I’ve found that freedivers are not terribly enthusiastic about devices like your “volumetric exerciser”, not because they are not effective in some circumstances (as you have found) but because they are not necessary to accomplish what we do as freedivers.

These devices can increase strength in the intercostal muscles, those used for inhaling and exhaling. But most people can accomplish this using restricted breathing techniques that do not require the purchase of a device. For example, pursing your lips and inhaling or exhaling like through a straw will exercise your intercostal muscle strength beyond that required for normal breathing.

The other thing these devices can help accomplish is improved flexibility in the chest allowing athletes to utilize more of their natural lung capacity. Again, this can be done without a device. In fact, stretching and breathing exercises like those we teach in freediving (yoga, etc) must be done carefully to avoid injury that may reduce your effective lung capacity. A device may increase the risk of an over-pressurization injury.

So, freedivers, being minimalists (and generally broke), tend to avoid these devices.

Now to your question: are the effects permanent? Yes and no. Naturally.

Some of the training athletes do which result in an apparent increase in lung capacity is simply due to learning how to effectively fill the lungs. This type of improvement mostly stays with us over time or returns with little effort.

Strength and flexibility require lots of work up front before you see real improvement. After you get where you want to be, they both require regular maintenance, but this takes less work than getting there. And of course if you fail to maintain strength or flexibility, both will slip backwards.

So, after all that I think the answer is mostly yes, you need to work to maintain it.

Now, I don’t know anything about conditions that reduce normal lung capacity or how the results from training or using volume exercisers might help those conditions or whether those results will require maintenance; but, I would guess so.

I ask because I started participating in athletics as an adult at age 30. I had issues with asthma and sinus problems as a child and was measureing at about 40% normal capacity as an adult. I started training Brazilian jiu jitus and recently have increased it to 100% my normal recommendation (through training and use of a volumetric exerciser), hoping to eventually hit 5000mL inspired volume. A few other people have taken notice (they’re always looking for a way to boost performance) and have been asking me if I thought I’d be able to maintain the new capacity…and besides the fact that I took a month off and saw no negative change, I have no idea. I figured this would be a good place to start asking. Thanks!

Megan

I try to keep down the number of added tools so that they do not slow things down.