After more than a decade of research, the contribution of the inspiratory muscles to lactate turnover is now becoming clear.

Lactate is a by-product that accumulates in the tissues and blood during intense exercise, leading to discomfort and muscle fatigue.

Early research showed that just 4 weeks of POWERbreathe Inspiratory Muscle Training reduced lactate concentrations at equivalent intensities of exercise^{1, 2, as well as increasing endurance and improving time trial performance3, 4, and speeding recovery during repeated sprinting5.}

New research suggests that POWERbreathe’s influence upon lactate comes from two sources:

While we’ve known about the benefits of a POWERbreathe ‘warm-up’ for many years 7, new research suggests that a POWERbreathe ‘cool-down’ can help to speed lactate clearance even more effectively than traditional active recovery strategies.

Researchers at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil 9 have found that breathing against a small inspiratory load immediately after exercise reduces lactate by 16%. What’s more, unlike a normal active recovery, which takes around 5-minutes to speed-up lactate clearance, inspiratory loading reduces lactate as soon as exercise stops. Furthermore, when using the inspiratory load, lactate concentration after just 5-minutes was equivalent to that achieved in 15-minutes during passive recovery.

Professor Alison McConnell, a leading respiratory researcher commented, "The implications of these new findings are very exciting, because one can see how an active inspiratory cool-down might bring benefits to a wide range of training and competition scenarios, from speeding recovery during repeated sprinting, to enhancing total body recovery following any from of high intensity training where lactate has been elevated".

1. Caine MP, McConnell AK. Pressure threshold inspiratory muscle training improves submaximal cycling performance. In: Sargeant AJ, Siddons H, editors. Third Annual Conference of the European College of Sport Science; 1998; Manchester, UK: The Centre for Health Care Development; 1998. p. 101.

2. McConnell AK, Sharpe GR. The effect of inspiratory muscle training upon maximum lactate steady-state and blood lactate concentration. Eur J Appl Physiol 2005.

3. Romer LM, McConnell AK, Jones DA. Effects of inspiratory muscle training upon time trial performance in trained cyclists. J Sports Sci 2002;20:547-62.

4. Volianitis S, McConnell AK, Koutedakis Y, McNaughton L, Backx K, Jones DA. Inspiratory muscle training improves rowing performance. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2001;33(5):803-9.

5. Romer LM, McConnell AK, Jones DA. Effects of inspiratory muscle training upon recovery time during high intensity, repetitive sprint activity. Int J Sports Med 2002;23(5):353-60.

6. McConnell AK, Lomax M. The influence of inspiratory muscle work history and specific inspiratory muscle training upon human limb muscle fatigue. J Physiol 2006;577(Pt 1):445-57.

7. Volianitis S, McConnell AK, Koutedakis Y, Jones DA. Specific respiratory warm-up improves rowing performance and exertional dyspnea. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2001;33(7):1189-93.

8. Belcastro AN, Bonen A. Lactic acid removal rates during controlled and uncontrolled recovery exercise. J Appl Physiol 1975;39(6):932-6.

9. Chiappa GR, Roseguini BT, Alves CN, Ferlin EL, Neder JA, Ribeiro JP. Blood lactate during recovery from intense exercise: impact of inspiratory loading. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2008;40(1):111-6.