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Strengthens the inspiratory muscles
As you inhale against the load, the inspiratory muscles are made to work harder; this training stimulus induces improvements in the force-generating capacity and metabolic efficiency of the inspiratory muscles (Sharpe et al., unpublished observations).

Breathing improved in 3 weeks
Training is accomplished with as little as 5 minutes training per day, and benefits are perceived by patients within 3 weeks of starting the training (McConnell et al., 1998)

Relieves the symptoms of Asthma
In randomised, controlled trials, on mild / moderate asthmatics, POWERbreathe increased inspiratory muscle strength by a mean of 11% in just 3 weeks (McConnell et al., 1998).
Inspiratory muscle training has been shown to relieve the symptoms of asthma by improving lung function, resulting in reduction of medication and a fall in hospitalisations (Weiner et al., 1992)

Relieves the symptoms of Dyspnoea and other respiratory disorders
Dyspnoea is a common feature of many disorders. Its source may be respiratory, cardiovascular, neuromuscular or even psychological. Inspiratory muscle weakness has been identified as a contributory factor in the perception of dyspnoea (Killian, 1998)
Training of the inspiratory muscles has been demonstrated to increase their strength, resistance to fatigue and, most importantly, to reduce exertional dyspnoea. (Lisboa, 1994; Copestake & McConnell, 1995; Lisboa, 1997; McConnell et al., 1998)
Reduction in exertional dyspsnoea has been demonstrated in healthy elderly people (Copestake& McConnell, 1995), asthmatics (McConnell et al., 1998) and patients with COPD (Lisboa et al., 1994, 1997)

Proven to enhance endurance in patients with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)
In randomised, controlled trials, POWERbreathe has been shown to generate improvements in inspiratory muscle strength of 55% and endurance of 86% in patients with COPD (Newall et al., 1998)

Inspiratory muscle training has improved inspiratory muscle function in the following conditions:
Spinal cord injury (Huldtgren et al., 1980, Gross et al., 1980)
Cystic fibrosis (Sawyer et al., 1993)
Chronic heart failure (Cahalin et al., 1997, Mancini et al., 1995)
Neuromuscular diseases including MS (Foglio et al., 1994), Duchenne muscular dystrophy (Wanke et al., 1994)
Heart-lung transplant patients (Ambrosino et al., 1996)

Maintenance of lung function during Corticosteroid use
Corticosteroids are used to treat a large number of disease conditions, but significant reductions in inspiratory muscle strength have been documented after an acute bout of oral corticosteroid treatment. Research has shown that a concomitant period of inspiratory muscle training can eliminate the fall in inspiratory muscle strength, therefore maintaining lung function during corticosteroid use (Weiner et al., 1995

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Proven to enhance inspiratory muscle strength and endurance in athletes
In athletes, POWERbreathe training has elicited improvements in strength by 31.2% and endurance by 27.8% (Caine & McConnell, 1998)

Proven to improve athletic performance
Research has shown that the inspiratory muscles have such a huge task to perform that they can 'steal' blood from our exercising limbs to supplement their work (Harms, C. 2000 'Effect of skeletal muscel demand on cardiovascular function' Med.Sci.Sports Exerc. 32 (1): 94-99) The effect of this is to limit the performance of those limb muscles - making exercise feel harder and impairing performance.
New studies have shown that specific inspiratory muscle training improves efficiency of the inspiratory muscles (Sharpe & McConnell, 1998)
By 'overloading' your inspiratory muscles using tried and proven principles of resistance training, their strength, power and endurance improves (Romer et al., 2001b)
Studies have shown that time trial performance improves in elite rowers (Volianitis et al., 2001a) and cyclists (Romer et al., 2001a) by as much as 4.6% - That slashes almost 3 minutes off a 40km cycling time trial and gives a winning margin of more than 60m in a 2000m rowing race!

Used as a warm-up, POWERbreathe boosts your inspiratory muscle performance
Research has shown that a standard warm-up fails to prepare the inspiratory muscles for the rigours of exercise (Volianitis et al., 1999). Laboratory trials show that a POWERbreathe warm-up significantly improves rowing performance and reduces breathlessness in competitive rowers (Volianitis et al., 2001b)

Inspiratory performance improves in 4 weeks
Within a few days your inspiratory muscles will feel stronger, within 3 weeks you will feel less breathless and within 4 weeks your performance will improve (Caine & McConnell, 1998; Volianitis et al., 2001a; Romer et al., 2001)

Using POWERbreathe for 30 breaths twice a day will improve breathing
POWERbreathe has undergone rigorous and systematic testing to identify the
most effective training regimen (Caine & McConnell, 1998)
The '30 breaths twice a day' training regimen is specially designed to provide the optimum conditions to improve your breathing power (Romer et al., 2001b)

Purpose: To investigate the effects of a period of resistive inspiratory muscle training (IMT) upon rowing performance.

Methods: Performance was appraised in 14 female competitive rowers at the commencement and after 11 wk of inspiratory muscle training on a rowing ergometer by using a 6-min all-out effort and a 5000-m trial. IMT consisted of 30 inspiratory efforts twice daily. Each effort required the subject to inspire against a resistance equivalent to 50% peak inspiratory mouth pressure (PImax ) by using an inspiratory muscle training device. Seven of the rowers, who formed the placebo group, used the same device but performed 60 breaths once daily with an inspiratory resistance equivalent to 15% PImax.

Results: The inspiratory muscle strength of the training group increased by 44 6± 25 cm H2 O (45.3± 29.7%) compared with only 6 ± 11 cm H2 O (5.3 ± 9.8%) of the placebo group (P , 0.05 within and between groups). The distance covered in the 6-min all-out effort increased by 3.5 ± 1.2% in the training group compared with 1.6 ± 1.0% in the placebo group (P , 0.05).
The time in the 5000-m trial decreased by 36 ± 9 s (3.1 ± 0.8%) in the training group compared with only 11 ± 8 s (0.9 ± 0.6%) in the placebo group (P , 0.05). Furthermore, the resistance of the training group to inspiratory muscle fatigue after the 6-min all-out effort was improved from an 11.2 ± 4.3% deficit in PImax to only 3.0 ± 1.6% (P , 0.05) pre- and post-intervention, respectively.

Conclusions: IMT improves rowing performance on the 6-min all-out effort and the 5000-m trial.

Key Words: RESPIRATORY MUSCLE TRAINING, PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT, INSPIRATORY MOUTH PRESSURE, RESPIRATORY FATIGUE, DYSPNOEA

VOLIANITIS, S., A. K. MCCONNELL, Y. KOUTEDAKIS, and D. A. JONES. Specific respiratory warm-up improves rowing performance and exertional dyspnea. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 33, No. 7, 2001, pp. 1189-1193.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was a) to compare the effect of three different warm-up protocols upon rowing performance and perception of dyspnoea, and b) to
identify the functional significance of a respiratory warm-up.

Methods: A group of well-trained club rowers (N 5 14) performed a 6-min all-out rowing simulation (Concept II). We examined differences in mean power output and dyspnoea measures (modified CR-Borg scale) under three different conditions: after a submaximal rowing warm-up (SWU), a specific rowing warm-up (RWU), and a specific rowing warm-up with the addition of a respiratory warm-up (RWUplus) protocol.

Results: Mean power output during the 6-min all-out rowing effort increased by 1.2% after the RWUplus compared with that obtained after the RWU (P , 0.05) which, in turn, was by 3.2% higher than the performance after the SWU (P , 0.01). Similarly, after the RWUplus, dyspnoea was 0.6 ± 0.1 (P, 0.05) units of the Borg scale lower compared with the dyspnoea after the RWU and 0.8 ± 0.2 (P , 0.05) units lower than the dyspnoea after the SWU.

Conclusion: This data suggests that a combination of a respiratory warm-up protocol together with a specific rowing warm-up is more effective than a specific rowing warm-up or a submaximal warm-up alone as a preparation for rowing performance.

Key Words: WARM-UP, PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT, RESPIRATORY SENSATION, INSPIRATORY MOUTH PRES-SURE, RESPIRATORY FATIGUE

Purpose: This study evaluated the influence of simulated 20- and 40-km time trials upon postexercise inspiratory muscle function of trained competitive cyclists. In addition, we examined the influence of specific inspiratory muscle training (IMT) upon the responses observed.

Methods: Using a double-blind placebo-controlled design, 16 male cyclists (mean _ SEM V _ O2max 64 _ 2 mL·kg _1 ·min _1 ) were assigned randomly to either an experimental (IMT) or sham-training control (placebo) group. Maximum static and dynamic inspiratory muscle function was assessed immediately pre- and_2, 10, and 30 min post-simulated 20- and 40-km time trials before and after 6-wk of IMT or sham-IMT.

Results: Maximum inspiratory mouth pressure (P0 ) measured within 2 min of completing the 20- and 40-km time trial rides was reduced by 18% and 13%, respectively, and remained below pre-exercise values at 30 min. The 20- and 40-km time trials induced a reduction in inspiratory flow rate at 30% P0 by 14% and 6% in the IMT group versus 13% and 7% for the placebo group, and also remained below pre-exercise values at 30 min. There was also a significant slowing of inspiratory muscle relaxation rate post-exercise; these trends were almost completely reversed by 30 min post-exercise. Significant improvements in 20- and 40-km time trial performance were seen (3.8 _ 1.7% and 4.6 _ 1.9%, respectively; P _ 0.05) and post-exercise reductions in muscle function were attenuated with IMT.

Conclusion: This data supports existing evidence that there is significant global inspiratory muscle fatigue after sustained heavy endurance exercise. Furthermore, the present study provides new evidence that performance enhancements observed after IMT are accompanied by a decrease in inspiratory muscle fatigue.

Key Words: CYCLING, ERGOGENIC AID, RESPIRATORY MUSCLE

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