Powerbreathe?? Anyone used them??
tonyw43
Posts: 249
Okay, so my fitness levels are not the best, and I know the more I ride, the better my fitness will get (slowly). But I am always happy to try new things if they help naturally. So I was wondering if anyone had any experience of the powerbreath things. Any good, benefits, drawbacks etc. After having smoked for 15 years (gave up 3 years ago, never looked back), it would be fair to say that my lungs had taken a bit of a hit, so anything I can do to improve my lung capacity, as well as just riding more, would be a bonus.
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TonyW43 wrote:Okay, so my fitness levels are not the best, and I know the more I ride, the better my fitness will get (slowly). But I am always happy to try new things if they help naturally. So I was wondering if anyone had any experience of the powerbreath things. Any good, benefits, drawbacks etc. After having smoked for 15 years (gave up 3 years ago, never looked back), it would be fair to say that my lungs had taken a bit of a hit, so anything I can do to improve my lung capacity, as well as just riding more, would be a bonus.
I used one for a while. They work, but they are no fun. I find that intervals up a steep hill are more enjoyable ... and you get a sense of achievement rather than just feeling queasy.--
Obsessed is just a word elephants use to describe the dedicated. http://markliversedge.blogspot.com0 -
i dont know where i heard it from, but i remember reading somewhere that it is the equivalent of riding up a hill in terms of lung workout. I have never used one so cant really comment personally.0
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maybe they give your lungs a work out, however some of most important physiological adaptations required for cycling fitness occurs within the legs. working one without the other is pretty pointless if you ask me.0
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I've heard that some asthmatics have found them useful. But that was just forum heresay.0
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I kinda get the impression they were designed for asthmatics, but then some bright spark in marketing realised they could cross-sell to a new market of sportspeople...0
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They claim to provide resistance to the intercostal muscles and diaphragm, being muscles they will get stronger. In theory it means your respiratory system is stronger/'more efficient and therefore your endurance should increase.0
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Cheers for the comments guys. Guess I should just get my butt out on my bike more.0
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I bought one recently out of curiosity more than anything. I also run and suffer from stitiches so I wondered if the increased diaphragm stregth would help with this (the website claims that Gebrselassie wouldnt have got a stitch in London if he used one!).
I have only been using it for 2 weeks and my experience so far is:
1. It's really boring - you only do 30 times but it is hard to motivate myself to do it.
2. I am getting better at doing it - the resistance is variable and I can manage more
3. I havent noticed any improvement performance wise (but it is a bit early to say)
4. In my heart of hearts I think that aerobic exercise must give the breathing muscles the workout they need so unconvinced of need for supplemental training. Still it might turn out to be the silver bullet i have been dreaming of!0 -
I'm an asthmatic and find that using one to warm up the lungs before I go out on a cold morning helps prevent me wheezing. I take ventolin/salbutamol only and find that after using this then the inhaler, my lungs are freer, than if I just use inhaler alone.0
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Bought one to but got bored after a few days
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