Donald Gillies wrote:
> 5% more breathing capacity with wide bars ?? I can hardly believe it.
> The chest is a fixed cavity and you breathe by pulling the diaphragm
> down, drawing air into the lungs. The arms are unable to influence
> the size of that cavity. The diaphragm is several inches below where
> the arms are in all riding positions except facing backwards sitting
> on the handlebars steering with your hands behind your back.
>
> I'd like to see a reference to the "so-called" research that purports
> that wider bars increase breathing capacity ! ! !
The best I can find is that the effect of riding position, and presumably arm position, on breathing capacity is "inconclusive:"
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: Volume 29(6) June 1997 pp 818-823
Influence of different racing positions on metabolic cost in elite cyclists
GNEHM, PETER; REICHENBACH, STEPHAN; ALTPETER, EKKEHARDT; WIDMER, HANS; HOPPELER, HANS
Department of Anatomy, University of Bern, CH-3000 Bern 9; and Institute of Sports Sciences, CH-2532 Magglingen, SWITZERLAND Submitted for publication January 1995. Accepted for publication January 1997.
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John (john@os2.dhs.org)
Appleton WI USA