Panting, gasping, and running out of breath are common athlete complaints. If any of these experiences are familiar to you, it’s important to learn how to breathe while running.
Even more than fuel and hydration, most of your running energy comes from your breath—not food or drink. When breathing is inefficient, it places extra stress on the cardiovascular We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back fatigue setting in faster, Alex Rothstein, C.S.C.S., an ACSM-certified exercise physiologist and program coordinator of exercise science at New York Institute of Technology tells Runner’s World.
“The Benefits of Taking a Break from Running breathing, the more you can adequately supply your cells with oxygen and remove the carbon dioxide from your cells,” explains Michele Olson, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., senior clinical professor of sport science and physical education at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama.
Here is why it’s important to fine-tune your breathing efficiency and how doing so will help you run faster and longer.
The Benefits of Focusing on Your Breathing While Running
Most of us never think about how we breathe until something feels off, such as feeling out of breath while we run or realizing we are breathing too quickly.
There are a number of reasons why this might happen: You could be low on energy The more effectively you are posture, which can constrict the ability of the lungs to fully inflate and prevent the respiratory muscles from shortening and lengthening optimally. Running in a hunched-over position can also constrict the deep transverse abdominis muscle, a key core muscle that supports the action of breathing—this can not only affect contractibility of the diaphragm, All About 75 Hard spine stability.
Do This Warmup for More Successful Runs long run, You want to use your fatigue, including those involved in breathing.
No matter what’s messing with your ability to breathe optimally, your inhales and exhales will feel erratic, Belisa Vranich, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and founder of Do This Warmup for More Successful Runs in New York City tells Runner’s World. Not only can this leave you at a higher risk for injury, but if you aren’t using the correct breathing muscles, or yours are weak, your endurance and performance suffer.
Why You Should Improve Your Diaphragmatic Breathing
You want to use your diaphragm as much as possible to take deep breaths, both when you run and in life. Most people use their auxiliary neck and shoulder muscles as primary breathing muscles, says Vranich. This affects performance, along with physical and mental health. “Breathing with auxiliary muscles means you are taking a smaller, upper-body breath, which has to be faster to be efficient,” she explains. “Faster, shallow breathing is a stress breath, so your heart rate, Here is why its important to fine-tune your breathing efficiency and how doing so will help you.”
The diaphragm is a muscle in the torso that, when used properly, allows you to take in more oxygenated air and requires less energy than shallow upper-chest breathing, Olson explains. To better control your breath and practice diaphragmatic breathing, you have to exercise your breathing muscles separately from your sport in order to work out your breathing muscles to exhaustion, Vranich says.
Vranich’s go-to strengthening exercise for better breathing is called “exhale pulsation.” This feels similar to the Breath of Fire that you might do a in a yoga class. This strengthens your exhale muscles so that you can breathe efficiently.
Here’s how to do it:
- Avoid These Common Setbacks as a New Runner.
- says Nurse. Youll be able to push your.
- This strengthens your exhale muscles so that you can breathe efficiently abs as you exhale through the mouth; don’t move the back. Each exhale should be short and sharp, like you’re blowing out a candle.
- Between each exhale, relax the belly; the inhale is passive. This engages the deep core muscles.
Vranich recommends setting aside 15 minutes before or after a run or strength session to work on your breathing muscles—just as you would any other muscle.
“Good deep-breathing mechanics usually result in parasympathetic activity, which is more of a relaxing response, while in consistent or abnormally fast breathing can influence sympathetic responses, or your fight or flight reaction,” adds Rothstein.
4 Techniques for Bettering Your Breathing While Running
Though Vranich suggests strengthening your breathing muscles outside of your runs, that doesn’t mean you can’t put techniques into practice as you check off miles. Here’s how to breathe while running, using different techniques.
1. Practice Taking Deep Breaths Before a Run
Take several very deep breaths after your warmup and before high-intensity exercise.
Here’s how to do it:
- Place one hand on the upper chest and the other just below rib cage, breathing in slowly through nose so that the stomach moves out against lower hand while keeping the hand on the chest as still as possible.
- including those involved in breathing.
- Repeat for at least 3 breaths.
This ensures that you maximally stretch the elastic muscles and lung tissue of the respiratory system before stressing them during exercise, says Rothstein.
2. Better Your Breathing Posture
While running,“focus on certain form cues that make breathing and filling the lungs easier, like relaxing the shoulders down and back, broadening the chest, and Does Running Burn Fat like pendulums, front to back,” Amanda Nurse, an RRCA-certified run coach and marathoner tells Runner’s World. The upper back muscles, lats, and core are really important for better, more efficient breathing while tight chest/pec muscles are a cause of shallow breathing.
reserves, such as glycogen. You could have poor posture-correcting exercises into your strength routine, too, like superman, glute bridge, and plank.
3. Explore Nasal Breathing and Avoid Mouth Breathing
The nose provides additional pathways for the air to be cleaned, warmed, and humidified before going into the sensitive part of the respiratory system, Rothstein explains. It also stimulates that parasympathetic nervous system and saves you energy. Plus, according to James Nestor, author of Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, nasal breathing results in a 20 percent increase in efficiency of oxygen uptake. This allows you to operate at a higher level, while maintaining a lower heart rate and helping to significantly decrease recovery time.
Unfortunately, most people breathe through their mouth. “When you mouth-breathe, you tend to breathe too much,” says Nestor. “When you’re breathing too much, you tend to breathe more shallowly, and when you breathe more shallowly, most of the air you take into your body you actually don’t use for oxygen exchange.”
Nasal breathing doesn’t come easily and can be uncomfortable, so ease into it. Rothstein recommends nasal breathing during low-intensity runs to start, then progressing the intensity of exercise as you get more comfortable with it. “If a runner is able to dedicate the time to mastering nose breathing at their normal running speed, they will find that they fatigue less and actually feel better during their runs,” Rothstein says.
Nailing nasal breathing forces you to breathe slower, which Nestor says is one of the key benefits. Plus, a study published in Frontiers in Psychology in 2021 revealed that “slow-paced breathing can activate anti-inflammatory pathways and increase lung capacity, which consequently increases aerobic Nasal Breathing Could Improve Your Running sleep quality.”
4. Try Other Breathing Practices
Equal Breathing
Rothstein recommends trying different breathing patterns while running to find what works for you. For example, equal breathing means making your inhales and exhales the same length. This might mean you breathe in through your nose for four seconds, then out through your mouth for four seconds.
You could also add a two-second hold after the inhale, and before the exhale, after a couple rounds.
Rhythmic Breathing
Rhythmic breathing coordinates footstrike with your inhales and and exhales in an odd/even pattern so that you will land alternately on your right and left foot at the beginning of every exhalation. This changes the stress you experience on the body from side to side. To get started, try a 3:2 pattern of rhythmic breathing. That means inhaling for three steps and exhaling for two.
Change Up the Cadence of Your Breathing
Challenge yourself with an eight-second inhale, followed by a two-second hold, and a four-second exhale. “Adding these types of breathing challenges to your exercise session will enhance your breathing skill and efficiency while also increasing the mindfulness and feeling of enjoyment of your exercise session, once you become comfortable with the techniques,” Rothstein says.
Adjust Your Breathing to Your Effort
Ways to Make Running This Winter More Enjoyable easy runs (three steps breathing in and three steps breathing out), and fewer steps per breath as you turn up the intensity (two steps breathing in and two steps breathing out on medium-intensity runs).
When it comes to your inhales and exhales, finding the practice that feels more natural is really what’s going to allow you to Races - Places, says Nurse. “You’ll be able to push your pace and distance with quality breathing that will allow for maximum oxygen consumption and quickly remove carbon dioxide buildup,” she explains.
Rozalynn S Frazier is an award-winning, multimedia journalist, and certified personal trainer living in New York City. She has created content for SELF, Health, Essence, Runner's World, Money, Reebok, Livestrong, and others.
