Your Poor Breathing Habits are Negatively Affecting your Health

Arianna Hoffman, the founder of All Hands on Fitness, is a personal trainer and strength coach with a fascination for the human body.

We take 23,000 breaths per day on average, so we must have mastered it by now, right? Assuming the ever-popular 10,000 hour theory of skill mastery is correct, surely you’ve unlocked Grand Master status after decades of breathing to stay alive. Although breathing is a function of the autonomic nervous system (meaning we don’t need to consciously think about it to do it), there is absolutely a right and a wrong way to breathe. As a personal trainer who has worked with hundreds of clients, I argue that the overwhelming majority of people in the modern era are actually breathing incorrectly. In fact, if you find yourself perpetuating poor breathing mechanics, you are inevitably setting yourself up for a whole host of health issues.

Take a moment to focus on your breath. Are you breathing through your mouth? Do you feel tension in your neck and chest when you inhale? Do you find your breaths to be shallow and rapid? Do you notice that your nose is congested? Breathing through your chest versus breathing through your ribs and belly will have completely different outcomes on your health. Similarly, breathing through your nose versus breathing through your mouth will have opposing effects on your central nervous system. By changing your breathing patterns you can ultimately create physiological and morphological changes within the body.

Poor breathing habits cause a milieu of complications. If you look at many other mammals like dogs, horses, or cats, you’ll notice that those animals breathe almost exclusively through their noses barring cases of overheating or intense physical exertion. Humans are no different, yet as we have distanced ourselves from our hunter-gatherer ancestors, we have also vastly changed our lifestyle habits. With this increase in sedentarism, we note a veritable shift in our physiology and a significant rise in the incidence of chronic illness. I surmise that breathing patterns (and subsequently the development of the facial bones/airways) may contribute to many of these chronic illnesses. Now close your mouth, take a deep breath through your nose and read on…

Well over 5 million American currently wear braces. Perhaps even more with the recent advent of invisible orthodontic appliances. I was one of those kids in high school—I was cursed with crooked teeth, or at least so I thought at the time. I spent nearly 5 years of my life in and out of the orthodontist’s chair subjecting myself to what felt like a form of Medieval torture. Between braces and tooth extractions, I went through it all. What I didn’t realize at the time though, was that this torturous period of my life might have been abated simply by changing my breathing habits.

Dr. Mike Mew, an orthodontist based out of the United Kingdom has spent his entire career trying to improve oral posture and breathing mechanics in his patients. He believes that part of the reason why braces are pervasive in the 21st century is because many people maintain an open-mouth position throughout the day. Further, he maintains that kids who place their tongues properly on the roofs of their mouths will certainly have better facial growth and airway development than their mouth-breathing counterparts. The tongue acts as the foundation for the growth of the bones in the face (like the teeth, the maxilla and the mandible). When the tongue is pressed against the palate, it encourages the palate to grow wider over time, and the teeth will also grow neatly into place around it. For individuals who keep their tongues relaxed on the bottom of their mouths, the palate stays narrow and their teeth grow in crooked.

Braces can temporarily mediate this by moving the teeth back into their proper positions, but they won’t treat the root of the problem. This is why so many children have to wear retainers for the rest of their lives after getting braces: they don’t change their lifestyle habits.

Don't be a mouth breather like Napoleon Dynamite!

So simply by mouth breathing as a child, you can negatively influence the growth of your teeth, your mandible (lower jaw) and maxilla (cheekbones). When the mouth is open, the mandible has to stay in a lengthened position and the muscles, ligaments and tendons adapt to accommodate that. Studies have found that individuals who breathe through their mouths tend to have longer faces and more recessed chins than people who breathe through their noses. When the muscles and bones of the face don’t develop properly, this will necessarily restrict the airways, as the tongue has to sit back further than it should. Thus, respiratory problems may also be attributed to an open mouth posture.



When it comes to exercise performance, nasal breathing serves many advantages over mouth breathing. For one, the nasal passages are responsible for the filtration and temperature regulation of the oxygen you inhale. If you’ve ever run in the winter time, you have probably felt that horrible burning sensation in your chest from breathing the cold air. By breathing through your nose in lieu of breathing hard through your mouth, your nasal passages will effectively heat and humidify the air you inhale, lessening the discomfort.

For individuals who are suffering from exercise-induced asthma, nasal breathing can actually reduce the incidence and severity of their attacks. This is partly because mouth breathing facilitates the process of bronchoconstriction (meaning your airways tighten). On the contrary, nasal breathing stimulates bronchodilation (opening of the airways), which allows for greater total delivery of oxygen to the brain. You don’t have to be a medical professional to understand that more oxygen to your brain is undoubtedly a good thing. If you want to regulate your respiration and your heart rate on your morning run, you should keep your mouth closed.

Athletes of all sports can benefit from maintaining proper oral posture during training and competition. While this position may be difficult to maintain under fatigue, their oxygen uptake will be far more efficient than that of their mouth-breathing opponents. At an elite level of sport where competition is tight, tiny advantages matter. Improved bronchodilation and oxygen uptake could potentially mean shaving seconds off of your split.

Breathing through the mouth also has a fundamentally different effect on the state of the central nervous system than breathing through the nose does. Mouth breathing activates a “fight or flight” sympathetic nervous system response. When the sympathetic nervous system is called into action, the breath becomes shallow, the heart rate increases, and your body’s hormonal chemistry changes (adrenaline and noradrenaline are released). Historically, the sympathetic nervous system was reserved for situations of extreme stress like being chased by a predator or times of food scarcity. That being said, in the 21st century, many of us live in the sympathetic nervous system for nearly our entire lives. Between tight work deadlines, constant push notifications, sleep deprivation, and financial woes, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed with stress on a daily basis.

You will notice that when you breathe through your mouth, you instinctually will overuse the muscles in your neck and chest. Excessive tension in the neck muscles is a common side effect of stress.

Conversely, by choosing to breathe through the nose, we are able to mitigate some of the physiological effects of stress. Nasal breathing encourages diaphragmatic activation (a large umbrella-shaped muscle that sits under the ribcage), slows down the heart rate, and allows for you to take full, deep breaths. This simple change will quickly shift you body into the parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system. Experienced meditators are masters of their own central nervous systems.

If you ever find yourself feeling stressed or anxious, monitor your breathing. Chances are you are breathing through your mouth and overusing the muscles in your neck and chest. Simply opting to spend 2-3 minutes focusing on slow, controlled nasal breathing can have a profound effect on your emotional state.

A lot of the clients that I have worked with throughout the course of my career are prone to excessive mouth breathing. The current body of literature supports my notion that mouth breathers may be more prone to sleep apnea, maxillofacial problems, allergies, chronic stress, and oxygen deficits. With that in mind, it’s never too late to change your habits! Make an effort to monitor how you’re breathing and adjust accordingly. This small change in your routine just might be a catalyst for improving your overall health and wellbeing.

Lose Fat and Gain Muscle - Your Insulin Response!

This week, my friend Sara is back with another guest post. Sara is a friendly Canadian with a Bachelor of Science Degree, specialising in Nutrition and Nutraceuticals. She has additional experience in food and product marketing and has written numerous articles on fitness and nutrition on the Gymaholic site. Previously, she wrote a fantastic article on the importance of meal timing. This is an awesome post about how to manage your hormones and improve body composition. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram!

Using Yohimbine to Boost Fat Loss

There are boat loads of supplements and other products on the market that are boasting extreme claims of expediting the process of weight loss. Unfortunately, many of these products are ultimately scams to get your money based on questionable research. Some products even come with dangerous side effects. Even though Dr. Oz might be touting garbage products like garcinia cambogia, the research does not back these up. (2)

I’ve personally tried a medley of supplements on the market in hopes of burning stubborn body fat. Most of them made me feel like I was going to have a heart attack and failed to elicit any favorable changes in my body composition.

After doing a good bit of research on the topic, I have only managed to find a small handful of

supplements that actually work for me. The one fat burning product that I use with great success, and recommend to my clients is yohimbine.

What is Yohimbine?

Yohimbine is an alkaloid that is sourced from Pausinystalia yohimbe trees in the lowland forests of west and central Africa. The substance has been found to improve thermogenesis (the metabolic process that creates heat in the body).

There are several speculations of how Yohimbine results in fat loss, though it is not fully

understood. The principal hypothesis is that it may work by facilitating the secretion of adrenaline by inhibiting adrenergic receptors—this ultimately results in an increase in heart rate which will stimulate metabolic function.

What does the research say?

A study done on male soccer players who were already quite lean (<11% body fat) found that Yohimbine supplementation decreased fat mass in a 21 day period. (4) All of the participants (control and experimental subjects) were placed on a standardized diet of 55% of their daily calories coming from carbohydrates, 25% from fat, and 20% from protein.

The group taking yohimbine lost an average of 2.2% body fat, whereas the men in the placebo group actually gained an average of 0.3% body fat during the study.

What’s fascinating is that the population in this study had a very low amount of body fat to start, and many of the research studies on different fat burning supplements are only done on obese populations. If you’re looking to lose that last bit of stubborn body fat to get better definition, Yohimbine may be a great option for you.

Another study tested for the efficacy of topical cream to spot reduce body fat from the thigh in female participants. (1) Every participant received a topical yohimbine cream on one thigh and a placebo cream on the other thigh to measure differences between one side and the other. The researchers hypothesized that the yohimbine cream would counteract the alpha2-adrenergic activity and thus result in regional fat loss. Their results seemed to affirm that hypothesis as all 4 women lost more girl in the thigh that was treated with the yohimbine cream compared with the thigh that received the placebo cream. The population size was obviously quite small, but these findings suggest that topical use of yohimbine may be effective in facilitating spot reduction (even though the currently accepted literature shuns the concept of spot reducing fat). Surely more research needs to be done in this area, but the potential implications are quite fascinating.

How much should you take?

The dosage can vary, like with anything else. I suggest taking a smaller dose of only 2.5 mg to 5 mg initially to see how you respond to it. Once you’ve gotten an understanding of how your

body reacts to Yohimbine, you can increase the dosage gradually. Many of the studies done on Yohimbine have used ~0.2 mg per kg of bodyweight. This means that someone like me who weighs about 58 kg should consume about 11-12 mg of Yohimbine. In the previously mentioned study on soccer players the men took 20 mg daily.

Precautions

I don’t recommend taking Yohimbine before aerobic exercise, as it can elevate your heart rate

significantly. I made that mistake originally where I took it about an hour before exercise and

struggled to catch my breath. After that, I started taking it in the morning (about 3-4 hours prior to training) and had no issues with managing my heart rate.

If you have any type of anxiety disorder, you may also want to be careful in taking Yohimbine as it can exacerbate feelings of anxiety. As with any supplement, make sure that you consult with a physician before using Yohimbine, especially if you have a heart condition or take other medications to make sure you won’t have any adverse reactions.

1. Greenway, Frank L., and George A. Bray. "Regional fat loss from the thigh in obese women after adrenergic modulation." Clin Ther 9.6 (1987): 663-9.
   Heymsfield, Steven B., et al. "Garcinia cambogia (hydroxycitric acid) as a potential antiobesity agent: a randomized controlled trial." Jama 280.18 (1998): 1596-1600.
2. McCarty, Mark F. "Pre-exercise administration of yohimbine may enhance the efficacy of exercise training as a fat loss strategy by boosting lipolysis." Medical hypotheses 58.6 (2002): 491-495.

3. Ostojic, Sergej M. "Yohimbine: the effects on body composition and exercise performance in soccer players." Research in Sports Medicine 14.4 (2006): 289-299.

Ice Age: Rethinking Icing Injuries and Sore Muscles

I remember when I went to the nurse in high school for a medley of ailments, and it seemed like no matter what the symptom was, a pack of ice was the associated prescription. Headache? Put ice on it. Muscle pain? Put ice on it. The building was on fire? Throw ice on it. Okay, the last one was a pretty lame joke, but somehow ice became a panacea in my nurse's eyes. It seems that in the sport and exercise world, such is also the case.

Ice Baths for Recovery

I just started watching Game of Thrones,
and I couldn't resist using this meme...

The most common use of ice that I hear people tout is its recovery healing powers. Are torturous ice baths as effective as we make them out to be?

We have evidence of the early Egyptians using early forms of cryotherapy in 2,500 BCE to treat a medley of ailments. Fast forward to 2018 and you see people immersing themselves into futuristic-looking cryotherapy chambers filled with liquid nitrogen. As you can imagine, extensive research on the subject has been done since ancient Egyptian times.

Now, one study done by Fonda and Sarabon (2013) did find that participants who utilized whole body cryotherapy reported feeling less sore than those with no intervention. While this is more qualitative rather than quantitative evidence, it does show the potential for a decrease in the perception of DOMS with cold immersion.

Hausswirth et. al. tested runners and also found a reduction in pain and subjective fatigue 24 and 48 hours after their runs in participants using cryotherapy chambers. While this is also a qualitative measurement, researchers also found an increase in strength when compared with the control group (2011).

Contrarily, Costello et. al. measured MVC (maximal voluntary contraction of a muscle) 24 hours after an eccentric exercise protocol and found no significant differences in muscle soreness in participants who were immersed in -110° C temperatures and those who weren't immersed (2012). 

Overall, the current body of research does seem to suggest that cold immersion can help reduce subjective measurements of fatigue and soreness in athletic populations, but the verdict is still mixed as far as I'm concerned. Many of the measurable, physiological markers of recovery were unchanged, but the participants simply reported feeling better. My thought process is that a lot of the attributed markers of recovery are due to a placebo effect. Effectively, if you feel like an ice bath helps you feel like you're being active in the recovery process, then keep on as you were. It may not be efficacious, but it's worth a try!

Ice Baths for Treating Injury

Going back to my high school nurse who would use ice as a cure-all, many people still assume that icing is the best protocol for soft tissue injuries. Let me start by saying that ice works as an anti-inflammatory and also a vasoconstrictor (meaning your blood vessels constrict). The downside here, is that we societally regard inflammation as a negative thing, when it is in fact your body's line of defense. Inflammation is necessary to jumpstart the healing process. The more blood flow you get to an area, the quicker the repairing process can start. Gary Reinl, author of the book "Iced" which covers this topic more in-depth, notes "the inflammatory cells remove debris and recruit cytokines and other growth factors toward the injury site." As such, swelling and inflammation are not symptoms to fear or reduce in this case. He goes on to say, "In a healthy healing process, a proliferative phase consisting of a mixture of inflammatory cells and fibroblasts naturally follows the inflammatory phase. The fibroblasts build a new extracellular matrix and persist into the final phase of repair, the maturation phase, where, if all goes well, functional tissue is laid down. The key point is that each phase of repair is necessary for the subsequent phase."

Additionally, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (my alma mater) noted that "…ice may not be the best treatment for aching muscles — in fact, it could even be detrimental to recovery" (2011). The British Journal of Medicine reached a similar conclusion, stating that "ice is commonly used after acute muscle strains but there are no clinical studies of its effectiveness" (2012).

Summing it All Up

Icing injuries has become a staple in workout and recovery protocols for people all across the globe for ages. As it turns out, the effectiveness as icing for both decreasing muscle soreness/damage and for aiding in the healing process of an injury seems to be unfounded. The body of research denouncing the usage of ice on both accounts seems to outweigh the papers that support its application.

I personally don't use ice in either instance, and I believe that rest, sleep and proper nutrition can be some of the most effective recovery strategies! Next time you go to jump into the ice bath or wrap an injury in a bag of ice, ask yourself why, and decide whether or not it's actually going to help you or potentially hinder you.

3 Reasons Why Counting Calories Isn't as Easy at It Seems

Calorie counting is easily one of the most effective ways to lose weight. Flexible dieting (or “IIFYM”) has become one of the biggest nutrition crazes as of late, with fitness influencers posting the macronutrient breakdown of their meals. They weigh their portions and track their intake. While it has been proven that a caloric deficit will ultimately result in improvements in body composition, the story isn't quite so clear cut. In fact, you may be counting your intake and misinterpreting what all of that information means.

A kilocalorie, more commonly referred to as a “calorie,” is the amount of heat that is required to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water one degree Celsius. While we still have a lot yet to learn about the science of nutrition and digestion, there are a few ways in which your caloric estimates may be inaccurate.

Calorie labels aren't always accurate.

Your body breaks down all foods differently, depending on their chemical and nutritional profile. For example, researcher Janet Novotny and her colleagues tested the nutritional content of walnuts. She found that we metabolized about 21% less energy than was predicted by the labels. So, a serving of walnuts might say that it is 180 calories, but we are only possibly absorbing about 145 calories. That is a pretty substantial disparity in caloric intake!

Additionally, Gebauer at all tested different types of almonds (whole unroasted, whole roasted, chopped roasted, and almond butter) in equivalent quantities. Surprisingly, the body absorbed the most calories from the almond butter, followed by the whole chopped roasted almonds. Subjects absorbed the least amount of calories from the whole unroasted almonds. It seems as though the roasting process changes the structure of the almond's cells allowing our bodies to digest more of the nut. It appears that if you're looking for the greatest bang for your buck with nuts, the raw variation is far superior to a nut butter. The exact reason for this phenomenon is unknown to date.

Another study done by Carmody et. al. concluded, "...cooking substantially increases the energy gained from meat, leading to elevations in body mass that are not attributable to differences in food intake or activity levels." This means that we are able to absorb more calories from cooked meat than the equivalent amount of raw meat. Here, the cooking process alters the way it is digested and used for energy, in that our bodies can extract more chemicals from cooked food, as they do not have to work as hard to break them down. That is to say that one would expect to consume more calories from a well-done steak than from an equivalent sized medium-rare steak.

Dr. David Bauer notes that "calories are created equal, but their availability from foods is not equal." So what we do with the calories we consume is highly variable based on the processing (or lack thereof) of those foods.

Dietary fiber can influence weight loss.

The USDA recommends that women get about 25 grams of fiber per day, and men get 38 grams per day, yet some estimates report that many people only get 12-18 grams per day. A few studies have guessed that fiber can influence not only our satiety (leading to a decrease in caloric consumption), but also the size of our waists.

A study done by Du et. al. of fiber intake in European citizens over the course of  about 7 years found an inverse correlation between cereal fiber intake and waist circumference. This means that individuals who increased cereal fiber consumption had smaller waistlines. There was a less significant effect with fiber from fruits and vegetables.

Again, these changes in body composition may be due to the feeling of satiety that comes from an increase in fiber intake, but that is still poorly understood.

So, if you eat 500 grams of oats, the overall satisfaction is going to be very different than eating 500 grams of chocolate crispy cereal. You may find yourself hungry within an hour after eating the gummy worms, whereas the equivalent amount of oatmeal could keep you full for hours on end. If you're in a caloric deficit, it's ideal to choose foods that will give you the most volume for your calories. Our bodies cannot convert certain types of fiber (insoluble fiber) into energy, and thus, it isn't fully digested and you may not absorb as many calories from it.

Your gut bacteria influences the way you digest food.

Now, the science of the gut microbiome is quite new. There aren't a lot of papers (especially not using human subjects) dissecting the gut's influence on weight gain, but the current body of evidence seems to show clear differences in the microbiome of lean versus obese populations.

Research comparing the gut bacteria in lean and obese twins found that obese individuals had a smaller variety of gut bacteria than did their leaner twins. This discussion becomes one of the "chicken or the egg," in that we do not know if the gut bacteria changes due to fat gain, or if those with a specific type of gut bacteria are more prone to weight gain in the first place. Research over the next few years will dissect this topic more.

One case study of a woman who got a fecal matter transplant from her overweight daughter (yes, that's exactly what it sounds like) demonstrated considerable weight gain after the procedure. These procedures are typically done to eliminate harmful gut bacteria, but the side effect of an increase it fat mass was unexpected. Nearly 16 months after the procedure, the woman gained about 34 pounds. After another year-and-a-half, she gained an additional 7 pounds, despite participating in an exercise program and a liquid protein diet prescribed by a medical professional. She was tested for thyroid dysfunction to no avail. While this is a study of n=1, it lead some researchers to speculate that gut health may have a significant impact on body composition.

For now, researchers believe that some individuals with less diverse microbial communities may be more likely to gain body fat, despite their dietary habits. Some individuals can slash their caloric intake down to a mere 1,200 per day and still hold on to ample amounts of body fat.

In short, even if you’re tracking your calories closely, your estimates may be 15-20% off based on the types of foods you eat and the microbes in your gut. If your weight loss is stalling, there might be more to the story than meets the eye and you may have to tinker around with your diet to yield better results. Overall, it’s helpful to consume foods in their raw, unprocessed form (when possible) as it is likely that your body will absorb less energy from them. Additionally, more fibrous foods will keep you fuller for longer periods of time. Ultimately though, your gut bacteria may be to blame for weight gain or weight loss plateaus.

Fine-Tuning your Ab Routine

In a previous article, I noted how the range of motion of crunches is not conducive to building a strong core. Crunches will only effectively engage the rectus abdominal muscles, while some of the surrounding important core musculature is not addressed. Ultimately, it is a basic exercises that serves little purpose for individuals with more than a few of strength training experiences.

The biggest problem in many "ab" routines that I see people do is that there's no progressive overload. People will do the same handful of exercises for the same number of sets and repetitions every session, week after week. Now, imagine you did that with a back squat, or with any other movement: what if you just squatted 135 pounds for 5 sets of 5 repetitions on every leg day? You might make a little bit of progress for a week or two, but eventually you're not going to continue to make gains. Your legs won't get any bigger or stronger. The same is true for the abdominal muscles. If you're just doing 3 sets of 15 crunches, 3 sets of 20 Russian twists, etc., then guess what? Your core isn't going to get any stronger either. I watch many people do the same core exercises day in and day out, and they aren't continuing to adapt.

There are four ways to create progressive overload for strength training:

1. Increase the number of repetitions. If you've been sticking with 3x10 leg lifts, for example, try to do 3x15 next week. This is one way to add volume.
2. Increase the number of sets. Additionally, you can add in more sets to increase total training volume.
3. Increase the amount of time. This is specific to isometric movements like the plank, hollow hold, side plank, etc. Try to increase the length of the hold by 10-15 seconds per week.
4. Add load. I like to add weighted ab exercises into my programs, once the client has demonstrated competency in the non-weighted variation. Examples of exercises include weighted hanging knee raises, weighted planks, weighted sit-ups, cable chops, and weighted leg lifts.
5. Change the exercises. Get creative. There are so many exercises out there that allow you to continue to progress. Constantly challenge yourself. I constantly post new exercise ideas on my Instagram page, such as those in the above links, so always be on the lookout for new ideas. Just when you think you have abs of steel, you find a new exercise variation to humble yourself once again.

If  you're going through the same routine multiple times per week, you may still "feel a burn," but you're not necessarily going to achieve the desired result of a rock solid core. Instead, here are my suggestions for improving your core training. Core training has to be progressed in the same way that you would continue to periodize the big strength movements. Think outside of the box and don't get complacent with your ab routine!

Why Altitude Masks are a Scam

You've all seen those guys in the gym—the ones who look like Bane and sound like Darth Vader hopping from one exercise to the next. Maybe you've though to yourself, "what is that awesome looking gadget," or, if you're like me, something along the lines of "what exactly does this tool think he's accomplishing?"

Many Olympic marathoners utilize altitude training to take their fitness to the next level (pun intended), so it makes sense that these masks would be worth the money.

What these companies aren't telling you, however, is that the research doesn't support these absurd-looking masks. On the contrary.

The positive adaptations of altitude training include an increased red blood cell count. This is one such adaptation that will only come from prolonged exposure to higher altitudes (meaning wearing a mask for an hour a few times per week isn't going to help in that arena. I most often see people wearing these masks on exercise machines (like the bro in the photo). Even if these masks were to work, you certainly wouldn't want to wear them for an exercise that doesn't rely on oxygen for energy (anaerobic exercises).

Another huge flaw in the reasoning behind wearing these masks is that they do not result in a change in barometric (atmospheric) pressure, as we would find in mountainous regions. Instead, they merely restrict your respiratory muscles, which effectively make breathing more challenging. These two things are not the same. In fact, in my opinion, limiting the efficacy of the respiratory muscles is just dangerous and foolish.

Finally, the current theory for altitude training is the "live high, train low." This means that athletes should live in higher altitudes, but train in lower altitudes so as not to impede their physical performance (obviously we cannot perform maximally at 10,000 feet above sea level). The altitude training masks directly contradict this principle, as people are not wearing them to do their household chores, but rather to do biceps curls in the squat rack. You definitely don't need to be an exercise physiologist to understand why this won't confer any added athletic benefits.

If you want to improve your aerobic capacity, avoid the scams and gimmicks. You can't take a shortcut to attain peak fitness levels (without the use of PEDs, of course), so quit throwing your money down the drain and put in the hard work. These masks will make you the laughing stock of your gym and they certainly won't provide any physiological advantage in your training.