I recently witnessed a remarkable demonstration. This amateur runner was going at full pelt on a running machine breathing calmly, and gently (pretty much

invisibly) with her mouth closed. She was in full control of her breathing throughout, totally relaxed before during and after the exercise.

Don coaching the Oxyathlete method

 

It was a workshop lead by Don Gordon  demonstrating part of the oxyathlete programme of Patrick Mckeown ; Elite athletes trained in Oxyathlete programmes have had increased performance of up to 2%, amateurs much more.

Background

At peak performance the majority of athletes that Don assessed (from elite, amateur or recreational) felt that their breathing holds them back, not their muscles.
Most athletes breathe badly; many have heath issues connected with bad breathing (asthma, allergies, anxiety, sleep problems)
Most have no breath training, don’t warm up lungs or diaphragm or/ have been coached to do deep breathing and/or rhythm breathing through the mouth, not the nose.

The breath training programme can deliver:

• Better oxygen delivery
• Faster speeds
• Better endurance
• Faster recovery
• More enjoyment

 Incorrect breathing can:

• Constrict airways making it harder to breathe
• Constrict blood vessels reducing muscle oxygenation, speed and endurance
• Cause lactic acid build up and fatigue
• Increase free radicals/acidosis making injury/cramp/ pulled muscles more likely
• Reduce training days due to more ill health

 How does it work? Optimal performance is a function of how we breathe; less breathing leads to more muscle oxygenation 

The first stage improves breathing at rest and is for everyone. The second stage is for all athletes when they have progressed in stage one; learning breath control during exercise with mainly nasal breathing.

The second stage involves special warm ups and cool downs while controlling the breath as well as interval training, all while breathing calmly and mostly through the nose. The controlled way this is done strikes me as safer than the interval training where the breathing is out of control and takes a long time to come back down to normal after the training session.
Then for elite athletes the third stage simulates high altitude training via breath control (more in future blog posts).

 
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