Bas Rutten O2Trainer: Breathing Muscle Training Device – Lung Power & Endurance Tool for Athletes, Singers & High-Altitude Performance – Diaphragmatic Respiratory Trainer – 16 Resistance Caps – Blue

Anytime you go for a fitness 'gadget' you're kind of taking a gamble. But I was intrigued enough about the idea and put my faith in Bas and, so far, I haven't been let down.The trainer itself is well made, better actually than it looks in the photos/videos. The rubber is soft and very slightly tacky, feels like some sort of silicon, not old school rubber or even latex. This makes it very comfy to hold and it's pretty taste neutral. You don't feel like you're chewing on a tire.I haven't been using it long enough to speak to Bas's claims of curing asthma, but it has definitely increased the intensity of my conditioning workouts. It seems to encourage and even enforce 'mechanical breathing', the deep and forceful belly breathing you see from Russian kettlebell men or someone working long hours with a sledgehammer. For me that meant that, even though it was harder to breathe, I felt more engaged and therefore more powerful. I feel like I'm getting more results out of a shorter workout, and I actually feel better after the workout. That's obviously subjective and your mileage may vary.As for the drool in other reviews...well, you're gonna have a little drool one way or the other. I hold it fairly loosely in my teeth, but high up on the 'bit' so the device is close to my lips. With this method I haven't had much 'leakage', but when you take it out it's going to be dripping with spit anyway. I figure if you're worried about looking stupid from drool, you'd be worried about looking stupid with a big blue piece of rubber sticking out of your gob. The thing works. If you're a drooler, grab a spit towel and just keep working out.

For any athlete, it is bad to have shallow and dysfunctional breathing in your chest. I compete in Jiu Jitsu and I hate the feeling of being in a hard match and my chest just starts to feel heavy like my lungs cannot possibly get enough air. For any athlete, powerful lungs are important. The first thing I started to notice with this product is that I actually had to re-teach myself how to breathe, then I noticed my lower back, upper back, core, neck, hips and even shoulders are all tight and are restricting proper breathing. When I use this product I not only feel all of the muscles associated with breathing being worked but my lungs are also pushed to their limits with capacity and all of my tight muscles that restrict my breathing are getting stretched out and becoming loose. Now there are muscles all over my belly that are going through hypertrophy, they seem to be muscles that I have not worked to such a far extent before. My recovery time in Jiu Jitsu training is faster, I can go harder, I can push the pace and go beyond what I was capable of before and on top of that I can feel myself breathing differently to the point where I even feel some of those tight muscles on my torso getting stretched out hard. I’m definitely gonna keep using this until I have full mastery, I know my stamina will be so much better than it is now.

I have been a big fan of Bas Rutten and find his product very good. I own the original and this new version. I love the new version we’re I don’t have to really remove it from my mouth to exercise my lungs. I follow his two breathing methods and this has increased my lung capacity for Brazilian jujitsu. I’m 56 and can keep up with all the young guys in my gym.

Tried out this O2 muscle trainer and… well, it was a bit of a mixed bag. It technically works, but it felt a little gimmicky to me. I gave it an honest shot, but it just didn’t do much for me personally. Ended up tossing it—literally—it’s currently living in the trash can. That said, I can see how it might work for some people, especially if they’re into this kind of gear. I’ll give it credit for decent quality and effort behind the design, so I’m not going to torch it completely. Solid four stars for trying, but it just wasn’t my thing.

It works very good as advertised

I do mixed martial arts, and Muay Thai and my coach recommended this. It’s been amazing to help me with my lung and breathing work.

I’ve had this for a decade I think. Just now getting through my reviews. This is an absolute workout! I love Bas! I also have the BAS trainer fighting pad thing. Which I really get some good workouts on.

The three most used air restrictions parts were replaced by duplicates of the least used air restriction parts. Why would they do that?? However the product does seem like decent quality, if only I had the proper parts for it to be used properly.