Breathing Part 2
This is a guest blog by Jack Anderson
If you didn’t read part 1, please read it here first.
Breath Holds
While the nose is the foundational piece to better breathing, breath holds might be the secret to fast tracking some of the positive adaptations. Breath holds are simply extreme CO2 tolerance training. Through them, we can learn to maintain efficient nasal breathing when air supply decreases. Practicing breath holds until there is a moderate to somewhat strong urge to rebreathe has multiple benefits:
1. Ideal for warmups to help build up CO2 that increases oxygen’s ability to release from the blood stream to tissues.
2. Vasodilation of airways and improved blood flow.
3. Causes the spleen to release red blood cells, and kidneys to produce more EPO that stimulates bone marrow to create and release even more blood cells.
4. From this we get increases in red blood cell count and hemoglobin concentration leading to higher oxygen carrying capacity of the blood.
5. Breath holds limit O2 just like training at altitude does.
6. They also lead to NO pooling in the nasal cavity, which is perfect for when breathing resumes so we can uptake NO into our system.
Practical application: Go for a nasal breathing walk. Inhale through the nose, exhale comfortably through the nose and then plug it. Walk until you achieve a moderate to strong urge for air and then rebreathe through the nose. Attempt to slow your nasal breathing within 2-3 breaths. Complete 5-10 breath holds on your walk.
**Working to extreme breath hold shortages while walking can be dangerous. Use caution and don’t push it unless you enjoy the sensation of passing out.**
Tummo Breathing
Tummo breathing is a Wim Hof creation and can be seen here. You can choose to breathe through the nose only, inhale though the nose and exhale through the mouth or mouth breathe only.
Tummo breathing should be circular and aggressive. In essence it is a great way to be mindful, present and regulate your nervous system.
“How to Tummo:
Step 1: Start to breathe. Fully in and fully out, continuously, 30-40 times
Step 2: Last breath - breathe out, emptying the lungs. Hold for as long as you can until there is an urge to breathe.
Step 3: After the hold, take a deep breath in and hold for 10-15 seconds
Step 4: Repeat the entire process for 3-5 rounds”
As a simple case study, I performed Tummo utilizing the different breathing strategies. I found that mouth breathing led to a sensation of arousal and focus. I tested my HRV before and after the session as well. My HRV dropped from 70 to 65 (indicating more sympathetic drive) and my resting heart rate went from an average of 51 to 64 beats per minute. The session itself took about 14 minutes.
The nasal breathing strategy I attempting the following morning was the polar opposite. Prior to Tummo my HRV was 65 and my RHR was an average of 59 bpm. Afterwards, my HRV clocked in at 72 and my RHR was 52 bpm (indicating more parasympathetic drive). I felt calmer, clear headed and measured.
I cannot overstate this enough. Breathing can strongly influence the nervous system and daily readiness. If you are not utilizing this, you are missing out on some incredible benefits towards maximizing your performance.
Being present is very important for an athlete and I think this breathing method not only draws focus on the power of breath, but it incorporates breath holds, training the diaphragm and ensuring air is reaching all areas of the body. You are also alternating between a hypoxic and O2-rich environment, which resembles the stop and go nature of sport. Everything about this method is terrific for athletes and I highly encourage it.
Practical application: Perform 3-5 rounds of Tummo daily if possible (lying down or seated only). Consistency is key to maximize the benefits.
Conclusion – Can We Do Less and Get More?
This article has laid out a series of one-offs that can help influence performance. But how can we implement this into the rigorous lifestyles of our athletes without simply giving them more “things to do?”
The answer is still to be determined and I’m hoping to get to the bottom of it all.
There are several parameters to energy system development. We train to elicit specific local or global adaptations. We perform to express those adaptations. The limiting factors might be global pertaining to respiration or underlying physiology of the energy systems. Or they could be local pertaining to the lack of proper load management or load exposure of the working tissues.
In training then, we want to expose the necessary tissues to proper loads while also eliciting optimal cardiorespiratory function. However, if we experience global fatigue before we achieve the desired local tissue adaptation or vice versa (depending on the needs of the athlete), then we have failed.
Often, we resort to more cardiac output in order to “get in shape” (sport coaches typically attribute tiredness to central fatigue). However, this overlooks the many factors that play into endurance and aerobic system function. From Fahrizal and Budi:
“Endurance depends on the factors of the transport of oxygen, the oxygen-binding capacity of the blood, cardiac function, oxygen extraction capabilities, and muscular oxidative potential.”
If you notice, many of the above mentioned functions are enhanced by breath-work. So, could a proper breathing program reduce the need for excess conditioning or would it rob the local tissue of the development needed to sustain the load demands of sport?
There is some research related to this. One study saw swimmers improve hemoglobin concentration and increase VO2 Max with breath-work. But with an n=16 and no reduction in training volume between breathing and non-breathing groups, there is more work to be done here. Another saw similar effects in VO2 Max in high school aged basketball players. But again, there was no difference in the training loads imposed between groups.
I believe the current state of athletics place far too much emphasis on excessive training loads, resulting in a plethora of soft tissue and overuse injuries. If we could limit such volume via breath-work and still maintain adequate global adaptation from a respiratory standpoint, it would be a huge win for athletes and coaches. There must be a sweet spot for load and breath-work that will maximize player health and result in high performance outputs.
Currently I am working on a study design that will examine these thoughts. The study intends to divide participants into groups. One group will be given breath-work only. Another will just train aerobically. And a third will perform a combination of both (with decreased training loads). We will run all groups through a number of tests both pre- and post-intervention and see what comes of it.
I am asking coaches or athletes to participate in this so we can shed some more light on breathing as a training modality and potentially give us some leverage when discussing training loads with coaches. If you are interested please let me know and we will get you on board. Breath-work is powerful. It would be a shame to waste it.
If you are interested in participating in this study, you can reach out to Jack on Instagram @jack_andersoniii https://www.instagram.com/jack_andersoniii/ or on Twitter @jackandersoniii https://twitter.com/jackandersonIII
Sources
Nestor, J. Breath (2020)
McKeown, P. Oxygen Advantage (2015)
Karaula, D. The effects of hypercapnic-hypoxic training program on hemoglobin concentration and maximum oxygen uptake of elite swimmers (2014)
Fahrizal, D. The effect of buteyko breathing technique in improving cardiorespiratory endurance (2017)
Cap, A. The nose knows: a case for nasal breathing during high intensity exercise (2013)
Jack Anderson is a performance coach out of Santa Barbara, CA with experience working in professional, collegiate and tactical strength and conditioning. He also hosts the Upper Left Performance Podcast which can be found here https://anchor.fm/jack-anderson74.
