Many boxers, MMA fighters, and athletes started training with elevation training masks since it has so many proven benefits. Also, many fighters fight at different altitudes and as you may know that when the altitude is higher, their respiratory systems are challenged a lot. Even though they have good stamina and done many cardio sessions it is totally different since there has thinner air. So they are likely to run out of gas pretty quickly! Training masks can help them avoid this situation and there are many other incredible benefits of elevation training masks and below you can find all of them.
1. Lung Capacity
When you put on training masks, these provide pulmonary resistance while breathing. It actually forces your system to have deeper breaths. Good training masks have resistance selections so you can improve it step by step. For example, one of the most popular high altitude masks (Training Mask 2.0 which is the mask below) has 3000, 6000, 9000, 12 000, 15 000 and 18 000 feet selections.
As you can guess, thanks to more lung capacity, your anaerobic threshold will be higher so your cardiovascular endurance will be more.
There is also a thing called CO2 tolerance. I actually had not heard of it before, however, I made an extensive research. Basically, if you have high levels of CO2 brain tells you to stop whatever you are doing. So how can you improve this intolerance? Well, you can simply train often, however, you can only get to a certain point and you will eventually reach a limit. With that, training masks can help you go even further so you can push yourself more.
2. Oxygen Efficiency
You may wonder why oxygen efficiency is not under the lung capacity. Well even though these are related, these two are not the same!
When you train with altitude masks, the surface and elasticity of alveoli increase. These help your cells hold more oxygen and also provide you to use oxygen more efficiently. So you get more energy for every breath. Is not this amazing or what?
Did you know that you actually lose some air while you inhale and exhale? Well, you actually do and even though it is not much we breathe a lot, right? Elevation mask also minimizes this as well.
Also, according to LIVESTRONG, 185-pound individual burns around 28 calories for every breath. Let’s say that you can have the same amount of energy with 200 breaths instead of 202. So 185-pound individual can save 56 calories per 200 breaths. Even though it is not much it is still an advantage!
We all have different ventilatory thresholds and if you pass it, you simply need to breathe more and after that point, you will be exhausted in no time. There are many studies, which are conducted by Journal of Sports Science, about this subject and these show that if you train with elevation mask, you will reach your ventilatory threshold harder and later. In this way, you will actually have more energy to spend.
Again the study of LIVESTRONG above shows that high altitude masks increase the mitochondrial volume.
Thanks to all of these, after you train with an altitude mask, you can do your regular training (running etc.) longer.
3. Stronger Diaphragm
When you breathe, your diaphragm, which is a deep abdominal muscle, works constantly and you can actually challenge it with training masks! A stronger diaphragm can help you improve your breathing quality and it actually benefits many things. For example, your sleep quality improves and you can have deeper sleep and I am sure you will agree that everyone can benefit from it. Also if you breathe without using your diaphragm, it can cause tightness around your chest and your muscles will reach fatigue sooner. With that, a stronger diaphragm helps you correct your breathing technique as well.
So using training mask helps you have a better workout in so many different ways.
4. More Growth Hormone
I know that many bodybuilders will be really happy when they read this. According to Clinical Physiology’s research, people, who train with training masks, have significantly more growth hormone than people who don’t train with training masks. So you can have more muscle hypertrophy and I am sure that many people, who want to build muscle, appreciate training masks greatly.
5. Training Mask Helps Pros, Amateur Fighters, and Athletes!
Many MMA fighters, boxers, martial artists train or fight in different places and these places have different altitudes. As you may know, if they do a match or train at a higher altitude, where has thinner air, this challenges their respiratory systems a lot. They just run out of gas way before than normal and let’s face it if you don’t have a lot of money or good sponsorship etc. you may not have a chance to train at higher altitudes. So many boxers, MMA fighters, NFL players etc. train with altitude masks to stimulate the real situation and get ready for it. So if you plan on competing, elevations masks may be your only option to be prepared well.
6. Better Training Yields to Better Results
Imagine that you have more lung capacity or you can push yourself more or you have any other benefits above. Basically, you can train harder, longer and this simply equals to more muscle gains and burning more calories! Also, when you use oxygen more efficiently, you can also focus better. If you do any kind of training type, training mask will definitely help you have better results.
As another advantage of training masks, you can get the same benefits from your workout in a shorter period of time. So you can actually save some time as well.
When Will You Have These Benefits?
After you train with good quality elevation training mask at least 2 times, as soon as you start working out without elevation mask, you will see a drastic difference during your sessions. Actually, many people reported that they can train with battle ropes and heavy bags longer. Actually, it makes sense since both of these training types require strength and also challenge your cardiovascular endurance in many different ways at the same time. My sparring buddy also said that he can train with heavy bags longer than usual just after two months of training with training masks.
As you may have heard that many people, who do Brazilian jiu-jitsu or boxing training, already started training with high altitude masks a long time ago.
Also keep in mind that many professional boxers, NFL players, MMA fighters use it in their regular training sessions and the number of them increases every single day! I also have a writing which basically tells about experiences of many professional athletes with altitude masks. You can check out here for more information or you can start getting the benefits of elevations masks right away with one of these best elevation training masks.
Conclusive Thoughts
These are all the benefits of training masks and I am sure that everyone can use more lung capacity, oxygen efficiency and better training sessions, right? Even though it is introduced a short time ago, it became vastly popular and I constantly see that people use training masks in MMA and boxing gyms (punching bag sessions etc.) and hear how much people benefit from it and I highly suggest everyone use it! I hope that you enjoyed reading and if you have anything to share, just leave a comment below and let’s talk.
This is excellent information. Will this still be effective if you are a smoker?
Yes
I see people in martial arts and in the gym using this all the time. Never used it myself and always wondered about the effectiveness of it. The thing that struck me the most was the increase in growth hormone…I’m very curious to know the explanation for this. I would think that body builders would use this often if this is the case, but you typically don’t associate the masks with bodybuilding.
Yeah, it is not uncommon to see people, who do MMA training, use these masks. Yes, you are right and I was also surprised when I heard it for the first time. You can have a look at this article. It basically explains the reasons and provides studies as well (I think it was a Japanese Institute). Many bodybuilders don’t know it but the bodybuilders, who are aware of it, generally use it.
I have seen some people use these before and I must say that I really want to try one out now after reading your article. I never realised how many benefits this actually has, I just thought that it helps with not going out of breath as quick. You have convinced me to get one, I will use it during my workouts and see how it goes, thankyou!
I was once extremely athletic and won many awards. When I used to run, I often thought about something like this because I remembered it was tough breathing sometimes.
I’m not sure I fancy the idea of going to the gym with a mask on though, but I would have definitely bought one for long-distance running. The ones you’re advertising look very masculine, maybe more feminine masks will be available?
I also don’t want to look like a weirdo when I go to a gym.
You can wear elevation masks outdoor without any problem whatsoever. Even some clear the air while breathing so your lugs have an easier time. Many training masks have quite feminine designs and feminine colors. Go check out the review on this page. If you follow the links you can see these designs and colors. If you don’t like them you can always order another training sleeve which can flex well. There is a myriad of selections.