Athletes do away with nose clips

Training with a nose clip is of little benefit to athletes, according to a new study.

In certain combat sports, such as boxing and mixed martial arts, some athletes will restrict their nasal breathing with a nose clip in the hope of improving their performance.

But this practice is "questionable", says Dr Rudi Meir from Southern Cross University.

"I have been interested in this strategy for a while," he said.

"As a strength and conditioning coach I have used this method while involved with professional Rugby Sevens teams."

To test the practice, Dr Meir studied the effect on 10 male athletes who completed a range of exercises with and without a nose clip.

He found that wearing a nose clip to restrict nasal breathing during high-intensity short duration exercise "had no statistically significant effect on any of the physiological measurements".