Does this gadgets improve anything in terms of performance?
Nope, every real study I’ve read says the limiter is not the ability to breathe in but the oxygen transportation to the blood.
Nope, every real study I’ve read says the limiter is not the ability to breathe in but the oxygen transportation to the blood.
^^^^^This.
If they worked, every pro in an endurance sport would be training with one.
Ok. Tenks
Then it is better to take my wife to dinner rather than spend 50€ on this 
Ok. Tenks
Then it is better to take my wife to dinner rather than spend 50€ on this
Go to a sufficiently flash restaurant and you’ll still get the benefit from the sharp intake of breath when you see the bill 
yes.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/...822001331?via%3Dihub
effects are small but measurable.
See also, https://www.outsideonline.com/health/training-performance/prepare-for-altitude-breathing/
There’s also growing evidence that many people are oxygen-limited during exercise.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38547388/
“Contrary to common belief, a growing body of evidence suggests that unsatisfied inspiration (UI), an inherently uncomfortable quality of dyspnea, is experienced by ostensibly healthy adults during high-intensity exercise.”
Good summary at,
https://www.outsideonline.com/...formance/air-hunger/
I was persuaded by this, bought one of the IMST (inspiratory muscle strength training) devices, used it for a month so far. So far no results ;-(
doug in Co. - i’m wondering if the breathing trainer you bought at least gives you metrics you can check to see if there is improvement. i’ve been grabbed by the airofit ads but havent pulled the trigger yet. I’ve battled mild asthma for a long time but it has seemed worse as a school teacher in these last few covid and rsv years.
When I’m reading that study I’m not seeing anything that suggests improved performance, or am I misreading. There were metrics that improved, but they didn’t appear to measure actual performance. In fairness I did skim read it very quickly so maybe I missed something.
Further, that study was done on ‘healthy’ adults (read untrained).
I certainly wouldn’t say that it provides sufficient evidence to outweigh the significant number of studies in the past that have found oxygen transport as the limiting factor in endurance sport, not oxygen intake.
ETA - sorry, post written very quickly, not trying to be antagonistic, but would like to prompt discussion as to whether there really is growing evidence to support.
There isn’t evidence to support it. My understanding is that in trained individuals, heart stroke volume is the limiting factor in oxygen update
That was entirely my understanding as well. Though also capillary density and hence oxygen transport across the membrane wall can also be a limiting factor. However, in almost all cases the blood leaving the lungs is 100% saturated. It’s a while since I’ve looked into it though!
My understanding of the data is that they won’t cause you harm (assuming you aren’t doing hypoxic/anoxic training, which has potential to cause harm if done improperly) if you have structurally normal lungs.
There is some literature, included that cited above, that they have the potential to increase respiratory muscle strength. Very small study but hypothesis generating and I’m sure there are other studies out there like that - I haven’t gone looking. However if respiratory muscle strength is not one’s limiting factor to exercise, than improving it will not improve one’s overall exercise capacity by any significant amount.
My reading of this study (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38547388/) is that it isn’t necessarily relevant here. The group that felt more breathless worked harder (higher W achieved and higher VO2peak). Whilst it discusses some interesting respiratory mechanics, there are caveats here. The subjects are all young (and as we age we all develop a little bit of mid-expiratory airflow obstruction, at least during higher work rates/higher ventilatory demand), they don’t publish all the CPET data, at least not that I could see, meaning that it is not clear what actually stopped these participants exercising, and the study has not yet been peer reviewed.
I would suggest that these devices will not improve the performance of almost any athlete with otherwise normal(ish) respiratory muscle strength and respiratory mechanics. Virtually everyone is cardiac limited, not respiratory limited, when it comes to endurance activities (some participants on CPETs can get their SpO2 down a few points when working at very high workloads) but it is rare, short lived and even if you dropped your sats from 98% to 94% you won’t notice a physiological difference, and stronger respiratory muscles won’t change that.
There is a respiratory rate where, once your are breathing fast enough, you are ventilating a proportionately high amount of anatomical dead space and your respiratory efficiency drops off. Stronger resp muscles (compared to ‘normal’ muscles) won’t make a noticable difference here. Gas can only flow so far/so fast, and it has to travel far enough to facilitate gas exchange before you breathe out again - there are interesting experiments using heli-ox mixtures and similar to make your inspiratory gas less dense however this is not quite practical to do whilst training…
(source: myself - respiratory physician, run a cardiopulmonary exercise testing lab, keen interest in cardiopulmonary physiology).
That was entirely my understanding as well. Though also capillary density and hence oxygen transport across the membrane wall can also be a limiting factor. However, in almost all cases the blood leaving the lungs is 100% saturated. It’s a while since I’ve looked into it though!
I’ve looked into it recently. Your understanding is what I used to believe, but it is not correct. Links already provided.
A search for EIAH (exercise induced arterial hypoxia) should bring up plenty more research.
I can get my spO2 down into the low 80s, happens on every run… when it does I have to walk
doug in Co. - i’m wondering if the breathing trainer you bought at least gives you metrics you can check to see if there is improvement.
not mine - I have the mid-range Powerbreathe, no metrics as such. I have increased the resistance a couple of times, so guess that shows some kind of improvement, even if it is only in Powerbreathe exercises
Does this gadgets improve anything in terms of performance?
The SpiroTiger was quite popular amongst pros 10-20 years ago. I don’t think it’s being sold anymore.
It’s a less restrictive device and more about consistent controlled deep breathing, from what I read. It has shown to be very effective for those with breathing issues but less so for endurance athletes. I read somewhere that it could be used for Intermittent Hypoxic Training but I didn’t understand how.
Get some breathe easy nose strips if you want to improve your breathing. Best thing I found recently.