Metaboreflex - want to improve your PB? Read on...

I recently watched a webinar about breathing in sport and it really struck a chord with me.  There are a variety of muscles utilised in the breathing process and they need to be trained to perform at their optimum – just as all muscles do.  As babies we all breathed effectively, but this can change over the years.  Those who performed cardiovascular activities as teenagers are at an advantage with respiratory muscle conditioning as adults.

By improving our breathing, we can improve our PBs and maximise our potential.  It is the muscles that draw breath in (inspiratory muscles) that need to be exercised.  The aero position in cycling and the pressure of water for swimmers compromises one’s ability to draw air.  When we exercise, our breathing muscles become fatigued and this affects our performance in many ways.  In runners, fatigue can impair running form and lead to excessive amounts of energy being lost.  There is also a safety mechanism that comes in to play when our breathing muscles become too fatigued – it is called the metaboreflex.  Have you ever felt as if you could continue to perform at your chosen sport, but just felt dead in the legs?  This metaboreflex cuts the blood supply to the legs when your breathing muscles get way too tired.  Now, that’s not going to facilitate anyone’s performance!

The good news is that the threshold for the metaboreflex can be changed, blood flow distribution can be optimised and one’s rate of perceived exertion can be lowered.  The even better news is that there are clinical trials to prove the effectiveness of strengthening our inspiratory muscles.  In fact, the time trials showed that cyclists in the aero position performed 4.6% faster.  There are two ways that we can achieve this kind of improvement – by working at our maximal (the trials needed 53 minutes two times per week, for 6 weeks, for a 4.9% improvement in speed), or by using a gadget called the POWER breathe POWER breathe.  This is my new toy!  The POWER breathe requires 5 minutes of use two times per day, for 6 weeks.  This means that training regimes don’t need to be interrupted and time/energy can be managed more effectively.

Ironmen and women even have a limited edition of this lung exercising gadget for their even more demanding needs.  Imagine increasing your speed by 4.6% over  a period of 6 weeks…

The person behind this wonderful research is Alison McConnell from Brunel University Alison McConnell. 

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I am off to do my evening set of 30 breaths...be back again soon!