The secret to avoiding breathlessness in sport
#shutyourmouth
It is so simple, and at the same time hard to accept and to do. 97% of people reading this will stop here.
Do you think it is insane to try to exercise while breathing through your nose, because you can't get enough oxygen? That it's too uncomfortable and you can't train as fast or intensely as you want to? Or perhaps you can't breathe through your nose due to rhinitis, a broken nose or deviated septum.
No thank you, is the common answer.
It is so simple, and at the same time hard to accept and to do. 97% of people reading this will stop here.
Do you think it is insane to try to exercise while breathing through your nose, because you can't get enough oxygen? That it's too uncomfortable and you can't train as fast or intensely as you want to? Or perhaps you can't breathe through your nose due to rhinitis, a broken nose or deviated septum.
No thank you, is the common answer.
Let's bust one of those reasons, because it's a myth
When you move, your muscles generate carbon dioxide (CO2) as a result of their workload. Your body is quite sensitive to CO2 and will respond by getting you to breathe more heavily to bring the concentration back to normal. That's why you breathe more during sport. Yes, your body is needing more oxygen, but the primary trigger for breathing is your CO2 and pH levels.
If you don't expel that extra CO2 quickly enough then it can feel a bit uncomfortable. You get an 'air hunger' which you interpret as not getting enough oxygen. So you breathe more.
However, by over-breathing and expelling lots of CO2 you're getting rid of the one thing that guarantees an optimum exchange of oxygen to your cells. CO2 has an important role in getting the oxygen to offload at the places it's needed. Without CO2, the oxygen stays bonded to the red blood cells and doesn't get released as readily. This is known as the Bohr effect.
So let's summarise: breathing heavily during exercise is limiting the amount of oxygen your body can use. And might be the cause of your breathlessness.
If you don't expel that extra CO2 quickly enough then it can feel a bit uncomfortable. You get an 'air hunger' which you interpret as not getting enough oxygen. So you breathe more.
However, by over-breathing and expelling lots of CO2 you're getting rid of the one thing that guarantees an optimum exchange of oxygen to your cells. CO2 has an important role in getting the oxygen to offload at the places it's needed. Without CO2, the oxygen stays bonded to the red blood cells and doesn't get released as readily. This is known as the Bohr effect.
So let's summarise: breathing heavily during exercise is limiting the amount of oxygen your body can use. And might be the cause of your breathlessness.
Have I just blown your mind?
The reason most people don't want to stop breathing like this is because the trade off is - at least in the early days - a degree of discomfort through air hunger and resistance of air flow through the nose.
However, you can TRAIN yourself to adopt more natural breathing and REDUCE your dependency on medication.
And if you've read this far, then I know it's what you want to do. Check out the latest scientific research that supports this approach.
Join the free mini-course to try a few of the exercises I've learnt over the years as a champion freediver with 5 national records.
However, you can TRAIN yourself to adopt more natural breathing and REDUCE your dependency on medication.
And if you've read this far, then I know it's what you want to do. Check out the latest scientific research that supports this approach.
Join the free mini-course to try a few of the exercises I've learnt over the years as a champion freediver with 5 national records.