Powerbreathe - gimmick?

[Skillgannon]

I was looking arroud the net and found stumbled across this company called powerbreathe, have variable resistance breath training things. Fairly expensive, but have some massive claims - "slashes almost 3 minutes off a 40km cycling time trial"

Anyone have any experience with these?

[stumpytrunks]

Yep, I was really interested too so I organised to try one with the importer. Essentially I didn't notice any difference, although I know that is hard to judge. The importer himself said that for highly trained athletes the benifits would be minimal. Essentially it is good if you are not that fit.

[Skillgannon]

Acording to the site, gains took about 4-5 weeks to be noticeable, how long did you try it for?

And who'se the australian importer? It'd be interesting to give see how it works

[stumpytrunks]

Acording to the site, gains took about 4-5 weeks to be noticeable, how long did you try it for?

And who'se the australian importer? It'd be interesting to give see how it works

I can't honestly remember but I think it was about six weeks, although not consistently. It must do something but I tihnk normal deep breathing would be just as benificial.

http://www.healthmg.com.au/feature.idc from memory the bloke I delt with was Tim Courtney Perkins (that could be very wrong as it was early last year and I've got no records left), super nice bloke but I'm not sure if what he did for me was standard practice.

[Skillgannon]

Thanks for that, I've seen cheaper prices (free shipping from the US ones) but wanted to try and get my hands on one of them here. How did you manage to get to trial one when the shops in QLD and your in Tasmania?

[stumpytrunks]

A way with words and an Australia post satchel Local shop stocks them too but the importer sent one down for me.

[Skillgannon]

:O:shock:...now thats gotta be the nicest/most trusting/most gullible importer I've ever heard of

[stumpytrunks]

Suppose he knew where I live... Just nice and trusting with an eye for breaking into a new market. People down here seem to copy what I do a fair bit.

[Lardy]

One of British Cyclings Physiologists swears by them. It gave me ear ache though.

[Commuter]

Snake Oil.

Buy a bag of ballons and blow them up.

[BBAGDAN]

i thank all the swimming i did during my young adulthood for my huge vo2 max.

in swimming you are taking very deep powerful breaths in a couple tenths of a second, then slowly exhaling over 2-3 seconds. you hold your breath even longer when you turn and glide. meanwhile, swimming is damn hard and your heart is pounding-- the perfect companion for developing a super cardio-pulmonary system.

[Lardy]

Makes my cleats rust though.

[Blood Sweat And No Tears]

i used powerbreathe twice every day for about 18 months. I used it when i started road riding, and it certainly helped me out. I can't say if it would help a well trained athlete though. The only reason I stoped was because i got a tooth punched out, and everytime i sucked in it felt like it was pinching the tooths nerve. For reference I had a vo2max of 82 after using the it for about 16 months. Haven't been tested before or after though, and can't say whether PB helped, but I'd guess it did.

[wana be like jan]

i was told to maxamise your v02, in thru the powerbreathe out thru a maccas straw. try that its freakn hard almost passed out on the first couple of tries