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At the stunning location of the Croyde Ocean Triathlon start line, overlooking the beautiful Puttsborough Beach, I (The Breath Coach) had the pleasure of speaking to many triathletes of varying abilities- from recreational, competitive, and elite.
As an Advanced Oxygen Advantage Coach with a sports science degree, It always surprises me to see competitors not considering their breathing as a performance and recovery-enhancing tool. Everyone at the triathlon had trained hard to achieve their PB, whilst some were competing to prove that they had what it takes to make it to the next level and to get noticed on a bigger stage so why aren’t they aware of their breathing as a key performance tool?
Most competitors had the best gear money can buy. Glistening, uber-light carbon fiber bikes, and tight aerodynamic state-of-the-art clothing using optimal testing techniques, fabrics, and materials. I’d imagine everyone had considered their nutrition leading up to the event, with the right amount of carbs, fats, and proteins measured out carefully the night before to the gram. There were of course lots of carbohydrate, electrolyte, and energy gels and drinks being consumed pre, during, and post-race.
If athletes go to these lengths to improve performance, why when I talked to them were they totally unaware of their breathing at rest, whilst competing, and during recovery? The breath is what provides energy to working cells and muscles through the process of cellular respiration- glucose and oxygen react to form ATP. Without oxygen, energy can’t be produced and therefore, if we aren’t taking functional and optimal breathing seriously we are hampering our chances of success during competition. It’s strikingly obvious when you look at it this way, we can optimise oxygen delivery simply by breathing a certain way.
As a breathing coach, I see this all the time- most people presume, as we breathe automatically we don’t have to consider it. Maybe their training schedules are so stacked they can't possibly consider another training modality on top of what they already do. I know that training for a triathlon or any sporting event is a fine balancing act. However, functional breathing is easy and attainable, once we consider the basics and bring awareness inwards to our breath.
How are you breathing now- through the mouth, short and shallow, into the upper chest where no oxygen ventilation takes place? This is a common sight at all sporting events, both recreational and elite, and one that I witnessed pre-race at Croyde triathlon.
If you had recently watched the Wimbledon tennis tournament you will have witnessed a new champion on the block, Carlos Alcaraz huffing and puffing around the court with his mouth wide open. Is he aware of how breathing directly affects his performance? It doesn’t seem so. Watch his breathing and his mouth the next time you watch him play and he’s not on his own.
I don’t see many athletes who use techniques whilst performing to maintain control of their breath to create calm and focus. Small margins. He was obviously the winner so you might be thinking, so what he won and looks like the finished article at only 20 years old. Maybe so but what if he had used breathing during the performance to even further optimise oxygen delivery and not repeat the cramps he experienced in the French Open, against Djokovic which ended his game in the semi-final? More oxygen delivery minimises and delays muscular fatigue so maybe he could have stopped the cramps and won to go onto the final. Small margins.
When programming a course of training for any athlete here at The Breath Coach we must first strip the athletes breathing back to basics. How are you breathing at rest, whilst sleeping, and doing menial tasks such as shopping for groceries? How do you breathe whilst warming up and during a light/hard training session, during a strength and conditioning session, and between reps on the track? At first, we must become obsessed with our breath and heighten awareness until good habits are formed.
I train functional breathing firstly through awareness and habit training which can be addressed quickly. I am a habit coach as well as a breathing coach. It's known that a habit is formed within 66 days and the neuroplasticity of the brain adapts to training and habit stacking. Once the functional breathing habit is perfected and ultimately restored then the fun of integrating intermittent hypercapnic (high CO2) and hypoxic (low oxygen) training (IHHT) into schedules can begin. This doesn’t need to have its own specific training time dedicated to it. It can be worked into existing schedules to maximise performance but save time for the time-poor. Athletes have intense training schedules and that's the beauty of breathing training, it can be organically integrated into existing training programs and schedules.
“We must become obsessed with our breath and heighten awareness until good habits are formed.” — Thomas Hague, The Breath Coach
As I previously mentioned, athletes may breathe automatically but that doesn’t mean that they breathe optimally. This is key when addressing athletes breathing and performance. Whether you are a recreational athlete wishing to beat your PB or a competitive or elite athlete looking to fine-tune your training with no stone unturned, it’s essential that you consider using your breath to optimise training, competition, and recovery.
Before we look at aerobic capacity and the science behind breathing we first look at how we breathe at rest. The breath determines and controls our aerobic capacity. We know that performance improves with an increase in hemoglobin (Hb) a protein found in the blood within the red blood cells, and hematocrit (Hct), which is a measurement of the percentage volume of red blood cells in comparison to the total blood volume. This is usually a very precise measurement that determines the number of red blood cells in the body. In females, Hct is 36.1-44.3%, and in males, 40.7-50%.
Performance improves with an increase in hemoglobin and hematocrit which increases the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood, thus improving aerobic ability (Eckblom, Goldbarg & Gullbring, 1972). Elite athletes pay close attention to their oxygen-carrying capacity by monitoring their blood to determine their Hb and Hct levels. The greater the percentages, the greater percentage of O2 can be delivered to working cells and muscles helping us ultimately go harder and for longer. As athletes, we become more efficient. Anti-doping agencies look for higher levels of Hct of competing athletes as this may indicate that blood-doping is taking place.
This is where practicing breath holds is beneficial to any athlete. The spleen plays an important part as it's here that 8% of the body's red blood cells are stored. 8% translates to 200-330ml of blood with 80% of this consisting of oxygen-carrying red blood cells. Blood is stored in the spleen when there is excess volume and is released into circulation when there is increased oxygen demand or, to put it another way, decreased oxygen availability (Isbister, 1997).
Practicing breath holds with intermittent hypercapnic and hypoxic training (IHHT) lowers the blood oxygen saturation and provokes the spleen to release more blood into circulation, increasing the blood capacity by between 2.8-9.6% (Bakovic et all., 2003; Ostrowski et al., 2012; Schagatay at al., 2007).
The Journal of Applied Physiology published a paper that suggested that it takes just 5 maximum breath holds with a 2-minute rest in between to cause contraction of the spleen by 20%. It concluded that “results show a rapid, probably active contraction of the spleen in response to breath-hold in humans” (Bakovic et al., 2003)
We can increase EPO (erythropoietin) naturally. Lance Armstrong and the many before and after him chased these higher levels of EPO to increase performance through synthetic means. Had they considered the natural route through the power of their breath they would be considered greats instead of the villains of sport. The bone marrow is responsible for the production of red blood cells in the human body. EPO is essential for red blood cell (RBC) production.
Wolfgang, 2011 states that EPO in the kidneys has been found to increase under hypoxic conditions as well in minor amounts in the liver and brain. Breath-holding to create hypoxic conditions increases the production of EPO by the kidneys (Balestra et al., 2006). EPO stimulates the proliferation and maturation of red blood cells within the bone marrow red blood cells (Ostrowski et al., 2012).
We know that an increase in red blood cells helps improve the blood's oxygen-carrying capacity which is beneficial for improving sports performance and this is why people blood dope. Breath holding is legal, safe and taps into our natural production of EPO. Utilising breath holds immediately prior to competition is important to create these positive blood adaptations.
“A 24% increase in EPO concentration can be found after 5 strong breath holds with the blood SpO2 lowered below 85%. The peak of 24% is noted 3 hours after the final breath-hold and returns to baseline 2 hours later ” — De Bruijn et al., 2007
A 24% increase in EPO concentration can be found after 5 strong breath holds with the blood SpO2 lowered below 85%. The peak of 24% is noted 3 hours after the final breath-hold and returns to baseline 2 hours later (de Bruijn et al., 2007). The 24% increase in EPO was also found in a study by Ge and associates (2002) after 6 hours at an altitude of 1,780 meters (de Bruijn et al., 2007).
It should be noted however that it takes 3-4 days until a significantly higher number of young red blood cells (reticulocytes) release from the bone marrow to the blood which is important for athletes preparing for competition (Wolfgang, 2011).
If an athlete can sustain breath-holding practice over time then significant adaptations can take place. One paper by Lemaitre, Joulia & Chollet, 2010, found that trained breath-hold divers had 5% more oxygen-carrying red blood cells than those who were untrained. That’s a huge difference when looking at small performance margins.
I mentioned Carlos Alcaraz earlier and he would do well to consider his breathing as a way to avoid cramps and fatigue. Fatigue is a physiological occurrence and is the breaking point at which the athlete cannot continue to exercise at that intensity. Increased hydrogen ions are implicated in causing muscle fatigue, resulting in the athlete having to slow down their intensity or cease performance altogether.
“Exposing the body to a high concentration of hydrogen ions during training forces the body to make adaptations, thereby delaying the onset of fatigue. This is especially advantageous to athletes participating in high-intensity anaerobic exercise” — Patrick McKeown, 2020
Exposing the body to a high concentration of hydrogen ions during training forces the body to make adaptations, thereby delaying the onset of fatigue. This is especially advantageous to athletes participating in high-intensity anaerobic exercise in sports, such as tennis, football, rugby, sprinting, boxing, or MMA. We can achieve this through intermittent hypercapnic and hypoxic training (IHHT).
With a sufficient distribution of oxygen to the fatigued muscles, water is produced as H+ becomes oxidized in the mitochondria. The practice of holding the breath following an exhalation leads to a decrease in the blood’s oxygen levels, thus preventing the H+ from being oxidized. When oxygen is insufficient, the H+ instead combines with pyruvic acid, which supplies energy to the living cells, to form lactic acid. This lactic acid then quickly dissociates into two compounds: lactate ion and hydrogen ion.
“Breath-holding on the exhalation disrupts the body’s acid-base balance and forces adaptations, which delays lactic acid and fatigue.” — Patrick Mckeown, 2020
The metabolism produces CO2, which in turn dissociates to H+ (hydrogen ion) and HCO3- (bicarbonate). As carbon dioxide increases, there is an in- creased concentration of hydrogen ions to further acidify the blood. Carbon dioxide in the blood forms carbonic acid, which in turn dissociates into bicarbonate and hydrogen ions. Breath-holding on the exhalation disrupts the body’s acid-base balance and forces adaptations, which delays lactic acid and fatigue.
During breath-holding CO2 increases to 50mmHg in the lungs. As carbon dioxide increases in the lungs, it increases in the blood, and this in turn slows down the release of CO2 from the muscle to the blood. Therefore breath-holding causes carbon dioxide not only to accumulate in the lungs and blood but also to accumulate in the muscle.
The effects of low oxygen (hypoxia) and high carbon dioxide (hypercapnia) are responsible for the increase in H+ that occurs when the breath is held. The natural decrease in blood pH due to the lack of bicarbonate results in combined acidosis. When the breath is held, H+ accumulates and HCO3- levels begin to decrease as it buffers the excess H+ created by the lactic acid.
In a study by Woorons et al., near-infrared spectroscopy was used to measure oxygen saturation within the muscle (SmO2). The results revealed that oxygen saturation in the muscle is lower when the breath is held. As CO2 accumulates within the muscle, it is converted into HCO3-, leading to the automatic production of H+ ions. Some of these H+ ions are neutralised within the muscle by buffering substances, such as proteins and phosphate.
According to Woorons et al. (2008), significant acidity within the muscle tissue is a major consequence of breath-holding while performing exercise, and it is the main cause of adaptations that occur after breath-hold training.
The buffer system within the skeletal muscle is mostly made up of proteins and phosphates (60 percent), as well as some bicarbonate (18 percent). The study suggests that the diffusion of H+ in the blood is potentially lowered by an enhanced buffering capability in the muscle compartments that causes the hydrogen ions to accumulate more slowly, thus allowing athletes to exercise more intensely or for longer periods (Woorons et al., 2008). (Patrick Mckeown, 2020)
While the positive effects of high-intensity exercise are compelling, training at high intensity is not suitable or possible for everyone. In sports such as boxing, MMA, and sprinting, which are predominantly anaerobic, training by repeatedly performing exercises at high intensity to stimulate an anaerobic state can be traumatizing for the athlete. To reduce the risk of injury, the athlete could train at a more moderate pace while applying the exercise for the simulation of high altitude. In addition, athletes who are unable to train due to injury could perform breath-holding to maintain high BOLT and MBT scores. This means that an injured athlete can maintain good respiratory function whilst they are unable to train physically due to injury constraints.
“Training by repeatedly performing exercises at high intensity to stimulate an anaerobic state can be traumatizing for the athlete. To reduce the risk of injury, the athlete could train at a more moderate pace while applying the exercise for the simulation of high altitude.” — Patrick Mckeown, 2020
I shall draw this blog to a close with so much more to talk about with recovery being a large part, but as you can see the science and research suggest that athletes can benefit from breathing practices to increase sports performance. Recreational and professional athletes across the whole world can tap into this free and available training modality. At The Breath Coach, I am excited to see breathing slowly becoming recognised as a training tool to enhance sports performance but as I have suggested it has a long way to go. It can’t be long until each and every top athlete and team has their own dedicated breath coach to guide them toward sporting greatness.
In elite sports, greatness and being the best boils down to the small margins. If you want to be the best you must consider your breathing before your competitors do and I am here to guide you to optimise your breathing so you can be the best.
Please request a meeting and we can discuss how I can train you or your team to be the best. Get in touch.
