Breathe Better, Move Better

Breathing is one of the simplest tools athletes can use to improve performance and recovery. Most people think breathing is only about getting more oxygen in, but it is really about balance. Oxygen and carbon dioxide work together to help the body produce energy, control effort, and recover after training.

The Oxygen-Carbon Dioxide Dynamic

Oxygen helps your muscles create energy. When you inhale, oxygen enters the lungs, moves into the blood, and attaches to hemoglobin inside red blood cells. Hemoglobin carries oxygen to the muscles that are working. Carbon dioxide is produced when your body uses that oxygen for energy. As exercise gets harder, your muscles produce more carbon dioxide, and your brain responds by increasing breathing to help remove the extra carbon dioxide and keep blood chemistry balanced (Benner et al., 2023).

Carbon dioxide is also important because it helps oxygen leave the blood and enter the working muscles. This is called the Bohr effect. When carbon dioxide rises in active muscle tissue, hemoglobin releases oxygen more easily. In simple terms, oxygen feeds the muscles, but carbon dioxide helps unlock oxygen delivery where the body needs it most (Benner et al., 2023; Jensen, 2004).

This is why breathing is not just about taking bigger breaths. Overbreathing can actually make an athlete feel more anxious, tense, and out of control. Better breathing means learning how to use oxygen efficiently while tolerating the natural rise of carbon dioxide during effort.

Carbon dioxide tolerance is the body’s ability to stay calm when CO2 rises. During hard workouts, CO2 increases and creates the urge to breathe harder. If an athlete has low CO2 tolerance, that feeling can turn into panic breathing. The shoulders rise, the breath becomes shallow, the heart rate climbs quickly, and the athlete may redline too early. With better CO2 tolerance, the athlete can stay composed, control pacing, and recover faster between efforts. Research shows that carbon dioxide influences breathing drive and the feeling of breathlessness during exercise (Harrison et al., 2022).

Breathing for Athletic Performance

For long runs, breathing should create rhythm. Start with nasal breathing when possible. This helps slow the breath and keeps the pace controlled. Try inhaling for 3 steps and exhaling for 3 steps. As the pace increases, shift to inhaling for 2 steps and exhaling for 2 steps. If breathing becomes frantic early, the pace is probably too aggressive.

For sprints, the goal is power with control. Take 1 or 2 deep breaths before the sprint. After the sprint, walk tall and bring the breath down. Try inhaling through the nose for 3 seconds and exhaling through the mouth for 5 to 6 seconds. The longer exhale helps calm the nervous system so the next effort can be stronger.

For metcons, breathing can keep the workout from becoming chaotic. Match the breath to the movement. Exhale when throwing a wall ball, driving on the rower, swinging the kettlebell, jumping on the box, or standing out of a squat. Use transitions as breathing checkpoints. One full breath before moving to the next station can prevent early panic and help the athlete stay in control.

For lifting, breathing supports bracing. Before a heavy squat, deadlift, clean, or press, take a deep breath into the belly and ribs. Brace like you are about to take a punch. Hold that brace through the hardest part of the lift, then exhale once the rep is complete or past the sticking point. For lighter lifts, inhale before the effort and exhale during the effort.

Breathing also helps recovery. During intense training, the body shifts into the sympathetic nervous system. This is the fight or flight state. Heart rate rises, breathing speeds up, and the body prepares to work. After training, the goal is to shift into the parasympathetic nervous system. This is the rest and recover state. Slow breathing can help with that shift.

After a workout, try breathing in through the nose for 4 seconds and breathing out through the nose for 6 to 8 seconds. Repeat for 2 to 5 minutes. Longer exhales can help lower arousal and support parasympathetic recovery. Slow breathing has been linked to improved heart rate variability, which is often used as a marker of nervous system recovery (Laborde et al., 2022). Paced breathing may also improve carbon dioxide regulation and relaxation over time (Szulczewski, 2019).

Breathing will not replace training, sleep, nutrition, hydration, or consistency. But it can make those things work better. An athlete who breathes well can pace smarter, stay calmer under pressure, recover faster, and build better capacity over time. The long game is not only about how hard you can push. It is also about how well you can reset.

References

• Benner, A., Patel, A. K., Singh, K., & Dua, A. (2023). Physiology, Bohr effect. StatPearls Publishing.

• Harrison, O. K., Finnegan, S. L., Köchli, L., Hayen, A., Pattinson, K. T. S., & Faull, O. K. (2022). Perceptual and ventilatory responses to hypercapnia in athletes and sedentary individuals. Frontiers in Physiology, 13, 820307.

• Jensen, F. B. (2004). Red blood cell pH, the Bohr effect, and other oxygenation linked phenomena in blood oxygen and carbon dioxide transport. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 182(3), 215 to 227.

• Laborde, S., Allen, M. S., Borges, U., Dosseville, F., Hosang, T. J., Iskra, M., Mosley, E., Salvotti, C., Spolverato, L., Zammit, N., & Javelle, F. (2022). Effects of voluntary slow breathing on heart rate and heart rate variability. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 138, 104711.

• Szulczewski, M. T. (2019). Training of paced breathing at 0.1 Hz improves CO2 homeostasis and relaxation during a paced breathing task. PLOS ONE, 14(6), e0218550.