day of training? Feels way better at least.
For sure. With a 400 watt FTP that translates to 20 more watts, huge difference of power numbers only gained after many seasons. For an average recreational cyclist at 200 watts, 10 watt difference is not worth over just getting fitter and riding a bit more.
Neutral Skin Temperature of a human is near 33 C. Keep the person's surrounding to 33 C and the Windchill element of the total energy useage is negated. Read Paul Siple. Antartic scientist who devised the 'Windchill Formula'. From the total kCals/min burned by a cyclist, only about 25% gets to the tyre. The Human being is a heat engine. Make it 30% by negating windchill.
So, Conor reports an increase in FTP of 11% after just 2 weeks of heat training. This raises some interesting questions. If he were still a pro, would such a dramatic increase in RBC count in such a short space of time be grounds for suspicion by doping control? - If the claimed increase in aerobic capacity is the result of an increase in the number of red blood cells (possibly mediated by an natural enhanced secretion of endogenous EPO) how different is this as a means of performance enhancement compared with microdosing EPO at a below-detectable threshold limit? Could some innocent cyclists possibly be suspected of a doping violation on the basis of a heat-training related change in their biological passports? Could some not so innocent cyclists be using an explanation of heat-training as a means of accounting for suspicious changes in their body chemistry??
This is why the passport measures things over a long period of time - they want to know everyone's typical fluctuations from training/peaking/off-season/etc
One question I was not clear on: Are you still doing all of your regular training plan besides this, or did you just do heat training for two weeks without any other riding?
