Inspiratory Muscle Training Improves Exercise Tolerance in Recreational Soccer Players Without Concomitant Gain in Soccer-Specific Fitness

Abstract

This study investigated whether the addition of inspiratory muscle training (IMT) to an existing program of preseason soccer training would augment performance indices such as exercise tolerance and sports-specific performance beyond the use of preseason training alone. Thirty-one men were randomized across 3 groups: experimental (EXP: n = 12), placebo (PLA: n = 9), and control (CON: n = 10). The EXP and PLA completed a 6-week preseason program (2× weekly sessions) in addition to concurrent IMT with either an IMT load (EXP) or negligible (PLA) inspiratory resistance. Control group did not use an IMT device or undertake soccer training. All participants performed the following tests before and after the 6-week period: standard spirometry; maximal inspiratory mouth pressure (MIP); multistage fitness test (MSFT); and a soccer-specific fitness test (SSFT). After 6-weeks training, EXP significantly improved: MIP (p = 0.002); MSFT distance covered (p = 0.02); and post-SSFT blood lactate (BLa) (p = 0.04). No other outcomes from the SSFT were changed. Pre- to posttraining performance outcomes for PLA and CON were unchanged. These findings suggest the addition of IMT to preseason soccer training improved exercise tolerance (MSFT distance covered) but had little effect on soccer-specific fitness indices beyond a slightly reduced posttraining SSFT BLa. In conclusion, there may be benefit for soccer players to incorporate IMT to their preseason training but the effect is not conclusive. It is likely that a greater preseason training stimulus would be particularly meaningful for this population if fitness gains are a priority and evoke a stronger IMT response.

Daily respiratory training with large intrathoracic pressures, but not large lung volumes, lowers blood pressure in normotensive adults

“…Note that subjects in Groups 1, 2, and 4 attained comparable lung volume expansion (i.e., total lung capacity -residual lung volume) (Hostettler et al, 2011). Individuals in the placebo trained Group 5, also breathed against an inspiratory resistance however the target pressure, and therefore the negative (inspiratory) pressure generated by these subjects during training, approximated only 15% PI max , also in accordance with the literature (Guy et al, 2014;Laoutaris et al, 2007;Volianitis et al, 2001).…”

The Effect of Respiratory Muscle Training on the Pulmonary Function, Lung Ventilation, and Endurance Performance of Young Soccer Players

“…Inspiratory muscle training (IMT) applies an additional load to the diaphragm, being an accessory to the inspiratory muscles, to enhance their strength and endurance. Some research in the literature has assessed the effects of IMT in soccer players [24][25][26][27], demonstrating that the inclusion of such training in the primary soccer training process can improve inspiratory muscle strength (PI max ), expiratory muscle strength (PE max ), and exercise tolerance, and also reduce blood lactate (BLa) levels after a cycle of exercises [26]. Research conducted by Archiza et al [28] on a group of 18 female soccer players indicated that IMT could relieve the metabolism of inspiratory muscles and, as a consequence, improve muscle oxygen supply during high-intensity exercise.…”

Inspiratory Muscle Training in Intermittent Sports Modalities: A Systematic Review

“…Three types of intervention were used, namely: (a) IMT in a chronic protocol (n = 7) [32,37,38,48,[58][59][60]; (b) in an acute protocol before the evaluation test (n = 2) [46,47]; (c) with a combination of chronic and acute protocols (n = 1) [50]. The chronic intervention procedure lasted between five and twelve weeks so that no homogeneity can be seen in them.…”

“…In addition to biochemical and structural adaptations, training the inspiratory muscles would be useful to decrease the metaboreflex [25,26], by reducing fatigue in the respiratory muscles [27][28][29] through increased strength and endurance of the inspiratory muscles [30], in addition to lowering the lactate concentration [31][32][33][34]. All of this causes a reduction in both perceived effort [35,36] and the feeling of shortness of breath [37,38].…”

“…RMT has been shown to be useful in both short-and long-term continuous sports, such as athletics [51,52], swimming [41,43], cycling [39,42,53,54], and rowing [36]; however, there are far fewer studies related to intermittent sports modalities such as football [32,37,48] or rugby [38,47]. The intrinsic characteristics of this type of sports, such as the existence of a recovery time between efforts, which are frequently executed at a very high intensity and with a short duration, may be susceptible to improvement through RMT or IMT, both because of a possible decrease in the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) as well as in the sensation of dyspnea and, above all, by positively affecting the metabolic reflex.…”