I have recently read two articles that reminded me how important breathing is for an optimal athletic performance and provided some new insights.

  • the same muscles that we use for breathing also stabilise the core and rotate the trunk
  • breathing muscles and the heart will take priority for oxygenated blood over limb muscles so if there is a shortage, the rest of the body and limbs will be starved, causing premature fatigue; training muscle training can improve performance by 15% in runners
  • breathe less for greater performance and health - hypoxia (induced through breath holding and voluntarily reduced breathing - hypoventilation) improves oxygen supply of tissues, oxygen utilization by cells, aerobic metabolism. Source: [1.]

So it is important to train, synchronise, and optimise movement with breathing. And it also makes sense to train and strengthen the inspiratory muscles so that they do not become too stressed so easily.

From Breathe Strong:

Breathing is a process that requires the coordinated contraction and relaxation of many muscles. Research has now shown that the work done by these muscles during exercise is substantial, so their training status has a profound influence upon exercise performance. There is now ample research evidence that performance can be improved by increasing the strength, power and endurance of the inspiratory muscles through specific training.

[…] after inspiratory muscle training, they [athletes] feel that they are working less hard, and their performance improves.

Resources:

  1. Info page for the Second Wind workshop on relaxatin and Russion breathing
  2. Forbes: Proper Breathing Can Improve Sports Performance By 15 Percent
  3. Breathe Strong - webpage for the book Breathe Strong Perform Better

Training

Be able to trigger or delay adrenal response. Trigger relaxation response. Mentail rehearsal.

Science

  • tabata. HIIT, anti-glycolic
  • relaxation speed, training => medium x top athletes https://www.strongfirst.com/special-events/second-wind-pavel/