Pro2 Fitness Data
Believe it or not there’s a lot of important information you can get from simply breathing. Of course breathing is one of the most important life functions for any species, but did you know your breathing can actually tell you a lot?
Pro2 is an early stage startup company and a spinoff of Design Net Technical Products, a company that’s been developing consumer and medical products for nearly 2 decades. The Pro2 device is the first multi-platform device to offer a proven inspiratory muscle training workout.
What does that mean?
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.”
“Although many devices claim to train inspiratory muscles, few train them properly,” Chatham continues. “The PrO2 uses an enhanced version of my Test of Incremental Respiratory Endurance (TIRE) protocol. Nearly 20 years of research have shown clear benefits from TIRE training.”
As an asthmatic that played ice hockey as a kid I used to keep a Peak Flow device with me on the bench. I would have to measure my Peak Flow score every time I sat back down on the bench and had simple breathing techniques and exercises that would help me get my Peak Flow score up. But the Peak Flow is analog, and provides no room for data analytics.
While the Peak Flow meter measures peak expiratory flow by measuring how the user exhales, the Pro2 actually takes the measurement of the user inhaling in what Pro2 calls the FIT score; Fatigue Index Test. The better your FIT, the more activity you can do before feeling breathless.
With Pro2 and it’s accompanying Android or iOS app, you can always keep track of your Pro2 Fit Score and see how well you’re breathing. You can couple that with other devices, like wearables, and improve your overall endurance.
“Our device represents the next big leap for the mobile fitness marketplace,” says Bob Bouthillier CEO. “While wearable products like the FitBit and Nike Fuelband track your activity, PrO2’s one-breath FIT score not only provides real insight into your fitness level, but also allows you to improve it through training on the same device. When combined with wearables, the FIT score will tell you which activities actually improve your endurance”
You can find out more about Pro2 here at their Kickstarter page and at pro2fit.com
