Join us for The #30secondsummit Challenge 2020. Arc'teryx Piccadilly and The Altitude Centre have joined forces to bring you a unique competition experience from your home. FULL EVENT DETAILS The 30-Second Summit Challenge has landed! Race against the clock to see how many 1-steps you can do. Video yourself and challenge a friend for the chance to win a weekly prize, courtesy of Arc’teryx Piccadilly and The Altitude Centre! What can I win? Every Sunday between Monday 30th March 2020 and Sunday 26th April 2020, we will select 1 winner at random to receive an Arc’teryx T-shirt of their choice, and 1-week of FREE Virtual Classes with The Altitude Centre! How do I enter? - Take part in the 1-step challenge from the comfort of your home, (or, where safe, on some steps outside). - The challenge is to see how many times you can ascend and descend 1-step, in just 30 seconds. The challenge can be undertaken on the step of a staircase or using a step block. (Two feet up, and two feet down counts as one step). For a chance to win, entrants must do the following: 1.     Video yourself doing the 30-second step challenge, and share on Social media (Instagram stories / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn) 2.     Tag @arcteryxpiccadilly @thealtitudecentre #30secondsummit in your video 3.     Tag a friend(s) you want to challenge! 4.     Tell us in the video how many steps you climbed in 30 seconds Competition Rules ·       1x entry per person per week ·       Entrants can enter the competition again week-on-week, but must tag a new friend in each Story ·       Entries without the appropriate tags and hashtag will not count Announcing the winner The competition will run on a weekly basis (12:00AM GMT Monday to 17:30PM GMT Sunday). A winner will be selected at random and will be announced at 17:30PM GMT every Sunday on Instagram throughout the competition period. Follow @arcteryxpiccadilly and @thealtitudecentre for updates! T&Cs By entering this competition, an entrant is indicating their agreement to be bound by these terms and conditions. This prize promotion is open to UK residents (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). The competition will run from 12:00AM 30th March 2020 to 17:30PM 26th April 2020, with prizes announced on 05.04.2020, 12.04.2020, 19.04.2020 and 26.04.2020. All prizes are given at the discretion of the host companies (Arc’teryx Piccadilly and The Altitude Centre). One prize will be awarded per week with the winner announced on Instagram unless stated otherwise. The winner will be contacted by social media and will have 14 days from notification to claim their prize. Prizes are non-refundable, non-exchangeable, and no cash alternative will be offered. The host companies reserve the right to replace the prizes with an alternative of equal or higher value if circumstances beyond these parties’ control makes it necessary to do so. The host companies reserve the right to hold void, cancel, suspend, or amend the promotion where it becomes necessary to do so. ---  
 Here at The Altitude Centre, we are offering Live Stream Classes to your home. As part of The Altitude Centre family you can join your first class for FREE! Just select your class of choice from the weekly schedule here, and use code ‘TACfree’ at the checkout to sign up free of charge!

We are working hard to ensure that you can train effectively at home. The first step towards this is our range of live virtual workouts. Whether you need your circuit class motivation, HIIT session smash or you're missing your ride club fix, we're offering new workouts daily to keep you training hard, and bring the spirit of the chamber to you! Live Virtual Classes We have daily instructor lead sessions, through a range of circuit, HIIT and ride club style classes. These classes will be live streamed to you so that you can train with one of our performance specialists and the rest of your usual training pals, meaning you get that group atmosphere while training at home! For our cardio sessions, simply jump on the turbo, treadmill, or other cardio equipment and follow along at home. For our circuit classes, all you're going to need is yourself! Not only will these be great workouts, we also hope they'll be a useful way to maintain social contact with those you usually train with, and a good excuse to step away from the desk while working from home. To Book Members can simply head to check our class schedule and book into the sessions you'd like to join. These virtual classes are included in your membership! Guests can purchase sessions a week at a time with your first week just £10! This entitles you to join as many classes as you'd like during that time. To book in, just head here!

The final preparation... So here we are: you’ve come to your final month or so of preparations, and you’re wondering how exactly to take your training to the next level. Literally. How can you get in those final important adaptations, and ensure you’re as ready as you can be for the trek? Acclimatisation continues… So far, you’ve assessed your baseline tolerance to high altitude, been training at moderate altitude to kickstart the acclimatisation process and accelerate your fitness improvements, as well as training passively at high altitude to get that all important exposure. Now it is time to combine it all in The Summit Phase of your training. Trekking at high altitude. The Summit Phase The Summit Phase allows you to trek at high altitude in the comfort of your own home with our rental equipment, or at our City HQ under the guidance of one of the Performance Team. It’s the chance to experience what you may well experience on your Summit night. High altitude trekking. Just as you will be on the trek, we’ll be starting low and building the altitude as we progress through the sessions. It’s not every day you can trek at 5000m in the UK, so it’s important that we don’t jump straight from sea level to the dizzy summit heights. It’s important to remember that training is all about adaptation, and improvement, not how high you train. Your Performance Specialist will adjust the altitude, incline, and speed of your training session based on the live SpO2 and Heart Rate data, so it means that your sessions may differ from day to day based on hydration, fatigue, stress and other factors too – so it’s key to remember that higher isn’t always better in your training – adaptation is key. Physiological adaptation We have discussed it before, but the research suggests that higher your SpO2, the less susceptible to altitude sickness you may be. What it also shows, is that the smaller the reduction in SpO2 when trekking at altitude in comparison to sea level, the less susceptible you may be as well. So what is the goal of the session? Exactly that. Over time, we will train your body to maintain a higher SpO2 while trekking at altitude on the treadmill, improving your tolerance to low oxygen environments, and reducing your susceptibility to high altitude. What can often be overlooked are the psychological benefits to trekking at high altitude prior to travelling, as well as the opportunity to practice the breathing techniques you’ll be putting to use on the mountain. Just by knowing how you can expect to feel on the mountain, you’ll be in a stronger position to tackle the altitude. Knowing when to adjust your breathing, when to rest, when to slow down. These are all important factors to consider for your high altitude summit, and one that you’ll be living and breathing before heading off on your trip. It’s even been show that a positive and relaxed attitude actually increases your SpO2 while at altitude, so it's important not to underestimate this! So what does each session involve? Trekking at Altitude This is what it comes down to. The final few weeks of preparation are about increasing the altitude, and reducing the exercise load at the same time. The phrase ‘Pole Pole’ is often used on Kilimanjaro to ensure trekkers take it nice and slowly, and the same applies to your training here. The intensity of training is not high enough for you to be working up a real sweat (that comes from the sessions you went through earlier in training – see here), but the altitude is high enough to get your heart pumping and your lungs working – just like the Summit Phase on the mountain! The team at The Altitude Centre will adjust the speed, incline, and all important altitude based on your live stats as they record your SpO2 and Heart Rate data as you go, meaning that we are optimising your training for adaptation. Again, it’s important that you remember the focus here is on adaptation, not altitude. During the hour-long session, we’ll replicate the speeds and inclines that you’ll be experiencing on your trek, and it’s great if you can replicate some of the other variables too; so don’t forget to bring your day pack and your boots for the ultimate experience, and maximum benefits! When do I add trekking at altitude to my POD sessions? As we close in on your departure date, your high intensity sessions will switch out for some high altitude trekking as the focus turns to acclimatisation rather than fitness improvements, and we also want to minimise risk of injury in the lead up to the trek. These are great to do right before you head off, in the 3-4 weeks prior to departure if you can train 2-3 times per week, or in the 6-8 weeks prior if you can only manage 1-2 sessions per week. You should also continue to supplement these with POD sessions, and higher intensity exercise in the chamber at 2700 m, but trekking at high altitude will begin to take over. Remember – the more exposure you get, the better the acclimatisation effect. The Real Summit Push And there we have it – once you’ve completed your personal training sessions, you’re all set for the trip. This is the final stage in your training preparations and you are ready to attack the summit with the same intensity you did your training. But don’t forget there are lots of things to consider between leaving for your trip, and reaching the summit, a few of which we will touch on for next week’s final instalment in The Summit Push! Book your sessions now - Personal Training - Online here