Ultrabreathe?

[RonzoTheGreat]

does this product work? and if it does, what gets accomplished?

 

[Garrobo]

Probably a rip-off.

 

[Gene_Hobbs]

Probably a rip-off.

Or you could look for an answer...

The abstracts and paper below are the results from a search. I did not look for that specific device in the methods but the training is what you need to know efficacy for.

--Most of this work is from the University of Buffalo Physiology program and funded by the US Navy - very good work from that facility.

RESPIRATORY MUSCLE TRAINING IMPROVES DIVERS' SUBMAXIMAL CYCLE ENDURANCE.
Warkander et. al. 1999 UHMS abstract
RRR ID: 817

RESPIRATORY MUSCLE TRAINING IMPROVES RUNNING PERFORMANCE.
Leddy et. al. 2002 UHMS abstract
RRR ID: 1215

TRAINING OF THE RESPIRATORY MUSCLES ENHANCES NAVY DIVERS' FIN SWIMMING ENDURANCE - A FIELD STUDY.
Warkander et. al. 2002 UHMS abstract
RRR ID: 1219

ENDURANCE AND STRENGTH RESPIRATORY MUSCLE TRAINING INCREASE DIVER'S SWIMMING ENDURANCE PERFORMANCE.
Wylegala et. al. 2004 UHMS abstract
RRR ID: 1470

RESPIRATORY MUSCLE TRAINING IMPROVES SWIMMING ENDURANCE IN DIVERS.
Wylegala et. al. 2005 UHMS abstract
RRR ID: 1628

RESPIRATORY MUSCLE TRAINING IN DIVERS: REDUCED DYSPNEA AND INCREASED ENDURANCE.
Shupak et. al. 2005 UHMS abstract
RRR ID: 1621

TWELVE SESSIONS OF RESISTIVE RESPIRATORY MUSCLE TRAINING IMPROVES UNDERWATER SWIMMING ENDURANCE.
Fahlman et. al. 2005 UHMS abstract
RRR ID: 1647

EFFECTS OF RESPIRATORY MUSCLE TRAINING ON CO2 SENSITIVITY IN SCUBA DIVERS.
Lundgren et. al. 2005 UHMS abstract
RRR ID: 1796

Effects of respiratory muscle training on respiratory CO2 sensitivity in SCUBA divers.
Pendergast et. al. Undersea Hyperb Med. 2006 Nov-Dec;33(6):447-53.
RRR ID: 5049

RESPIRATORY MUSCLE TRAINING ENHANCES SWIMMING AND RESPIRATORY PERFORMANCE AT DEPTH.
Ray et. al. 2007 UHMS abstract
RRR ID: 5199

I am sure PubMed will give you more results though they might not be as 'diver centric'.

 

[Gary D.]

At least it isn’t a pill, cream, ointment, suppository, tablet guaranteed to increase your gas mileage by 40% or wonder drug. It doesn’t appear to cut, slice, dice, Julieann, pulverize, change your size, make paper thin tomatoes, slice hot bread or help get bred and it’s not marketed by Ronco.

I’d be skeptical with this device but then again resistance in a lot of areas of the body may be beneficial.

Gary D.

 

[redacted]

I suspect it would work, but may not do what some might expect. I'd expect it would make you a little more comfortable with a harder breathing regulator but have only a small direct effect on SAC. Improving your SAC is likely to require practice, technique, and whole body conditioning.

 

[rollerboi]

It sounds like this device is along the lines of the resistance respiratory muscle training protocol used by the U of Buffalo's research project mentioned in an above post.

From my write-up on the U of Buffalo project last semester:

[Bottom line, for those who don't want to read: 33% increase in respiratory muscle strength, 66% increase in underwater SCUBA time, compared to the control group.]

Earlier research on breathing in general has shown that there is a distinct and marked level of discomfort that occurs when one breaths above or below the normal unconscious rate that our bodies are used to respiring. “Breathing below the spontaneous level may produce an uncomfortable sensation of air hunger, and breathing above it a sensation of work or effort.” (Lansing, 2000). In their study on respiratory work and air hunger, Lansing, Im, Thwing, et al. found that we perceive and can distinguish between different kinds of respiratory conditions varying from changes in pressure to fatigue or increased resistance to breathing. As a result of this study, we can quantify and measure the specific effects that different variables in breathing have on our bodies. Once we learn how to be aware of these distinctions, we’re then better equipped to recognize and adapt to such stimuli to make our breathing more efficient.
The researchers at the University at Buffalo hypothesized that “respiratory muscle training would enhance respiratory function and swimming endurance in divers.” In other words, in order to breathe better and more efficiently, we would need to practice breathing differently, inducing an artificial change of discomfort in order to stimulate our respiratory muscle system and influence our bodies to adapt. When engaged in physical activity, we tend not to think about our lungs getting tired - only our muscles that we’re aware of as being actively involved in the physical exertion. However, one of the Buffalo researchers, Dr. Lundgren, stated that “when breathing muscles become fatigued, the body switches to survival mode and ‘steals’ blood flow and oxygen away from the locomotor muscles and redirects it to the respiratory muscles to enable the diver to continue breathing” (University at Buffalo, 2007).

In the study at Buffalo, they took for their experimental group 30 trained scuba divers, all of whom were in their 20’s, and standardized them on swim-fin and SCUBA training before the study began. The group was then broken up into three groups of ten each. One group was the control group, and they received a placebo training protocol (PRMT) which consisted of “a series of 10-second breath-holds with 90-second rest periods between breath-holds” (University at Buffalo, 2007). The second group was given endurance respiratory muscle training (ERMT), which involved increasing their breathing rate and volume (hyperventilating) while maintaining the same levels of carbon dioxide in their blood. The third group received resistance respiratory muscle training (RRMT), which was essentially breathing against a valve that had been restricted in its flow, giving certain levels of airway resistance and pressure.
Before the training protocols, which occurred once a day for 30 minutes, 5 days a week for four weeks, the swimmers were tested to get their baseline measurements on their respiratory strength, endurance, and length of time they could stay in the water and swim. During the training protocols, they were subjected twice a week to a fitness program that monitored and maintained their fitness levels so that the variable of de-acclimatization was controlled. Finally, at the end of the four weeks they were tested again to measure any improvement that may have occurred as a result of the training protocols. The results showed that the groups that received actual respiratory training (RRMT and ERMT) “improved their respiratory muscle strength and their snorkel swimming time by 33 percent and underwater scuba swimming time by 66 percent” (University at Buffalo, 2007).

 

[spectrum]

Probably a lot like frequent skin-diving where your diaphram gets conditioned to pull against a few extra inches of water column.