Breathe Strong, Perform Better

Description

Today’s top athletes, as well as their coaches and trainers, know the benefits that breathing muscle training provides. From performance to conditioning, the results are clear. Now with Breathe Strong, Perform Better, you will learn how to use breathing training to excel.

In this comprehensive guide, the world’s leading authority on breathing muscle training, Alison McConnell, will show you how to apply the latest scientific research and case studies to maximize training, conditioning, and performance. With detailed instruction, practical advice, and easy-to-use sample programs in Breathe Strong, Perform Better, you will be able to achieve these goals:

• Increase breathing strength, power, and endurance.
• Improve breathing comfort.
• Improve performance times.
• Accelerate training and performance recovery.
• Enhance breathing efficiency.
• Reduce whole-body effort.
• Minimize the risk of injury.

In addition, you’ll find more than 30 sample workouts for specific sports and fitness activities, such as baseball, cycling, football, running, soccer, swimming, tennis, and weight training.

With professional insights, exercise tips, and advice for integrating breathing training into existing training programs, this guide has it all. If you are ready to improve fitness, increase performance, or simply maximize your enjoyment of exercise, Breathe Strong, Perform Better is the guide you can’t be without.

Reviews

"Breathe Strong, Perform Better is an easy-to-follow introduction to the role of breathing muscles in sports. The training methods enclosed are groundbreaking and highly recommended."
Nick Gillingham, MBE -- Two-Time Olympic Swimming Medalist

"Inspiratory muscle training (IMT) is a vital and often-overlooked component of a yearly training plan for all athletes. Breathe Strong, Perform Better will help any athlete or coach implement IMT into a conditioning program."
Dan Boothby -- Director of Strength and Conditioning, Northeastern University

"Breathe Strong, Perform Better is a long-overdue addition to the training literature. By following this practical advice, athletes will experience an instant and positive impact on their day-to-day training."
Paul Gamble, PhD, CSCS*D -- Author of Strength and Conditioning for Team Sports

Contents

• Part I The Science of Breathing
• Chapter 1. Breathing During Exercise
• Chapter 2. Performance Limitations of Breathing Muscles
• Chapter 3. Training Response of Breathing Muscles
• Chapter 4. Performance Benefits of Breathing Muscle Training

• Part II Breathing Muscle Training
• Chapter 5. Training the Breathing Muscles
• Chapter 6. Building Your Foundation
• Chapter 7. Training for Exercise and Fitness
• Chapter 8. Training for Endurance Sports
• Chapter 9. Training for Team Sports
• Chapter 10. Training for Racket, Striking, and Throwing Sports
• Chapter 11. Exercises for Breathing Muscle Training

Authors

Alison McConnell is a professor of applied physiology at Brunel University in London. She is a fellow of both the American College of Sports Medicine and the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) and is a BASES-accredited physiologist. McConnell is acknowledged as a leading authority on breathing muscle training and is the author of numerous scientific articles and book chapters. She is a regular presenter at international scientific and medical conferences.

McConnell is the inventor of Powerbreathe, a breathing muscle training system created in the early 1990s. She pioneered the introduction of breathing muscle training into athlete preparation and has worked with Olympic and world champions around the world to help them to optimize the use of Powerbreathe in their preparation for competition. She has also been influential in the acceptance of breathing muscle training as a treatment for breathlessness in patients with lung disease, and Powerbreathe is now a prescribed treatment within the UK National Health Service.

Alison remains an avid sportswoman with an active involvement in running, cycling, weight training, skiing, and windsurfing.