Whenever we stopped using it for a while, the benefits seemed to disappear very quickly, and even maintenance level training didn’t quite hold us at peak level. With a reasonable degree of confidence we can say that when we were using the K5 twice a day, we could produce 5-10W extra power on the bike in max efforts between five minutes and one hour. On the device we experimented with twice a day training, maintenance and no training at all, mixing things up over the course of the season in conjunction with normal on-the-bike training. While progress on the K5 was easy to measure, translating it to performance (increased power output) on the bike was trickier. We’re told that that’s a very good score, indicative of strong breathing muscles. From a starting point of around 100 (cm H2O ‘lifted’) we increased this to 225 over the course of several months. We also regularly tested our peak inspiratory flow (PIF), which is a one-off test where you inhale as quickly and sharply as possible. We found that tracking the work done in kilojoules was the best measure of progress – this is a function of the resistance, power and volume of each breath. But you can use it to warm up at 40% of your normal intensity, or even as a post-race cool down to help relax your muscles again. It’s recommended that you don’t do normal Powerbreathe sessions just before a race or hard training session. We found that we kept improving when we went back to twice a day, albeit far more slowly. It can be adjusted as you go, but in practice we found that it’s better to start off too easy rather than too hard.Īfter four to six weeks of doing this, you will have strengthened your intercostal muscles and diaphragm quite significantly, at which point you can move onto a three times a week maintenance program to keep them strong. This means the valve setting has to be carefully judged or you’ll hit halfway and not be able to do any more, cutting short the usefulness of the session. The generally accepted training protocol if you’re new to IMT is a set of 30 breaths through the device, twice a day, aiming to breathe sharply and fully and reach failure by the final one. You can easily change it during your session if it’s too hard or too easy. On the K5 you can set this either on the unit or via the Breathe-Link software that you can install on your computer. The resistance is governed by a valve with a variable aperture. But if you’re into marginal gains then a Powerbreathe is worth considering as a top-up to your other training.Īll Powerbreathe products work in the same way: you train by breathing in through a mouthpiece against resistance – this is termed inspiratory muscle training (IMT).
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