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Noticed the lung exerciser Powerbreathe.
Has anybody used one?
if so ..
What are your thoughts?
My son is a med-student .. and as such knows everything (or so claims to).. he informs me a rubber band around the chest would be more beneficial.
I was part of the clinical trail at Trent uni for the power breathe, I was one of the lucky ones who got the real thing, over the 6 week period there was a noticable improvement in Vo2, performance over a 10k time trial. On a personal note I noticed a massive improvement in ability to climb like a goat, should still have the results somewhere may dig them out. Or if your son has access to Pubmed the research paper was written by Dr G Sharpe & Dr M johnson ' effects of respiratory training' or something like that cant remember the full title.
Hey.
I've owned one for a good few years but don't use it that much, they definately work, but don't over do it, ease into using it gently until you get used to it!
this is the one:
Eur J Appl Physiol. 2007 Dec;101(6):761-70. Epub 2007 Sep 15.
Inspiratory muscle training improves cycling time-trial performance and anaerobic work capacity but not critical power.
Johnson MA, Sharpe GR, Brown PI.
Source
School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, NG11 8NS, UK. michael.johnson@ntu.ac.uk
Abstract
We examined whether inspiratory muscle training (IMT) improved cycling time-trial performance and changed the relationship between limit work (W (lim)) and limit time (T (lim)), which is described by the parameters critical power (CP) and anaerobic work capacity (AWC). Eighteen male cyclists were assigned to either a pressure-threshold IMT or sham hypoxic-training placebo (PLC) group. Prior to and following a 6 week intervention subjects completed a 25-km cycling time-trial and three constant-power tests to establish the W (lim)-T (lim) relationship. Constant-power tests were prescribed to elicit exercise intolerance within 3-10 (Ex1), 10-20 (Ex2), and 20-30 (Ex3) min. Maximal inspiratory mouth pressure increased by (mean +/- SD) 17.1 +/- 12.2% following IMT (P < 0.01) and was accompanied by a 2.66 +/- 2.51% improvement in 25-km time-trial performance (P < 0.05); there were no changes following PLC. Constant-power cycling endurance was unchanged following PLC, as was CP (pre vs. post: 249 +/- 32 vs. 250 +/- 32 W) and AWC (30.7 +/- 12.7 vs. 30.1 +/- 12.5 kJ). Following IMT Ex1 and Ex3 cycling endurance improved by 18.3 +/- 15.1 and 15.3 +/- 19.1% (P < 0.05), respectively, CP was unchanged (264 +/- 62 vs. 263 +/- 61 W), but AWC increased from 24.8 +/- 5.6 to 29.0 +/- 8.4 kJ (P < 0.05). In conclusion, these data provide novel evidence that improvements in constant-power and cycling time-trial performance following IMT in cyclists may be explained, in part, by an increase in AWC.
Thanks both.