For athletes in some of the most rigorous sports, breathing training is as important as strength and conditioning. In fact the two go hand in hand. Training the way you breathe helps improve your endurance and thus your performance as well.
A new device, the Pro2, currently on Kickstarter is an easy to use tool and app that can help you train the way you breathe.
Pro2 is a pocket sized device that looks a bit like the inhaler that asthmatics use. Simply exhale as deep as you can, then inspire, breathing in as hard and as long as you can through the Pro2 device. The device than displays your fitscore on the Pro2 Fit app.
Athletes, musicians and those concerned with their health can greatly benefit from knowing their Pro2Fit score. Users can also learn simple breathing exercises that well help train your breathing which will allow you to exercise, train, and play longer.
“The endurance of the muscles we use to breathe limits our performance when we exercise,” says Ken Chatham, inventor of the PrO2TM. “Increasing the strength and endurance of our inspiratory muscles allows us to exercise longer, before we run out of breath.”
But you don’t just need to take our word for it.
PrO2FIT received a warm welcome at the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) conference earlier this month with the introduction of PrO2, their aerobic measurement and training product.
Stephen Morris, quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars who used the RT2 when he was with the Miami Hurricanes: “I started using the RT2 because I heard good feedback from some of our trainers at school (University of Miami) and wanted to use anything to help me get better on the field. The breathing exercises definitely helped my conditioning and endurance while in the hot Miami sun. It did not take long to feel the benefits of using the RT2. I believe it was my second time using the machine that I started to realize how much stronger my breathing got and how much longer I can sustain my endurance on the field.”
Martin Pounder, an avid cyclist who also tests experimental cycling products, was badly injured while testing an experimental bike, he reports that the training was instrumental in his recovery: “I went from not being able to walk up the stairs to being able to run up the stairs to be able to get back to training to work properly in my role riding with athletes. I have been able to go back to a normal training regime and I’ve actually returned to racing again.”
As for ice hockey Dan Boothby, the Strength and Conditioning coach for the Men’s and Women’s Ice Hockey teams at Northeastern University: “The hockey season is one of the longest in collegiate sports, and there are so many important areas that we need to cover during training with very little time. The IMT (Inspiratory Muscle Training) was a commitment that yielded important benefits for our team and required a time investment of only 30 minutes 2 times/week.”
Now the benefits that they saw in breathing training using Pro2Fit’s RT2 desktop version of Pro2, anyone can experience with the Pro2, currently up for preorder at Kickstarter.com
