Lung capacity trainer / Endurolung ? Mouthpiece with tube, anyone have one?

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black_sea

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The plastic lung trainer tubes with a mouthpiece, sold as lung trainer, endurolung, etc.
I want to train up my lungs, people keep selling these devices, anyone have one, how are they made? Looks simple.
Thinking of making one.
Some people suggest just taping over a snorkel opening with duct tape and changing the opening depending on the training needs.
Now that I think about it, maybe I should just hold a thumb over a snorkel with a small opening and see how it goes.
 
Just out of curiosity, what are you training your lungs to do? Inhaling against a resistance MAY train your diaphragm and intercostal muscles, but only how to inhale against a resistance (which is something one really oughtn't do as a regular practice). You cannot "train" your lungs to do anything.
 
Thank you both for your replies.
An avid sportsman , I swim and do apnea and other breath exercises regularly.

I was under the impression that one does train lung capacity and that athletes have a pronouncedly larger lung capacity than non-athletes, thus demonstrating lung training.

I do not aim to split hairs with terminology here. If anyone has said device and could post description of the mechanism of action, I would appreciate it, as this would allow me to decide if there is a merit to it.

Here is one exploded view I found.
powerbreathe2.jpg

http://www.popgadget.ru/uploads/images/powerbreathe2.jpg
Some research, though with a low positive effect
http://www.ergo-log.com/powerbreathe.html
 
Thank you. Looks like the thread was filled with, as usual, lots of opinion without someone using the product nor citing research. Still looking for opinion from someone that actually has one and can tell me what the principle is, i.e. has taken it apart.
 
If you took a runner that trains in high elevations and bring them down to sea level they would be able to run circles around somebody that trains at sea level. The reason is obvious, the air is thinner the higher you go so when you get closer to sea level your lungs function more proficiently, so if you "trained" your lungs to work harder in normal conditions than in theory when you breath normally your lungs would work more efficiently. so technically you can "train" your lungs.
 
Unless there is something wrong (as in pathology) with your lungs you cannot train THEM, increase THEIR efficiency, nor increase their capacity without a significant amount of work that is of little benefit. Lung capacity is essentially genetic, gender, and size related.
You can do resistance training but for any kind of normal activity it provides no particular benefit.
The lungs are incredibly efficient at exchanging gasses. The bottle necks are at transportation and RESPIRATION (the exchange and utilization of gas at the body/cellular level)
VENTILATION is what people think of as breathing. They get mixed up in general use all the time. They are not the same.

When you get 'short of breath' it feels like a lung issue but is really a cardiovascular problem in moving the O2 in and the CO2 out.
Scuba does interfere with VENTILATION due to the increased density of gas moving through.....very.... small airways . It's a physics thing. Helium helps as it's a small molecule BUT it is NOT O2 nor are divers normally O2 deprived, just the opposite most of the time (I'm ignoring rebreather or mixed gas mistakes here as not relevant).
Resistance training and increased capacity will do little to improve the issues associated with diving.
You can train yourself to slow down (decrease metabolism), breath more effectively as depth increases (slowly and deeply), and become somewhat more tolerant to increased CO2 levels (which has a price to pay).

What you CAN improve is the cardiovascular system to be more efficient at transportation and cellular respiration, and tolerate higher levels of the various byproducts from aerobic and anaerobic exercise.

Fritz
Respiratory Therapist, 35+ years
I trust I have some functional knowledge of the field.
 
If you took a runner that trains in high elevations and bring them down to sea level they would be able to run circles around somebody that trains at sea level. The reason is obvious, the air is thinner the higher you go so when you get closer to sea level your lungs function more proficiently, so if you "trained" your lungs to work harder in normal conditions than in theory when you breath normally your lungs would work more efficiently. so technically you can "train" your lungs.

Good theory. However, the air is not "thinner" at altitude. There is less partial pressure at altitude which causes less diffusion of O2 into your blood stream. Essentially, those that train at altitude are training their bodies to function and/or at least tolerate the effects of hypoxia. Which, as stated in the post above mine, is about all you can hope to do.

Move to Colorado Springs, run up and down The Incline a few times a week, you'll train your body to function with significantly less O2 demand... unless of course you give yourself a heart attack first.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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