Wales’ plans ahead of next year’s World Cup will include training camps in Switzerland and Qatar, coach Warren Gatland said Wednesday.
“We have got a high-altitude camp in Switzerland, which is being planned, and we are doing a warm weather camp in Qatar,” Gatland said.
“I think we have got 12-14 days in Switzerland. We are going to sleep high, train low, going up by cable car to sleep,” the New Zealander added.
“We have had that planning in place for the last three months or so and have prepared for all that.
“The thing with the altitude training is not so much that you train at it, it’s just the physiological benefits you get from it.
“The challenge is doing that in Switzerland at altitude and also at 45-50 degrees centigrade in Qatar.”
World Cup hosts England had previously announced plans of their own to hold a two-week high-altitude training camp in Colorado in July.
Training at altitude, where the air is thinner so the body has to work harder for oxygen, was pioneered by distance runners.
The short-term benefit is that it accelerates the process of fat-burning but neither Wales nor England are expected to be at altitude for long enough to gain a major respiratory benefit ahead of the World Cup, which starts in mid-September 2015.