During monday night football last night the announcers were talking about a special type of mouth piece that the New Orleans Saints use that somehow improves flexibility, power, and oxygen flow. Test show that vertical leap, power, and overall performance are better when wearing one of these things. If power is increased while wearing this, wouldn't it be useful to wear one of these things for swimming? I don't want to get in a "tech" argument but I thought this mouthpiece is pretty cool.
makkaradvantage.com/.../
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Former Member
This sounds a lot like some other products that have cropped up over the years. They all claim to help open or clear the passageways into the lungs.
I remember one from about 30 years ago. The manufacturer claimed TMJ was ubiquitous, and his mouthpiece reduced neck strain so much that it improved overall athleticism. Here's a Sports Illustrated article about it, from 1980:
sportsillustrated.cnn.com/.../index.htm
More recently, football players were wearing sports strips because they swore it allowed more oxygen to enter the nostrils. Do players still wear them?
Anyhow, in my book this is a fad until proved otherwise. I guess if you have $2K extra, go for it. Otherwise, you might wait a year or two. Let other people be the paid guinea pigs. If you start seeing everybody at a meet wearing them, go out and buy one. By then they will cost a lot less than $2,000.
This sounds a lot like some other products that have cropped up over the years. They all claim to help open or clear the passageways into the lungs.
I remember one from about 30 years ago. The manufacturer claimed TMJ was ubiquitous, and his mouthpiece reduced neck strain so much that it improved overall athleticism. Here's a Sports Illustrated article about it, from 1980:
sportsillustrated.cnn.com/.../index.htm
More recently, football players were wearing sports strips because they swore it allowed more oxygen to enter the nostrils. Do players still wear them?
Anyhow, in my book this is a fad until proved otherwise. I guess if you have $2K extra, go for it. Otherwise, you might wait a year or two. Let other people be the paid guinea pigs. If you start seeing everybody at a meet wearing them, go out and buy one. By then they will cost a lot less than $2,000.
