At the Triathlon Show we attended in London (February 2015), we were delighted when a visitor to the stand shared a very personal and positive story with us.

In 1998 / 1999 the gentleman in question had applied to take the Royal Marines fitness test but unfortunately didn’t pass on that occasion.

Determined to pass the fitness test, he went away to assess how he could become fit enough to take it again and came across POWERbreathe which he immediately incorporated into his training regimen.

After about 3-months’ training with his POWERbreathe, he re-took the test and as he says in this short video, “aced the test”.

The Potential Royal Marines Course (PRMC) and Potential Officers Course (POC) are among the toughest initial trainings of any elite force in the world. But before recruits make it through to these courses they need to pass the Royal Marines Pre Joining Fitness Test which involves two runs of 1.5 miles (2.4 km) each with the treadmill set at a 2% incline. To pass they need to do the first run in under 12 minutes 30 seconds and then complete the second 2.4km run immediately afterwards in less than 10 minutes (regardless of age). So you can see how tough it is to pass the test!

Energy and stamina are required if recruits are to get through, and this is where POWERbreathe can help. Because a recruit will be asking more from their muscles, their body will demand more oxygen to provide more energy to their muscles. To cope with this extra demand, their breathing will increase and their circulation will speed up as it needs to take the oxygen as quickly as possible to their fiercely working muscles. This will naturally leave a recruit out of breath and potentially feeling fatigued early, hindering their chance of finishing the test in the time allowed.

POWERbreathe Inspiratory Muscle Training (IMT) trains these breathing muscles to become stronger, enabling recruits to draw in more air, filling the useable area of their lungs to their fullest capacity, giving them the strength and stamina to perform at their best.