Fake news or legit? Runner's World says running with a mask will help you get faster

that is broscience bro

IRW wrote:

“Once the mask is removed, the lungs will have the ability to intake and absorb more oxygen, which would most likely result in a performance increase.” Think of this as similar to the effect of running a flat route after several weeks of hill training: Your body adapts to the tougher condition and will likely perform better once it returns to the easier condition.

For one thing, your lungs don't "absorb oxygen." In fact, they do just the opposite. They provide a minimal barrier to exchange so that the oxygen can easily diffuse out of the lung and into the blood. Absorption of oxygen is the last thing you'd want your lung tissue to do.

Better method would be to get an "expand-a-lung".

Or, wind sprints?

lol as someone with quite a bit of knowledge in these areas that is nothing but BS. literally straight misinformation. Not that I expect better from joggers world.

I hear holding your breath does the same thing. Just hold your breath the whole run and don't breath ever. It might be hard at first, but "think of this as similar to the effect of running a flat route after several weeks of hill training: Your body adapts to the tougher condition and will likely perform better once it returns to the easier condition."

this is also supposed to be why nasal breathing helps you; giving you less oxygen forces you to improve breathing efficiency or something. tried it for a bit and it seemed to get me in slightly better shape (although i was coming off not running and subsequently got injured so i doubt it really helped much).

This is similar to the old school mentality that you should restrict fluids while working out.

Same as altitude training without the hills which would help you too.

Isn't there a saying about altitude training? "Work low, sleep high?" As in get the red blood cell count advantage (lower oxygen) during recovery?

Isn't this the exact opposite? It's also like seeing the weightlifters wearing the Bane mask while stomping at 12 mph on the treadmill at the gym for 20 seconds before straddling it on the sides.

Runners world is helping us identify hobby joggers easier! To me this is a bit like the dubious claims that heat training has an effect similar to altitude training. Loads of people would love to train in Boulder in the summer, its pleasant. No one wants to train in Florida in the summer, its miserable. And there aren't a bunch of top marathoners from florida hitting ot qualifying times at whatever the big marathons in the south are these days.

heat training actually works, and is really noticeable if the race is freaking hot

Heat training works. Fake altitude training masks do not, and this has been known for years.

You can think of a mask as a rev limiter. They limit your bodies ability to do real work. So now you can't train in proper zones. But unlike altitude there are no physiological adaptions made to overcome this.

Remember:

Altitude- same volume, less oxygen

Breathing mask- less volume, same oxygen

The guy above who said his fitness improved by breathing through his nose might think he stumbled upon a hack to supercharge fitness, but in reality... He simply discovered the benefits of LSD running.

This is kind of interesting and funny at the same time. I was at my local track a few days ago. Its usually just a few people there at any given time but on that night there were like 12 people there. Call it COVID-19 version of cabin fever i guess. Anyways there was this really big dude there running with a mask over his face. He was about 6'3" or 6'4" and about 200 pounds i guess. Dude was a horse with a mask over his face basically. LMFAO. Every time he passed me i could hear his Darth Vader like gasps for air. I felt like telling him to just taking that fvcking thing off

When I've worn an M100 sanding mask for most of a day before going for a run I notice that my lungs are already tired. Granted a mask like that blocks a lot more air than the M95 masks people are wearing during this lockdown. Anyway, I suppose it's possible that wearing a mask could be useful as a crosstraining workout for your lung muscles.

This reminds me of watching a coach and swimmers at the Olympic Training Center using snorkels to train. The coach had taped off half of the snorkel opening on some of them to make it harder to breathe! It did not catch on as a good strategy.

However, I acknowledge the importance of trying new training methods to see if they would work. If they do, keep them, if not discard them and keep looking for new ways to get improvements!

This was probably an attempt to prove that they are not encouraging people to go out unprotected.

Altitude masks have long been debunked. Although there are companies that still make them.

Restricting air is not the same as restricting oxygen. High altitude = less oxygen. Low altitude = normal oxygen levels. Oxygen intake would be the same whether you are wearing a mask or not.

It might help psychologically because running with a mask is harder than running without one, so if you get used to running with a mask it might feel easier when you go back to running without one. Seems unlikely that it would actually do anything physically though.

[3.1]Miles Davis wrote:

I hear holding your breath does the same thing. Just hold your breath the whole run and don't breath ever. It might be hard at first, but "think of this as similar to the effect of running a flat route after several weeks of hill training: Your body adapts to the tougher condition and will likely perform better once it returns to the easier condition."

I remember a teammate telling a story about a historically awesome runner (Paavo Nurmi, maybe) doing workouts where he would run holding his breath until he passed out. We all aspired to this, but no one ever completed it.

0W7VW wrote:

heat training actually works, and is really noticeable if the race is freaking hot

Maybe, I'm an outlier. Yes, if you haven't trained in the heat, you'll be slaughtered trying to race in hot conditions. However, I found that when I could train in cooler weather, I did better in fall races than I did trying to slog it out in blazing east coast heat and humidity. I would think this would be the same for most. You can run so much more and so much faster on cool mountain trails and forest roads than you can in muggy swamps in July and August. This translates to better race times due to better training. At best, if you really grit out the summer you'll be running as well as someone who had the better conditions. Maybe I'm wrong though. Champion distance runners usually don't come from the south.