Table 1 Effects of respiratory muscle endurance training (RMET) on characteristics of the swimmers. Data are means (±standard deviation) Before RMET After RMET RMET group Control group RMET group Control group Body mass (kg) 70.4 (11.7) 70.7 (4.5) 69.8 (11.6) 69.8 (3.5) Fat mass (%) 18.5 (9.2) 21.9 (11.7) 18.3 (8.6) 21.4 (10.9) FVC (%) 125 (12) 130 (15) 128 (12) * 129 (17) FEV1 (%) 116 (11) 121 (11) 117 (9) 119 (6) PEF (%) 102 (12) 104 (14) 104 (10) 100 (12) MVV12s (%) 99 (16) 103 (16) 113 (13) * 112 (16) Field swim times on 50-m (s) 27.7 (2.2) 28.1 (1.8) 28.1 (2.1) 28.8 (1.8) * Field swim times on 200-m (s) 136.0 (10.2) 137.5 (11.4) 136.7 (8.4) 138.1 (8.8) Competition swim times on 50-m (s) 27.4 (2.3) 27.8 (2.2) 26.6 (2.1) * 27.6 (2.1) Competition swim times on 200-m (s) 130.7 (12.8) 135.4 (11.4) 125.5 (8.8) * 126.9 (7.7) IPS50m 634 (49) 662 (41) 611 (58) 630 (66) * IPS200m 632 (36) 654 (76) 641 (41) 636 (53) HR50m (bpm) 164 (12) 162 (14) 167 (8) 166 (11) HR200m (bpm) 176 (11) 177 (6) 173 (10) 171 (4) ΔLa50m (mmol·L-1) 5.8 (2.4) 6.3 (1.8) 4.8 (1.8) 5.3 (1.6) * ΔLa200m (mmol·L-1) 8.1 (2.5) 9.1 (1.6) 6.9 (1.8) 7.9 (3.2) Chest expansion (cm) 7.4 (1.4) 7.7 (1.7) 8.2 (1.2) * 7.3 (1.5) denotes p < 0.05 between before and after training. FVC: forced vital capacity; FEV: forced expiratory volume in one second; PEF: peak expiratory flow; MVV: maximum voluntary ventilation; IPS: international point scores for the 50- and 200-m experimental trials (i.e., simulated competitions); HR: heart rate; ΔLa: delta lactate concentration (i.e., lactate concentration measured 3 min after the end of trials minus lactate concentration at rest).