The Science Behind The O2 Trainer

The the O2 Trainer is not a gimmick and it’s not magic, it is a tool designed to train your lungs and strengthen your breathing through resistance. Corporate Wellness Clinics all over the country recommend some form of breathing exercise and there is an abundance of evidence supporting the importance of proper breathing. The O2 Trainer was created to enable everyone to gain the benefits of better breathing.

In a study nine highly trained collegiate cross-country females participated. Five were assigned as “experimental” indicating they would use the O2 Trainer developed by Bas Rutten. The designated use of the device was 3 days per week during 5 kilometers of running. NOTE: all the subjects stated that the device was NOT a hindrance to their training.

Figure(above): This shows average Respiratory Exchange Ratio (RER) pre (blue line) and post (red line) across during a treadmill stress test. RER is a ratio equation of carbon dioxide expired (VCO2) divided by oxygen (VO2) consumed. The ratio VCO2/VO2 allows for analysis of carbon dioxide blow-off and oxygen consumption. As noted, RER increased after use of the O2 Trainer primarily during the higher intensity experienced near the end of the test. This is important in performance allowing for increased removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) and reduced fatigue at high intensities. From this graph it is shown that the O2 Trainer increased RER through increased CO2 expiration brought on by increased ventilatory muscle action.

Figure(above): This shows average values across subjects of expired ventilation volume (VE) pre (blue line) and post (red line) during a treadmill stress test. This shows a slight improvement in ventilatory volume expired during exercise, primarily during the higher intensity experienced near the end of the test. This is important in performance allowing for increased removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) and reduced fatigue at high intensities. From this graph it is shown that the O2 Trainer increased ventilatory volume brought on by increased ventilatory muscle action.

According to research done by the Rice University of Houston, altitude training has the following long term effects:

• Increased concentration of red blood cells
• Decreased maximum cardiac output with a decreased maximum heart rate, doing the same amount of work
• A chemical change within red blood cells that makes them more efficient at unloading oxygen to the tissues