HYPERVENTILATING could improve your stamina. Christina Spengler and Urs Boutellier at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich measured the fitness of 10 young endurance athletes before and after six weeks of “ventilatory training” – breathing heavily for 30 minutes once a day – and found that their endurance improved significantly (Journal of Experimental Biology, vol 205, p 3937).
By simulating the kind of breathing normally achieved during heavy exertion, the body appears to become less sensitive to the metabolites produced during exercise. As a result, it doesn’t trigger the usual tiredness responses.
The only problem with the technique is…
