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) ∆La50m (mmol·L-1) 5.8 (2.4) 6.3 (1.8) 4.8 (1.8) 5.3 (1.6) * ∆La200m (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; ∆La: delta lactate concentration (i.e., lactate concentration measured 3 min after the end of trials minus lactate concentration at rest).