Respiratory muscle specific warm-up and elite swimming performance

Abstract

Abstract:Background:

Effects of Respiratory Muscle Warm-up on High-Intensity Exercise Performance

“…No clear patterns emerged among participants who performed best at a given RWU intensity. In conclusion: (1) an ideal inspiratory pressure exists; (2) previous research shows significant benefits of respiratory training [13,14,17,18]; and (3) individualized performance benefits of 10 of the 11 participants were more than double the standard deviation (±20 s) better than CON during at least one of the RWU conditions. This collective evidence allows us the confidence to conclude the protocol has the potential to provide practically important benefits to the physical performance test.…”

“…Participants used the same device for all familiarization and experimental trials. The specific RWU volumes and intra-set rest intervals used here replicated procedure used in previous studies [13][14][15][16][17][18]. The device was specifically chosen because it is inexpensive, portable, and allows the amount of airflow restriction to be adjusted (range of 3-13 mm), making it a realistic option for practitioners.…”

“…This important stage in the research required scientists to control and monitor as many variables as possible [13][14][15][16][17][18], and led to the prescription of a desired inspiratory pressure of 40% [19]. Our goal was to examine RWU in setting more realistic to practitioners.…”

“…Intentionally restricting airflow during inhalation, exhalation, or both [10][11][12] forces the respiratory muscles to increase work output to adequately support airflow and gas exchange needs. Improvements in whole-body performance have been found in a variety of sports [12][13][14][15] and general exercise settings [16][17][18] following these types of respiratory exercise. For example, Romer, McConnell, and Jones (2002) reported that chronic respiratory training significantly improved 20 km and 40 km cycling time trial performance by ~3%-5% [12].…”

“…Most studies report success when implementing two sets of 30 respiratory cycles at 40% of maximal inspiratory pressure [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]18]. Higher intensity restriction actually fatigues the system, while less restriction is insufficient [19].…”