Should You Wear a Breathing Mask for Working Out?
Workout breathing masks are specialized equipment developed to take advantage of the theory that athletes training at high altitudes can use oxygen more efficiently at lower altitudes during competition. High-altitude training has been a staple of sports of all types for more than 50 years, but its efficacy has been questioned. Breathing masks actually operate based on a different science than high-altitude training that is not proven. A safer and more effective alternative to a workout breathing mask is the AIRWAAV Performance Mouthpiece. Continue reading to learn about each of these options.
How a Breathing Mask for Working Out is Supposed to Work
Breathing masks basically restrict your breathing so that you can’t pull air into your lungs as quickly or easily as you normally would. This leaves you out of breath sooner at a lower intensity of exercise. It also causes you to accumulate a great deal of CO2 in your blood. You’re getting the same kind of air as you would normally breathe. The reason you get less oxygen is that you get less air in general.
That’s not the same as high-altitude exercise, which the mask is supposed to limit. At a high altitude, you’re still breathing in the same amount of air as normal. There are just fewer molecules of oxygen in each lungful because of the lower air pressure. Therefore, you don’t get the same result using a breathing mask as you do when training at a high altitude.
What the breathing mask actually does is restrict your air. Your goal when training is to get as much oxygen as possible to your muscles, which causes them to work at a higher capacity. Restricting your breathing using an exercise breathing mask makes you go slower because of a loss of power. The mask is supposed to make you use oxygen more efficiently when you end competing without it, but in the meantime, your body has not gained stamina or endurance. It has instead been put through more difficult and exhaustive training to no good effect.
Even the idea that high-altitude training itself increases oxygen capacity is under scrutiny. It seems to work well for athletes who live at high altitudes, but not as well for those who go to higher altitudes just to train, but who live closer to sea level. That’s because people living at higher altitudes have a higher capacity to carry oxygen, and when they get to an environment where there’s more oxygen than they are used to, their bodies can transfer it more effectively to their muscles during competition or in low-altitude training situations.
AIRWAAV
$39.99
The AIRWAAV Performance Mouthpiece directions your tongue down and forward and when you bite down, it creates the optimal airway opening. It's patented and scientifically proven with peer-reviewed, published research to provide athletes:
- Increased Endurance: Reduces your respiratory rate by 20%.
- Increased Strength: Improves muscular endurance.
- Faster Recovery: Reduces cortisol build up levels by up to 50%.
How the AIRWAAV Performance Mouthpiece Works
The AIRWAAV Performance Mouthpiece was developed over a 15-year period of research and development with elite athletes at The Citadel in South Carolina to perfect the most efficient way of opening your airway wider and optimizing your performance level. It was developed for high-intensity and endurance athletes like you to help you in your quest for athletic accomplishments and achievements. Since you are the one making the sacrifices and working hard to reach your goals, we are behind you, supporting you with the AIRWAAV Performance Mouthpiece.
The mouthpiece is made up of two main features that help increase the size of your airway by 8-9 percent. The bite plate is designed for gentle clenching of your teeth during your workout or training session. This helps hold the custom-fit mouthpiece in place and helps position your jaw in a way that helps support the O2/CO2 exchange during strenuous activity. At the same time, it helps reduce cortisol by up to 50 percent so your muscles recover faster after your workout. The bite plate is customized to your teeth when you first receive your AIRWAAV Performance Mouthpiece. Instructions are included that show you how to do this quickly and easily.
The second feature that helps increase your airway is the intake bar, which you place against the inside of your lower teeth. You move your tongue forward to tuck it under this bar and that causes the tongue to flex, opening the airway to improve oxygen intake with each breath. This reduces your respiratory rate by 20 percent, which in turn results in lower lactic acid production, thus improving muscle endurance.
Rather than restricting your breathing like a workout breathing mask, the AIRWAAV Performance Mouthpiece improves your breathing, allowing more oxygen to reach your muscles and improving your performance. It makes much more sense to improve your oxygen intake than to restrict it if you are interested in high-intensity or endurance achievements.
Where can I get an AIRWAAV Performance Mouthpiece?
The AIRWAAV was designed to increase your strength and endurance while improving your muscle recovery rate by increasing the amount of oxygen that gets to your muscles. To see what a great difference AIRWAAV can make in your workouts or training sessions, order the best performance mouthpiece on the market today!