Acute effects of inspiratory muscle warm-up on exercise performance in competitive athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis
- 1School of Physical Education, Yunnan Normal University
- 2Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological University
- 3Yunnan physical science and Sports professional College
Abstract
Background The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to quantify the acute effect of inspiratory muscle warm-up (IMW) on sport-specific exercise performance in able-bodied competitive athletes and explore potential moderating effects of sport type and control condition. Para-athlete studies were not included in the eligible evidence base. Methods We systematically searched Web of Science, PubMed, Ovid Embase, and Scopus for randomized trials comparing acute IMW with sham or standard warm-up in competitive athletes. Google Scholar was also searched to identify grey literature. A random-effects meta-analysis (Hedges’ g) was performed on performance outcomes, with a significance threshold of P < = 0.05. Results Eleven crossover trials (139 able-bodied athletes) were meta-analyzed. IMW produced a small beneficial effect on acute exercise performance (g = 0.285, 95% CI: 0.124 to 0.446). Sensitivity analyses assuming r = 0.3 and r = 0.7 yielded consistent results. The effect was larger for non-endurance or intermittent sports (g = 0.418, k = 6) than for endurance sports (g = 0.142, k = 5), but this subgroup contrast was treated as exploratory because the intermittent/non-endurance estimate was attenuated after excluding Lin et al. (2007) (g = 0.351, 95% CI: 0.152 to 0.551, P = 0.008, k = 5). Conclusions IMW showed a small statistically significant pooled effect on acute exercise performance. However, the low certainty of evidence, limited sample base, influence of Lin et al. (2007) on the pooled estimate, and 10 of 11 individual estimates with 95% confidence intervals crossing the null mean that its practical value remains uncertain. Larger, rigorously designed trials using standardized loading protocols are needed. Trial registration PROSPERO CRD420261405783.
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BibTeX
@article{wang2026acute,
title = {{Acute effects of inspiratory muscle warm-up on exercise performance in competitive athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis}},
author = {Zitao Wang and Yushuo Liu and Wanyuan Xia and Qiuyuan Peng and Yang Li and Zhenxin Nie},
journal = {BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1186/s13102-026-01902-7},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s13102-026-01902-7},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Acute effects of inspiratory muscle warm-up on exercise performance in competitive athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis
AU - Zitao Wang
AU - Yushuo Liu
AU - Wanyuan Xia
AU - Qiuyuan Peng
AU - Yang Li
AU - Zhenxin Nie
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/01
JO - BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation
DO - 10.1186/s13102-026-01902-7
UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13102-026-01902-7
AB - Background The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to quantify the acute effect of inspiratory muscle warm-up (IMW) on sport-specific exercise performance in able-bodied competitive athletes and explore potential moderating effects of sport type and control condition. Para-athlete studies were not included in the eligible evidence base. Methods We systematically searched Web of Science, PubMed, Ovid Embase, and Scopus for randomized trials comparing acute IMW with sham or standard warm-up in competitive athletes. Google Scholar was also searched to identify grey literature. A random-effects meta-analysis (Hedges’ g) was performed on performance outcomes, with a significance threshold of P < = 0.05. Results Eleven crossover trials (139 able-bodied athletes) were meta-analyzed. IMW produced a small beneficial effect on acute exercise performance (g = 0.285, 95% CI: 0.124 to 0.446). Sensitivity analyses assuming r = 0.3 and r = 0.7 yielded consistent results. The effect was larger for non-endurance or intermittent sports (g = 0.418, k = 6) than for endurance sports (g = 0.142, k = 5), but this subgroup contrast was treated as exploratory because the intermittent/non-endurance estimate was attenuated after excluding Lin et al. (2007) (g = 0.351, 95% CI: 0.152 to 0.551, P = 0.008, k = 5). Conclusions IMW showed a small statistically significant pooled effect on acute exercise performance. However, the low certainty of evidence, limited sample base, influence of Lin et al. (2007) on the pooled estimate, and 10 of 11 individual estimates with 95% confidence intervals crossing the null mean that its practical value remains uncertain. Larger, rigorously designed trials using standardized loading protocols are needed. Trial registration PROSPERO CRD420261405783.
SN - 2052-1847
ER -