Toespeas

there are various lung training products available , do they have any merit ?

Iride01 

What are you training for?

It's sort of like riding a heavy bike for training and then using a light bike for competition. You suddenly feel like and see a big performance boost.

However if you had just rode that light bike for all the days you did training, then you'd have had better stats while training and likely, IMHO, will have done the same or even better at competition time.

I don't think the lung training masks can simulate the lower atmospheric pressures that bear a big effect on the ability of your lungs transpiration processes.

Any time you ride hard and perform near your cardio max you are also "training" your lungs.

Carbonfiberboy 

If you're an elderly smoker who doesn't exercise, then yes, breathing exercises will help. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4932035/

Otherwise, ride your bike. The best lung exercise is a long climb, ridden hard, or better yet, several long climbs, ridden hard. Ride hard enough that your lungs hurt. Really.

Iride01 

Carbonfiberboy Interesting. I assumed this was another of those "altitude mask" questions.

I do find some benefit in other things to periodically do some very deep breathing exercises.

canklecat

I still use the standard issue incentive spirometer I got from the hospital after surgery in 2018. Reminded me how poor my breath control was.

I thought I was having lung problems and was checked by ENT, full body scan, and an allergist/immunologist. No lung problems and they said my capacity was very good for my age. But the bone scan revealed old rib fractures I wasn't aware of from various sports injuries (boxing and cycling). My intercostal muscles were so tight it was painful to breathe deeply using the diaphragm.

Between physical therapy (2-3 days a week for 2-3 months in a proper clinic last summer) home PT and using the incentive spirometer, and changing my breath control, I'm a bit stronger on climbs and more consistent overall. I don't gas out as easily and recover more quickly.

I also learned to focus on diaphragm breathing from watching some of Emma Pooley's video tutorials and just watching her ride. Her tummy is so relaxed it pooches out like a bullfrog's throat. That's gotta be a big factor in her climbing strength.

So, yeah, an incentive spirometer or the Expand-A-Lung and similar doodads might help identify and correct poor breath control, and improve the intercostals. The Expand-A-Lung seems to do the same thing as pursing the lips to create resistance against exhalation, a common trick that works for some folks under exertion.

rubiksoval

No.

Carbonfiberboy 

I probably is such a question. I do deep breathing exercises every time I ride my bike. That's how one's supposed to breathe. I've occasionally gotten an overuse cramp in a breathing muscle. Belly breathing is what one does. Some people call it breathing into your red balloon. One sees photos of skinny pros who look like they're pregnant. In old training books, riders were advised to go out into the woods in the morning and do deep breathing exercises, probably still a good idea, though this advice is a bit aged, from a time when one could go out the door and walk into the woods.

Carbonfiberboy 

The "pursing the lips" thing is primarily for high altitude mountaineers. The reason they do that is to increase the pressure in their lungs, simulating a lower altitude. This causes more O2 to move into the blood stream. However lack of O2 is not the problem for cyclists, rather it's getting rid of CO2. We get plenty of oxygen, more than we need at lower elevations. I've climbed, but never ridden at high pass levels, like 8-10,000', so I don't know if that's high enough for the O2/CO2 balance to slip the other way. Put on a pulse oximeter while riding and just try to get your saturation level down. When I want to ride hard, I open my mouth wide, drop my tongue, straighten my neck, and keep it that way. I picked that up from old Sean Kelly photos and it does help a little.

I saw a fun video of a medical showing that wearing a mask doesn't decrease oxygen saturation below 99%, using a pulse oximeter. It might increase CO2 levels slightly though..

Iride01 

I didn't look at the link. However, to me that is much like using the heavy bike I mentioned previously. But I'll add one caveat that might be a plausible benefit to both......

Generally when trainging, working out and just friendly competition, it helps to have others to compete against. However if ones physical abilities are so superior to the others around you, then you might not be working out to your fullest. You might be just doing enough so you best your competition and then your level plateaus prematurely.

So perhaps a heavy bike or increased drag of a drogue chute might benefit one simply because that person now has to work at max effort more just to keep up with others or to triumph over them because of the handicap of weight or drag. Competition with others does give one increased motivation to work harder.

So if used as a handicap when with others that don't have the same level of ability, then yeah, sorta, maybe.

If used for solo training.... I wouldn't think it helps.