The effects of an inspiratory muscle training program on maximal inspiratory pressure and swimming performance

The purpose of this study was to determine whether 6 weeks of inspiratory muscle training would exhibit improvements in maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP), swimming performance, and other respiratory measures. Thus far, studies investigating the effects of respiratory muscle training have yielded conflicting results regarding their application in improving sports performance. A 6-week inspiratory muscle training program was applied to master swimming subjects, using the POWERbreatheRTM training device. Pre and posttraining evaluations of maximal inspiratory pressure were assessed, this being an indicator of inspiratory muscle strength. A 200-yard swim trial was also performed pre and posttraining to assess changes in swimming performance. To determine whether there were significant improvements made to the previously mentioned variables, gain scores were calculated by subtracting the posttest measures from the pretest measures. A one way ANOVA was then run separately for each of the variables. Following statistical analysis, there was no significant difference in any of the six variables measured. These results may be due to the short nature of the training period (6 weeks), as well as the age of the population that was used.