Inspiratory Muscle Training: Improvement of Exercise Performance With Acute Hypoxic Exposure

Endurance exercise performance in hypoxia may be influenced by an ability to maintain high minute ventilation (V˙E) in defense of reduced arterial oxyhemoglobin saturation. Inspiratory muscle training (IMT) has been used as an effective intervention to attenuate the negative physiological consequences associated with an increased V˙E, resulting in improved submaximal-exercise performance in normoxia. However, the efficacy of IMT on hypoxic exercise performance remains unresolved.

To determine whether chronic IMT improves submaximal-exercise performance with acute hypoxic exposure.

A total of 14 endurance-trained men completed a 20-km cycling time trial (TT) in normobaric hypoxia (fraction of inspired oxygen [FiO2] = 0.16) before and after either 6 wk of an IMT protocol consisting of inspiratory loads equivalent to 80% of sustained maximal inspiratory pressure (n = 9) or a SHAM protocol (30% of sustained maximal inspiratory pressure; n = 5).

In the IMT group, 20-km TT performance significantly improved by 1.45 (2.0%), P = .03, after the 6-wk intervention. The significantly faster TT times were accompanied by a higher average V˙E (pre vs post: 99.3 [14.5] vs 109.9 [18.0] L·min-1, P = .01) and absolute oxygen uptake (pre vs post: 3.39 [0.52] vs 3.60 [0.58] L·min-1, P = .010), with no change in ratings of perceived exertion or dyspnea (P > .06). There were no changes in TT performance in the SHAM group (P = .45).

These data suggest that performing 6 wk of IMT may benefit hypoxic endurance exercise performance lasting 30-40 min.