In 2020, we all had to get used to running with a mask on our face. It was hot; it was uncomfortable; but could it have performance benefits? Unfortunately, wearing a surgical or cotton mask had no effect on performance or muscle oxygen levels, according to research published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health>>>P. As hard as it feels to wear one, running in a mask that protects against COVID-19 isn't going to turn you into an elite runner.
But even before the pandemic made mask-wearing mandatory, some runners were already strapping on training masks that claim to improve lung capacity and oxygen efficiency by restricting your airflow as you run.
(FYI: This type of mask is specifically not recommended as protection against COVID-19-not only do the valves and vents allow clouds of particles to escape, they may also put the wearer more at risk for exposure than if they wore a regular mask, research published in July in the journal Physics of Fluids found.)
Still, even if these masks won't protect you from a virus, can they give your performance an edge? Here's everything you need to know before investing in a training mask.
Do Training Masks Simulate Training At Elevation?
While these devices are often called altitude or elevation training masks, those names are a bit of a misnomer."Training masks do not simulate elevation or altitude training," says Shawn Arent, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., director of the Kinesiology and Applied Physiology graduate programs at Rutgers University and Director of the Rutgers Center for Health & Human Performance.
When you go from sea level to elevation (or New York City to Boulder, CO, for example), there's less atmospheric pressure-which causes the total content of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen in the air to drop-and less partial pressure of oxygen, explains John Porcari, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and Program Director of the Clinical Exercise Physiology graduate program. So"not only are you getting less oxygen in every breath, there's less pressure forcing that oxygen onto the hemoglobin in your blood, which carries oxygen to the rest of your body," he explains.
Training in those conditions-training at altitude-causes increased production of a hormone called erythropoietin (or EPO), which triggers your body to produce more red blood cells and form new blood vessels. That means your body can deliver more oxygen to your muscles, which means you can run faster and more efficiently, especially when you return to sea level.
Training masks, which typically feature one to three valves or vents, merely affect how hard it is for you to breathe-they do not affect the mix of gases in the air that you're breathing, says Arent.
"Imagine you're breathing through a vacuum hose, then a garden hose, then a straw, and then a cocktail straw. It's going to get harder to breathe," says Porcari. That's essentially what a training mask does: reduce the amount of airflow into the lungs. So, unfortunately, you're not going to get the same benefits that you would by training at elevation.
So, Why Would You Use One of These?
That's not to say a training mask doesn't have any benefits. Restricting the amount of air you're breathing is called inspiratory muscle training; it's often used by people with asthma, bronchitis, or emphysema. But it could benefit runners as well."You're basically increasing the strength of your respiratory muscles, which could mean you're bringing more air into your lungs," explains Porcari."Then, you've potentially got more oxygen that can get into your bloodstream." The more oxygen you can get to your muscles, the easier exercise will feel.
In 2016, Porcari-in conjunction with the American Council of Exercise-tested the effect of training while wearing the Elevation Training Mask 2.0>>>P. He found that those who wore a mask showed a 15-percent increase in ventilatory threshold (a.k.a. the point at which your breathing starts to increase) and respiratory compensation threshold (a.k.a. the point at which lactate accumulates at faster rates than the body can remove it-or the highest sustainable level of exercise intensity).
Those things could have a bigger influence on performance. Let's say a runner can run eight miles per hour before they hit their respiratory compensation threshold; if they can improve that threshold by 15 percent, they'll be able to run 9.2 miles per hour-that's a huge difference. But more research has to be done to replicate Porcari's findings.
From an anecdotal standpoint, training masks might help you breathe better on the run, says Arent."People I know who've used these devices have said it makes them breathe less with their chest and more with their diaphragm, which would be a good thing," he says. If you're breathing with your chest, you're only using a small portion of your lungs, which forces you to take more breaths to get enough oxygen; when you breathe deeper into your diaphragm, you can take fewer breaths while getting more oxygen into the deeper parts of your lungs. It's more efficient, and it will help control your heart rate-which puts less stress on your body so you can run faster and longer without fatigue.
So, Should You Buy One?
TBH, it's not necessary."There's not a huge upside to wearing a training mask, especially if you're fairly highly trained," says Arent. Despite the ventilatory and respiratory compensation threshold benefits, you likely won't see massive performance changes. And, for most people, the pulmonary system is rarely the limiting factor in endurance exercise, Arent adds-it's more likely to be your musculoskeletal or cardiovascular system.
Of course, using a training mask will elevate the relative intensity of a workout because it will make breathing more difficult, says Arent."There are times in training when suffering isn't such a bad thing," he says."It's a non-optimal condition that forces adaptation."
But it's not an everyday training device; rather, it's something you might want to incorporate every once in a while if you're looking for an added challenge, says Arent.
Plus, at this stage in the pandemic>>>P, health officials advise wearing a multi-layer cloth mask or face covering (without valves like the ones on training masks) in public settings or anywhere you can't maintain a safe distance from others. So if your typical running routes are full of others, it's definitely not a good time to try these masks.
If you live near secluded running routes or if you are just intrigued, there's no real harm in trying one (so long as you don't have any pre-existing conditions and you get approval from your doctor or health professional) except of course, the price tag: They retail between around $20 and $100.
To test it,"you may want to start wearing it on shorter runs, then add it into longer runs and go from there," says Porcari."You should build up to higher intensities."
Just don't expect it to be a magic bullet. A good interval or tempo workout can be just as challenging as an easy run with a mask on-and potentially more beneficial.
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