Do you train breathing?

We strength train, we hit the track for workouts, we work on incline and speed on the treadmill, we stretch, we foam roll, we train on roads and trails and hills…but do we train our breathing?

Many of us miss out on a key factor of training that can make a large impact on our running performance…. Breathing!

Breathing is a crucial part of running performance. If you aren’t breathing properly or as efficiently as you could be, it can lead to quicker fatigue onset.

How can you work on your breathing?

During the Run:

• Find a rhythm.

  • Do you run with music? Try to set your breathing pattern to the beat of the music.

• Match it to your cadence.

  • For example, this could be 4 steps as you inhale and 4 steps as you exhale. 4 steps might be too long or too short for your personal breathing pattern, so find what works best for you!

• Keep it simple:

  • Keep your cadence and pace similar throughout the first few runs that you try to focus on breathing. This will give you time to concentrate on breathing pattern, pace, and feel.

Outside the Run:

• Improve core and pelvic floor function.

  • When you run, a well-functioning core helps to control your trunk over the planted leg. With core control comes maximization of force production and efficient leg movement. The core muscles provide stability and mobility to allow for the highly coordinated task of running to be smooth.

  • Lay down on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat and try this;

    • With inhale, allow everything to relax and try to allow both your chest and your belly to expand. Bonus points if you can also focus on sending air into the back part of your lungs…this one is tricky and takes practice to feel and master!

    • With exhale, engage your abdominal muscles and pelvic floor. Feel your stomach muscles pull in and up as you try to get every last bit of air out of your lungs.

• Practice rib cage movement.

  • Place your hands on your ribs and try to feel them expand and move apart as you breath in and then come closer together as you breath out.

  • Breathing is shape change. If your body does not change shape when you breath, you are breathing inefficiently and putting your body at a disadvantage. Breathing is how we accommodate volume and pressure change. We need to train our breathing so that our body understands how we want it to respond to those shape changes.

• Synchronize your breathing with strength training exercises.

  • For example: When performing a shoulder bridge, exhale as you lift your hips up and inhale as you lower them back to the ground. This is a very simple exercise to practice synchronizing breathing.

Confused? Have questions? Let’s chat!

Email: courtney@plusforte.co

Phone: 978-590-6951