I have been told by a respiratory therapist and two M.D.s that these devices are largely ineffective. Personally, I find that difficult to believe since, it would seem to me, this would increase oxygen pressure in your lungs (like "pressure breathing" does for high altitude mountaineers). Intuitively, them seem like a good idea, but I am neither a respiratory expert nor an M.D. I just work in a bike shop.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Waste of money. The limiting factor in breathing is not the strength of your diaphragm but the cross sectional area of your tubes. At high breathing rates one gets to turbulent flow and increased muscle strength will do little to improve air flow.

F Day, MD

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

Just go the cheap way and get a pack of ballons or a rubber raft. :)

I asked the same question on this site about 6 months ago. Despite the negative feedback, I went ahead and tried one anyway. Bad news is--I didn't notice any real improvment in run/swim/bike times. Good news is--I don't have to carry a pump or CO2 cartridges on my bike anymore.

Seriously--Bicycling magazine (on-line) carried a report a while back that people using these devices 20 breaths a day for a month showed some improvement.

You're just as well to sing while you work out. It sounds silly, but singing properly can strengthen the diaphragm.

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Call me Big Dick

Is that like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' "Whistle While You Work"

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Animal!!!

Here's the link to the Bicycling article:

http://www.bicycling.com/...html?category_id=363

FWIW

"Bad news is--I didn't notice any real improvment in run/swim/bike times. Good news is--I don't have to carry a pump or CO2 cartridges on my bike anymore. "

Think of how much $ you can save over co2 cartridges in the long run

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I have a friend in my masters swim class that did her Ph.D thesis about this... the summary is that they're not a good training tool. save your $ for a bike fit and/or coach and/or powermeter. Or a really loud alarm clock to get your arse out of bed at 4am to train.

Continuous airway pressure techniques can help drive oxygen across the alveoli into the bloodstream...effective in high altitude situations to some extent, but, guess what? This technique DEcreases CO2 removal from the blood across the alveoli into your expired air. Nothing's free here! It's all just about pressure gradients.

The limiters to oxygenation have vastly more to do with right heart cardiac output through your pulmonary vessels, alveolar surface area, and bronchial tube cross-sectional diameter, than it has to do with the muscles involved with breathing (diaphragm and external intercostals). It's a bunch of hooey. Also, a strong person can induce acute pulmonary edema by inspiring too hard against a resistance device.

Save your money.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)