Options
Power Breathers
JonathanFerguson
Posts: 53
in General Chat
Johnathan, I haven't used one yet but would consider it. I've had a bit of an insight into how they work as they were developed by one of the lecturers on my Sport Science course, and another lecturer has done considerable research on them. As a result we have been required to read a fair amount of research on them and the science behind them make sense. Both the lecturers are people I respect and they certaintly believe in it. However, as I say, I haven't used one myself, so I would be interested to know how you get on.
David.
David.
0
Comments
I can't say it had any benifits because it started collecting dust after about a month and I don't think thats a fair trial. The blurb on it sounded very good and they are supposed to do wonders for people with respiratory problems but at that cost I'd say yoga is cheaper, better for your core stability, flexibility and just as good for respiratory control and capacity.
Go yoga. Go yoga!
I'd be very interested to read of anyone who has found a significant improvement using a power breather.
David.
As Johnathan says the only way to see if it works is to make all things equal, and this is the way research is designed. One of the best designed studies did show improvements in time trial performance in cyclists and triathletes.
I would like to say that I'm not trying to endorse this product and am as interested in how people get on with it as anyone. It certaintly isn't going to be as effective as a well designed endurance programme.
David.
Being that most people (at rest) only use 1/2 to 2/3 of their lung space when breathing surely its just as important and as likely to be of benifit to learn how to use your lungs to their full capacity. You can have nice strong explosive muscles but if your not using the rest of the effected organs properly you surely won't get the full benifit?
Comparisons of other methods of respiritory training have been made, but as far as I know not to things like yoga (probably for the reasons I mentioned in my last thread). I've tried one of them and it wasn't pleasant, I thought my eyeballs were going to explode, and not really practical.
As for developing strong explosive respiratory muscles (it may or may not I don't know), that isn't the benefit to endurance training. It is to make the respiratory muscles more efficient so that they require less oxygen. This is the same as any weight training programme an endurance athlete may undertake, it isn't designed to develop explosive muscles (although this may help), it's to improve endurance.
David.
I do agree with Juliemac- yoga rocks![:D]
I do think there is a tendency too get too technical in certain areas, and lose focus on what matters. But that's the great thing about triathlon, it has become the pastime for the intellectual. In what other sport would you see as many people training with their Heart rate, and lactate threshold, as guidance to their performance. When would you ever see semi professional footballers reading up about how to make their running more efficient ( as this would be completely in their benefit), yet most triathletes with full time jobs spend hour researching this very fact! Coming back to the power breather, on the group of cyclists they tested, there was a 4% improvement on their average times after two months training with the power breather ( I just do it driving to and from work). 4% on an ironman course of 11 hours works out to be 26 mins. How many lengths of a pool is it going to take to shave that off your swim time?!?! Im all for gizmos, long may they continue!
David.
David.
Over 6 weeks there was an average 4.6% improvement on trial times
The regimen used was 6 weeks of training ,
Intensity of training was 50% of inspiratory muscle strength using an IMT device
Sessions involved 1 set of 30 breaths , twice daily
Duration of each session was approx 2 minutes
session frequency per week was 14 , hence total IMT training time per week was 28 minutes
Not a bad increase for 28 minutes per week ......
The article doesnt mention how many people were in the study and the other types of training that the participants may have been doing .... so Im unsure how reliable it is.
i am new to triathlons, but have a strong history in running.
A few years ago, when powerbreathe 1st came out, i was involved in a university trail for it. (the red performace one)
Lots of data was taken including maximum air inhaled in a single breath, max air exhaled, VO2 max, bleep test, mile run etc
We then did 6 weeks using the powerbreathe and training as usual.
At the end of it, my VO2 max had increased tremendously, much more than it would have by training alone.
i really rate it! my breathing has become much more controlled and the extra oxygen i take in really helps performance.
i must say though, not everyone experianced the same increase i did. Everyone benifited from using it, but not as much.
i progressed to level 10 very quickly, much quicker than everyone else, i was there after about 4 weeks, after that i went to failure each time i used it maybe this had something to do with why my results where much better than others?
I know a smiliar study was carried out on cyclists and rowers and im sure the results would be coheirant.
I paid 7€ for it and it definetely isn't crap. I bought it froma guy who works with lung-patients and he didn't want any profit of it. Most part of your money really goes to the mass profit of these big brands. Maybe you should ask in a hospital, who knows