What do I need to know about training in a mask?
So with lockdown measures lowering in most parts of the country and buisness beginning to open again soon we will be back in the gym!
But I know some people are still cautious about the virus and are worried about catching it so have thought about wearing masks to the gym to lower their chances of infection. It can do BUT..... what other side affects are there from wearing the masks while training!
So I thought it would be a good idea to share some info on this subject with you guys and girls on the ins and the outs and if it is safe to wear a mask and train!
So I’m sure a lot of you are aware why people wear the mask. It catches as many harmful particulars in the air as possible so we end up breathing as much clean air as possible! So how do these masks affect you when your training though?
I’m sure again many of you already know it’s your breathing! BUT.. it may not be the part of breathing you think it’s not so much the oxygen intake as it is the carbon dioxide being exhaled out of your body!
Now when you're wearing the mask and you're breathing heavily because you're training hard what the mask is doing is catching the carbon dioxide in the mask and not dispursing it out of the mask fast enough before you take another breath then you take another break. This means that you of that CO2 back in again instead of oxygen! And if it is something your body isn’t use to you can get the breathlessness, lightheaded plus sometimes sick feelings and even in some cases passing out which I'm pretty sure isn’t a result you wanted from coming to the gym!
So now we know the breathlessness & lightheaded feeling is actually correlated to the amount of carbon dioxide you have in your blood stream specifically having too much carbon dioxide in your blood stream and lungs rather than not having enough oxygen to breath!
It’s down to your level of CO2 intolerance (how much carbon dioxide your body can tolerate) to how you feel while wearing a mask if when you wear one you struggle to breath, get light headed, dizzy and feel like you're about to pass out this is actually called hypercapnia which is down to having a poor CO2 Tolarance and the best thing to do is to get to fresh air and get your mask off as soon as possible then begin to take deep breaths through your nose until you feel the system’s beginning to pass!
But don’t worry like anything we can train to become better at this and the best course of action if you are someone who is looking to wear a mask to the gym when they open is to begin working on your CO2 tolerance as soon as possible so you will be able to handle the excess carbon dioxide level’s when you train in the mask here’s a couple of ways you can do this
1. go through your dynamic warm up with just nasel breathing (breathing through you nose) and take 5 breaths and hold your breathe for as long as possible after you exhale on the 5th breathe then reapeat to scale you can either extend the amount of time you hold your breath or lower the breath’s you take before you hold your breath again and try and extend this more and more
2. This is one I heard from Joe DeFranco when you go for a walk use nasel only breathing & perform breath hold the same as in the last exercise but hold the breath as long as possible then take a few breaths to get your breathing back under control then perform again! Try and do this for 10mins
3. This is one I heard from Brian McKenzie an expert in this field which is a breathing ladder same style as joes but take 10 breaths then hold your breath as long as possible after the 10th exhale then repeat but with with 9 breaths and hold after the 9th exhale then 8 breaths and hold after the 8th exhale and so on all the way down to 4 but no lower than 4
In my personal opinion if you are looking to train in a mask and you have poor CO2 tolerance which unfortunately in a LARGE majority of our population and you can train out doors stick to training outdoor’s while you can! At the same time it is your choice and you are free to make it but if you do want to train in a mask make sure you build up your ability to tolerate CO2 so you can wear one without struggling to breath while Exerting yourself!
Either way improving your CO2 tolerance is great for your fitness and health so doing these 3 exercises would be a great thing to do even if you have no intention of wearing a mask while training anyway!
I hope this information helps you to get back into training in the best way possible for you if you want to wear a mask now you know what to expect and how to hopefully put yourself in best position to train while wearing one if it is still something you want to do!
DISCLAIMER I'm not a medical professional and if you feel like you struggle a lot with your breathing best thing to do just to be safe is to go a and see you doctor to make sure there is not a problem.
I'm looking to work with 10 motivated and driven individual's aged 18-42 who are ready to take control of their body! 😎
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