EFFECTS OF FLOW AND RESISTIVE TRAINING ON RESPIRATORY MUSCLE ENDURANCE AND STRENGTH

This study was conducted to ascertain whether resistive or flow type t raining would better improve both strength and endurance in the respir atory muscles of healthy subjects. Subjects performed a battery of res piratory strength and endurance tests before and after training, which consisted of either control, cycling exercise (E), inspiratory loadin g (IL), expiratory loading (EL), or hyperventilation (H) training for 4 weeks. Maximal sustained ventilation increased after training in the E and H groups. Both IL and H improved inspiratory fatigue resistance . IL improved maximal inspiratory pressure. No significant changes wer e found in maximal expiratory pressure although E, EL, and H tended to improve. There was no statistical difference in maximal voluntary ven tilation between groups after training, but the H group alone did incr ease. This study suggests that respiratory muscle strength and enduran ce can be improved with flow or resistive training. Flow type training improves both flow and resistive tests while resistive training appea rs to affect only strength and resistive type measurements.