FAQ

Invented in 2010 By Casey Danford of Cadillac Michigan - Training Mask is a cutting-edge performance breathing device that strengthens your breathing muscles, improves breathing mechanics (how you breathe), and produces a modest hypoxic training stimulus via its patented one way valve system.

Training Mask is used to improve your breathing power and technique so that you can perform better in a broad range of physical activities such as running, weight lifting, sports, yoga, and core exercises. Performance breathing is the missing piece in most people’s routines and gives you access to deeper stamina and amplified endurance you would not have access to otherwise.

Training Mask uses a patented air flow resistance system that adds friction to every inhalation. This puts a greater load on the breathing muscles than they would experience otherwise. It also has the added benefit of ‘encouraging’ your breathing muscles to fire in a more efficient sequence to get a more satisfying breath, especially when approaching fatigue. In addition to the resisted breathing element of the Mask, there is also a hypoxic training element as well. Hypoxia is created with the Training Mask via restricted air flow, and increased Co2 during inhalation from air trapping in the re-breather (rubber mask). Hypoxia is one of the key elements that makes training at altitude effective. Training Mask reproduces hypoxia at a fraction of the cost of multi-thousand-dollar altitude training chambers, or expensive trips to the Rocky Mountains. “The Training Mask Effect” is a proprietary combination of Resisted Breathing & Hypoxic Training which creates a one-two punch that no other exercise device, or altitude simulator on the market can re-produce.

Performance breathing with Training Mask has multiple benefits that lead to improved athletic performance and better fitness. Think about doing a set of 20 sprints with only 30 seconds’ rest between sets. By the 10th sprint you will more than likely be slower than you were earlier in the session. Moreover, depending on your level of fitness, you will be breathing for your life, and no matter how hard you breathe, catching your breath gets more painful with every succeeding sprint. Training Mask attacks the ‘breathing for your life’ part directly by strengthening your breathing muscles, improving your breathing mechanics, and introducing a modest hypoxic element to your training that gets you over the hump. Training Mask allows you to master your fatigue so that you can stay stronger for longer.

There is a small group of fitness bloggers and authors on the web that have targeted Training Mask in an attempt to increase the traffic to their website and gain notoriety at our brand’s expense. One of the fastest ways a fitness blogger can establish ‘quick credibility’ is to debunk something and come to the publics rescue so they don’t waste money on a new gimmick. The problem is these authors know that saying something works does not sell NEARLY as well as saying something does not work.

This leads these self-proclaimed protectors of the masses on a quest to search for all the negative things they can find, and conveniently ignore the positive things along the way. As you do your online research about Training Mask, always look for authors that go out of their way to present an EQUAL amount of evidence on both sides of the topic, then ask you to decide for yourself after they give a brief opinion on their findings. Lop sided reviews are almost ALWAYS biased, and clue you in to the fact that the author probably has a hidden agenda.

As to the question of “Does the Training Mask Work”, yes it does. It just doesn’t work the way some fitness authors think that it should. We can argue all day long about why gravity makes things fall on the ground. Our take may be more ‘logical’ and have more facts behind it then your take. Does that mean that gravity isn’t real because your explanation of how it works does not have the most amount of research citations? Nope. Gravity still makes things fall regardless of how we want to dissect the way that it works. It’s the same with the Training Mask. Multiple professional athletes and their trainers swear by our product and use it religiously in their training. There are also countless recreational users of the Training Mask that have told us how it has helped them crush their best mile time when nothing else would, got them in better shape faster, etc.

There are multiple studies that show (published in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science, Journal of Applied Physiology, and International Journal of Exercise Science to name a few) that show that the Training Mask improves endurance, respiratory muscle function, power output at threshold (working out at near your maximum exertion), stamina, and even growth hormone response to high intensity training. Respiratory training is a completely new area of exercise science. When new forms of training surface, it takes some time for science to catch up and figure out new things to measure to see how something works.

The Training Mask works via two primary mechanisms. The first of which is as a respiratory muscle trainer, and the second is by inducing a modest hypoxic stimulus in response to exercise. The Training Mask has been proven to work in both of those areas effectively. As far as altitude training goes, we need to understand what it is about altitude that causes the body to make changes.

Lower oxygen. That’s all there is to it. When you breathe at altitude, there is less oxygen available on each breath. If you hold your breath for an extended period, you will also go into a hypoxic state because there is less oxygen available for the body to use. The same holds true for the Training Mask. If you restrict air flow, and reduce the amount of fresh air available when you breathe, there is less oxygen available to the body.

There are a small amount of fitness bloggers/columnists that claim that because the air at altitude is thinner, that the Training Mask does not actually simulate altitude because it does not scrub oxygen from the air. They further this argument by saying that the molecules in the air are farther apart at elevation which is why altitude training works, and where Training Mask falls short…But here is the truth.

Thinner air equals less oxygen-> Hypoxic state.

Holding breath equals less oxygen-> Hypoxic state.

Resisted breathing equals less oxygen-> Hypoxic state.

The body cannot tell how it got into a hypoxic state. It does not care if it’s because you held your breath, sat on top of Mount Everest, wore a Training Mask, or sat in an altitude tent with the air being thinned. The only thing your body knows is that there is less oxygen available, and adaptations need to be made.

However, the Training Mask does not ‘thin the air’ so critics claim that it does not create hypoxia. Unfortunately, for our critics there has been a study done testing how the Training Mask simulates altitude. The researchers concluded the following…

“This combined inspiratory/expiratory muscle training device induces hypoxemia but utilizes a signaling mechanism that has not been previously described: Stated simply, hypoxemia is caused by the rebreathing of expired CO2 that has accumulated in the mask’s large deadspace area (100ml).”

↓VE → ↑FECO2 → ↓FEO2 → ↓SPO2 → ↑RPE → ↑BAI

Granados, J., Jansen, L., Harton, H., & Kuennen, M. (2014). “Elevation Training Mask” Induces Hypoxemia But Utilizes A Novel Feedback Signaling Mechanism. In International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings (Vol. 2, No. 6, p. 26).

So, what does this mean? It means that the Training Mask does create a hypoxic state in the body. Training Mask accomplishes hypoxia via airflow restriction which reduces the amount of fresh air available to breathe (increasing the ratio of Co2 to O2 in the rebreather). This brings us to our closing points on simulation and what that term means.

Is a flight simulator just like flying? No, it is not. It recreates elements of flying like having to manage a large control panel, monitor multiple gauges, and gives tactile feedback in the stick to the pilot to simulate the experience of flying. Simulators are meant to create the fundamental elements of an activity to prepare the user for an event or performance. And so it goes with Training Mask. The fundamental portion of altitude training that creates the physiological adaptations is hypoxia. Not the space between air molecules. The thin air is what causes hypoxia at altitude, but it’s not what causes adaptations, hypoxia is. Training Mask has been shown to reduce oxygen saturation in multiple clinical studies. Reduced oxygen saturation is the key indicator of hypoxia. So at the fundamental level, training at altitude and using a Training Mask accomplish the same short term physiological state.

We have created our own state of the art registration system that allows the customer to authenticate their Training Mask items.

Seen here. https://app.authentic.net/#/scan

Please allow our scanner to access your mobile or desktop webcam to scan the unique qr code.

Why register?

Registering allows you to confirm that your Training Mask product is authentic or if it is not authentic it allows you to file a claim so that we can work to remove counterfeits from the marketplace.

There is only 1 "Training Mask" brand and you have came to the right place!

TrainingMask has built a reputation of quality and our customers demand authentic Training Mask products.

YES - All of our products are covered by a 90-day warranty. Flux valves, Sleeves, Rubber Face Mask, Velcro. Damage caused from NON use is NOT covered. Send a picture to helpdesk@trainingmask.com(disregard the auto responder). Also send us your order #. If you do not have an order # please send us your address and we can help you with the warranty and replacement process.