Acute respiratory muscle unloading improves time-to-exhaustion during moderate- and heavy-intensity cycling in obese adolescent males.

Obesity significantly impairs breathing during exercise. The aim was to determine, in male obese adolescents (OB), the effects of acute respiratory muscle unloading, obtained by switching the inspired gas from ambient air (AIR) to a normoxic helium + oxygen gas mixture (HeO) (AIR → HeO) during moderate [below gas exchange threshold (GET)] and heavy [above GET] constant work rate cycling. Ten OB [age 16.

Three weeks of respiratory muscle endurance training improve the O cost of walking and exercise tolerance in obese adolescents.

Obese adolescents (OB) have an increased O cost of exercise, attributable in part to an increased O cost of breathing. In a previous work a short (3-week) program of respiratory muscle endurance training (RMET) slightly reduced in OB the O cost of high-intensity cycling and improved exercise tolerance. We hypothesized that during treadmill walking the effects of RMET would be more pronounced than those observed during cycling.