I recall when these things came out - when I was playing junior league soccer - that we would wear them to increase the ease of breathing through the nose. I also recall seeing NFL players wearing them.
Just putting one on now does seem to reduce breathing resistance.
Has anyone used these for training or resistance?
Matt
I played with them toward the end of last season. They definatly made breathing through the nose easier. When I was a kid I broke my nose pretty badly and can hardly breathe out of it normally. When I used them I was doing LSD work and could run low/mid-z2 with my mouth closed. I can barely sit here and type with my mouth closed my nose is so botched up. I’m not sure how it would work putting one on after a swim or even while on the bike after a few minutes. I only used them for about amonth of run training then the weather got cooler and I stopped using them. I’ll try them again this year though and experiment with putting them on following a swim to see how that works.
I have a deviated septum from an old lacrosse injury and I wear Breathe Right Strips to sleep to prevent snoring. I’ve not tried them for training, but that’s probably a good idea.
I have never used them, so I can’t tell you if you’ll get a performance benefit from training with them. But I had an exercise science professor in college tell my class that they were a complete waste of time and just another fad when it came to boosting performance of any kind. Reason being is that your mouth is much more efficient in sucking in and releasing oxygen because it’s just plain bigger than the nasal passages. That’s the end goal, right - getting oxygen into your body? Now if you want to cure your snoring, I think they’re supposed to do wonders for that since that’s what they are intended for in the first place.
Use them in every race and long ride/run or brick. I breathe much easier with them and have a lot less snot running down my face.
I saw one of the top college guys wearing one at the last race I did. And it was before the swim if I remember correctly.
Dave
I wore them for ice hockey b/c you are forced to breathe through the nose more due to the mouthguard. seemed to work well.
Your professor is incorrect.
Try running with your nose pinched and tell me if it doesn’t make a difference.
But I had an exercise science professor in college tell my class that they were a complete waste of time and just another fad when it came to boosting performance of any kind. Reason being is that your mouth is much more efficient in sucking in and releasing oxygen because it’s just plain bigger than the nasal passages.
Yup, sounds like a typical professor. If he were an engineer he’d know a little about fluid dynamics and know that he was wrong. Close your nose and you’ll find that you’ve reduced the “air intake area” by about 10%. For those that have tried them, it’s a pretty substantial improvement in your ability to breathe through your nose. Less resistance=more air for less effort=better performance. That said, the adhesive doesn’t seem to like the spray Bullfrog sunscreen so I haven’t figured out how to use them in a race.
But I had an exercise science professor in college tell my class that they were a complete waste of time and just another fad when it came to boosting performance of any kind. Reason being is that your mouth is much more efficient in sucking in and releasing oxygen because it’s just plain bigger than the nasal passages.
Yup, sounds like a typical professor. If he were an engineer he’d know a little about fluid dynamics and know that he was wrong. Close your nose and you’ll find that you’ve reduced the “air intake area” by about 10%. For those that have tried them, it’s a pretty substantial improvement in your ability to breathe through your nose. Less resistance=more air for less effort=better performance. That said, the adhesive doesn’t seem to like the spray Bullfrog sunscreen so I haven’t figured out how to use them in a race.
So breathing through your mouth supplies about 90% of your air intake. For your description to have an effect on performance, one would need to utilize at least 90% of the oxygen taken in during each breath. I don’t think that’s correct. I’d bet cash dollars that the ability to breathe through one’s nose during exercise has no impact on oxygen usage.
A quick search revealed this article, which references a couple of studies showing exactly what I describe. Do you know of any studies that show improved performance with these devices?
i have used them many times in olympic distance races. if you put sunblock on after you put on the strip, i could the breath right strip to stay on for the whole race.
did they physiologically increase my work capacity? – not sure, but doubtful.
did they increase my comfort and ease my ability to suck in a bit more air when i really needed it? – absolutely yes.
if you are wondering about them, i’d say they are at least worth a try in training. and i think their advantage would be more noticable in shorter races (sprint, olympic) where (generally) you are working at much higher percent of your max. then you are in an IM or half IM distance race.
From a comfort point of view they may have sdome merit but I think your prof’s point was about O2 saturation in the blood. Unless you are diseased, O2 sat is not a limiting factor in performance. Therefore they offer no physiological benefit.
What about reducing the effort to inhale?
I know when I inhale hard when running, my nostrils will flare open.
But I had an exercise science professor in college tell my class that they were a complete waste of time and just another fad when it came to boosting performance of any kind. Reason being is that your mouth is much more efficient in sucking in and releasing oxygen because it’s just plain bigger than the nasal passages.
Yup, sounds like a typical professor. If he were an engineer he’d know a little about fluid dynamics and know that he was wrong. Close your nose and you’ll find that you’ve reduced the “air intake area” by about 10%. For those that have tried them, it’s a pretty substantial improvement in your ability to breathe through your nose. Less resistance=more air for less effort=better performance.
So breathing through your mouth supplies about 90% of your air intake. For your description to have an effect on performance, one would need to utilize at least 90% of the oxygen taken in during each breath. I don’t think that’s correct. I’d bet cash dollars that the ability to breathe through one’s nose during exercise has no impact on oxygen usage.
That’s not what I said. I said it will absolutely reduce (somewhat) the effort required to take in a given amount of air. I can rephrase if you like. Less effort breathing=less calories burned=better performance in long races. Given the variability in the tests described in the article I doubt that anything would show up, as it is likely within the 2 sigma range. If the nose is 10% and you are improving it’s flow resistance by 25% that’s still only a 2.5% total change. The brute-force example of how any improvement helps by using a swim nose clamp is illustrative that changing 10% is a big thing. Go try it, you can pay me in pictures of Tom D’s cat. 