In the movie ‘Jarhead’ the characters are seen going on a jog in full MOPP gear. Gas masks and full MOPP gear are notorious for holding in heat and hurting performance. Some would consider training or exercising in a gas mask to be the ultimate punishment or torture. It is said that you lose visibility and the ability to breathe with a gas mask on. This could be why gas mask training can be seen as a sanction or punishment. I prefer to see a gas mask as a training tool.
DIFFERENT MASK TYPES
There are several different types of mask designs out there for sale. The most popular masks out there are on the military surplus market from the European and Eastern European cold war stocks. Even here you find a few different varieties such as:
Cheek Filter Variety- Filters are placed on the cheeks of the mask and/or accessed and replaced from the inside. These typically are designed for short term usage in hazardous environments, but are liked for the general balance and slim feeling.
Face Canister Variety- Many countries use outside screw on face canisters for their NBC masks. This gave them the ability to be exposed to a hazardous environment almost indefinitely, or as long as they had replacement canisters.
Breathing Hose Variety- In some of the Communist block countries, the masks were known for being just as big as necessary, which was liked. However, the caveat was that the air had to be supplied by a filter system that was attached to the mask by a hose. In many cases, the hoses were not considered to be durable enough for standard military usage. However, these types of masks were used, but with special emphasis put on protecting the hose.
BENEFITS OF TRAINING
There are three main benefits to training with a gas mask. I will not say that it is necessarily the same as training at high altitude, but I will say that it is a great test for your respiratory efficiency. It is shown that high intensity training with restricted air flow, such as a gas mask provides naturally, can help strengthen the respiratory muscles. In other words, the more you try to force air into your lunges, the better for your respiratory system. This helps with endurance running, and getting deep breathes in a hurry. This is a benefit people of all ages can appreciate.
The next benefit is that a gas mask can help you build a more efficient method of breathing. When you are working with restricted air flow, you will start realizing that you need to ‘time’ your breaths. In order to prevent hyperventilation, you have to control your breathing in a way that allows you to maximize the effects of your air intake. This isn’t your body adapting to lower oxygen saturation in the air, but rather you developing a conscious control of your breathing in order to supply your muscles with oxygen when it needs it. Normally, people will just aimlessly conducting a breathing cycle during high intensity work without realizing how much influence oxygen intake has on our strength and endurance capabilities.
Another consideration about training with a gas mask is working with reduces visibility. With most gas masks, you have individual ports for each eye to see out of. This robs the user of a bit of peripheral vision and depth perception in some cases. You will probably find yourself notably preferring to use one view port over the other when doing tasks close up. However annoying as this may seem, you learn how to cope with it and become more visually in tune with your environment. If you wanted to take it a step further, you could tape over the visual panels and practice manual of arms training. This forces you to be in tune with your environment and make sure that you are actually proficient at manipulating your weapons for reloading, malfunction clearances, holstering, etc.
The last major benefit that gas mask training has is that you are ready for it if you ever need it. The SAS is one of the only organizations I know of that actually has training where they practically live out of a gas mask. This forces them to adapt to any limitations and builds them to perform just as good as they would without the mask on. Just spending time with a mask on intermittently will do nothing more for you than to show you why a gas mask is a pain in the ass to work in. It is important to adapt to the pain in the ass now before you need to use a gas mask in a serious capacity.
TRAINING TIPS
It would be worthless for me to write this article without at least giving you some ideas about what type of things you can do with a gas mask. Before you get into anything too complex, I recommend you start out by just getting used to donning and clearing the mask. Then step up to performing everyday activities such as reading, writing, doing dishes, cleaning, and cooking. Things that require you to perform fine motor skills and be visually focused will help you adapt to the visual limitations of the mask.
Next thing to work on would be to start getting used to moving with the mask on. This would include lifting and moving heavy objects, doing yardwork, etc. Things that will get you breathing harder and start you on the road to adapting to the mask.
While you are working on doing everyday tasks and yardwork in the mask, I recommend integrating short bursts of exercise such as burpees, lunges, sprints, etc. Go for as long as you can before it becomes too hard to breathe.
CLOSING COMMENTS
Gas masks can be difficult to work in, but I recommend getting used to working in them. The training offers lots of benefits to the user that will most likely be immediately realized post-training. I can tell you that you will learn to appreciate having the ability to breathe without limits and see without interruption. Bottom line: train with a gas mask.
RSS Feed