I Swapped Cardio for Breathwork [The Oxygen Advantage] 

Growing up as a competitive swimmer breathing is foundational. I use to exhale completely and sink to the bottom of the pool. After a few minutes I could easily take 1 breath every 45 sec to 1 min - again after exhale. After this exercise, i could swim all out for 100m and not be out of breath at all. I did this exercise 45 years ago.

When I was young I remember asking a friend: when you breathe, does your chest move or your stomach? As a young girl in the late 90s, given the pressure to be super thin, I felt self conscious that my stomach swelled with breath. I can’t help but think about a whole generation reconditioned from proper breathing to poor breathing due to societal pressure to “suck in your stomach” and commit to shallow breathing, rather than actually allow the body to do what it needs.

18:20 - This! I'm 70 years old and have lived at about 6500 feet in Utah (that's where my house is) for about 30 years. Earlier in life, I flew fighters in the Navy. We breathed 100% O2 under normal pressure. That provided enough O2 partial pressure to oxygenate us up to 35,000' in an unpressurized cockpit. Above that altitude, the regulator would pressurize, forcing us to breath out against the pressure and that would increase lung O2 partial pressure enough to get us to 50,000'. The takeaway for me was that if you can increase the air pressure in your lungs, you can increase the partial pressure of the O2 and improve blood oxygenation. I mountain bike up here and almost all of my biking is from about 6500' to about 10,000'. As my exertion increases, I have developed a strategy of deep inhalation through my nose and exhaling out of my mouth through "pursed" lips. This forces a constriction against exhaling and increases the air pressure in my lungs. I've found that this seems to help me feel more oxygenated and after short anaerobic bursts that inevitably occur, my cardiovascular recovery seems much faster! Anyway, interesting stuff. The bolt test seems a bit subjective though. It's not clear to me if I should hold out just until I'd kind of like to take a breath or wait until I'd really like to take a breath - short of desperation.

Great conversation and video!! A part of a traditional yoga routine is called "bhramana pranayama" (lit. "movement and control over prana (a type of energy)"), which consists of those parts of yogic routines where you have to control your mind and breath *while* continuously moving. The simplest are, for example, breathing through only your nostrils in a very specific pattern *while* walking. The first one I ever did was: 6 steps breathe in, 12 steps breathe out. Repeat as long as you can, while walking at a steady pace. The first 100-180 seconds, you will feel nothing. But I swear, by the 4th minute, any beginner will feel like they are drowning, as your body starts to gasp for that sudden intake of oxygen. There are complex routines, some of which I have only just started doing (many are very similar to the things Wim Hof mentions ... no surprises there). In yoga, we believe that a complete control of breath gives you complete control over energy, and thus life itself. Even if you don't believe that, please practice simple breathing with your nostrils while walking. Trust me, you will see a remarkable difference within 2 weeks. I wrote this long comment because I have only recently started to understand that this is not common knowledge outside India (increasingly, even within India, as yoga is becoming more of a feel-good social hobby, and its core teachings are getting lost).

As someone who has struggled with breathing issues lifelong and complex PTSD, anxiety, panic attacks, etc, this information was really great! I turned 40 this year and really miss being active outdoors. My doctor is always encouraging exercise for my mental health in addition to my physical health but my breathing challenges hold me back. Thank you for this!

This reminds me of something I did as a teenager that was possibly reckless and stupid. In other words, DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME KIDS, as they used to say: I was diagnosed with asthma. And I hated it. So, every night, I would go running. I would run flat out, until I was almost hyperventilating. I always brought my inhaler but tried to never use it. Once I was at that point, I would walk and stop myself from hyperventilating by holding my breath and counting, and believe it or not, praying. There was no science, no doctor's advice (I'm sure he would have told me I was an idiot), only a desire to never need to use an inhaler again. After about a year of this, I found I was able to take control of my breathing if I slowed myself down and did a combination of breath holding and meditation, though with me, it was prayer, being Catholic- I would say the Lord's Prayer or the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel. I was diagnosed with asthma at 13. By the time I was 15, I had used my inhaler for the last time. Now, at 48, I run OCRs like Spartan and Bonefrog and I hike almost every weekend.

I have been incorporating more breathwork into my routine over the last 3 years or so and it has made a big difference. He is right that the biggest gains are made when focusing on nasal breathing in everyday routines more so than when exercising. It will start to come more naturally. Also, I grew up with chronic sinus problems and could not breathe through my nose. This will get easier the more you consciously do it. It is a chicken and egg thing - breathe through the nose more at rest and you will discover that you will be able to do it more easily and naturally. Lastly, I highly recommend Patrick McEwan's book The Oxygen Advantage.

OK well I have implemented a few things as suggested and already am breathing better, sleeping better and have nose muscles! I walked 12 fairly rough miles and only breathed through my nose the whole way. I've only been at this one week. Incredible, and I thought my nose was broken in some way and I couldn't get enough air in through it. Not true. Thanks for making this channel Chase, you have improved my hiking and life and I am grateful.

Great video. I developed good breathing as a competitive swimmer, played water polo for 10 years, and all thru my 30's-40's practiced martial arts. My breath hold was good but not great... until I started freediving and spearfishing in my 50's. I took classes from a world class diver, who taught me yoga techniques for extending breath hold. I'm now in my mid-60s and attribute my excellent fitness largely to breathing, breath-hold, and flexibility. So, Chase, strongly recommend you spend time on YT watching videos on freediving technique... I promise you will learn some things... it's much more about using the diaphragm than nasal in&out.

9:00 hit it on the head 100%. Generalised Anxiety Disorder I love hiking I love the idea of it and I really struggle to get going over and over due to breathing issues. Thank you so much for posting this.

Such a big yes for this whole video from the No pain, no gain to the bodyawareness and movement together. Thank you

I wonder if being a life long asthmatic, overcome by diet and exercise, has helped me to a degree? Sat down, exhaled, 27 seconds. I think because all those years as a kid I knew that panicking only made things worse, so I had to stay calm and focus on each breath. Now putting this all to use as I try to get my cardio back after months of surgery. Thanks for the info.

I know I'm late to this but I wanted to share that as a trained classical singer, since my teens, learning to control how you breath is a huge deal. And I wonder now if that is why I have better endurance and stamina in speed while hiking than all my friends I go with. I've always been an athlete also and I naturally walk very fast. Also always have breathed through my nose while sleeping/ sitting/chores. I just tried the test and I got to 25 no problem.

Thanks Chase for all these great videos, so much information on all aspects of enjoying the mountains.

Amazing job, Chase! What a great and informative video. Much appriciated!

I truly enjoy the change of vids lately! Keep it up ;)

What an awesome video, thanks for putting this out there! I'm a firm believer in the power of breathing. We default to our muscle memory during high stress situations in so many aspects, it seems totally logical breathing would be the same. You have motivated me to improve my development in this field, many thanks, a nice day.

Great video - a lot of thoughtful, useful, and new-to-me content to further explore - thanks!

Another great video Chase. Thank you for doing the "hard work" from which I can benefit from. Cheers

Genuinely the most eye opening video on exercise I've ever seen, and it clarifies so much. Medlife Crisis's videos on the Wim Hof method and sherpa first piqued my interest in breathing, and the importance of training it. This video somewhat confirms how breathing is the common factor in Wim Hof, meditation, yoga, mindfulness, cardio etc. But (Dr.?) McKeown just dropped so much science on this subject it's amazing. As someone who hates cardio I will for sure incorporate these tips and read everything by McKeown from now on. And a genuine thank you for making this video.

What a gem of information again. Thanks so much. Coming from the professional scuba industry I was already quite aware of my breathing. But this is a whole new game. Amazing video Chase!

Great video Chase! Definitely something I’m going to incorporate into my preparation for being back in the Swiss mountains next month ^^

If you are an older hiker and or vegetarian/vegan then you also need to get your iron levels checked. I'm a fit 60 year old but could hardly go up a small incline without losing breath. My iron level was 60% of what it should have been. Iron tablets and a change in diet have made a significant difference.

It's challenging but I have been trying to switch to nasal breathing. The one thing I have noticed is that my heart rate seems to be lower if I am nasal breathing during my hikes. As soon as I stop and switch to mouth breathing, my heart rate increases noticeably.

Great video! I've had a lot of positive changes in my life since I last commented (maybe one or two years ago), traveling Latin America, I've still not made the changes to my physical health that I would like. It is all too easy for me to spend my days doing nothing. As I am traveling and don't know where I will be from one moment to the next it has felt impossible to form routine - 85% psychological resistance. And there are soooo many beautiful hikes in these countries I could be trying!! I'm writing mostly for self reflection. I hope to see some beautiful landscapes soon and waaay more often. :)

Very interesting video. Fair play to you for all the many videos you make challenging the conversation take on health and fitness. Keep up the good work. You are in my list of people I would enjoy a chat with. 👍

I have had real bad anxiety when going up in elevation, which has kept me from even driving into the mountains. I really think this video has given me some comfort to know it may be able to be fixed.

fascinating topic for sure, definitely going to look into this more now, thank you

awesome information!!! love your videos!!

Brilliant content mate. Thanks a lot!

This is very interesting and exciting revelation! Thank You

Excellent video and very educational. While many Westerners know about "kung fu" and Chinese martial arts this is just the external component whereas qigong, literally "breath work", is the core foundation of kung fu and maybe all Chinese physical exercise/sports. We call it not only qi gong ("breath work") but "training (in) breath work" (訓練氣功) or "discipline (of) breath work", as a discipline in and of itself done prior to even learning any kung fu or tai chi training, also done during and after training. We even can spend more time doing qigong than anything else! It's of highest importance, similar to stretching in Western athletics, warm up and cool down excecises. In Cantonese and Southern Chinese culture there are old men who train exclusively in qigong and live to 90 or over 100 years, even from training in breath work at retirement age onwards, while their peers/neighbours (we are all related) rapid deteriorate in health. Most of the famous masters of kung fu academies don't actually do any fighting either, they're more like priest or philosophers, and although they must teach students, they spend most of hours of the early morning training in breath work, and it's done very sloowly and gently, to harmonise with the environment. Qigong is at least 2000 years old, likely 4000-5000 years old, much older than the first kung fu academies, and ancient wrestling culture. The word 氣 ("breath" qi) means "air, gas, steam, vapor; spirit" and is loaded with spiritual and poetic meaning. Much of actions of qigong and Ancient Chinese practices was meant to be deeply religious and spiritual (as well as physical, violent, defensive, aggressive, etc), as a communication with the divine, to God, making homage/blessings to Heaven and Earth, like worship or prayer. The word 米 (“rice”) contained within 氣 means "to give rice as a gift" and is placed underneath 3 lines (气) representing 3 clouds, 3 heavenly levels, or 3 deities, with the top line 𠂉 being the radical for a "person" or "man" (亻 and 人). So the word 氣 qi is a religious/spiritual doctrine of it's own. The belief captured is the same as Trinitarians and monotheistic religions worshipping the Lord on High, El Elyon, of the Most High God. Qigong is much much more than just "science". "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7) Peace and blessings

I have asthma and have generally struggled with my overall health due to chronic illness the past year and i have TRULY wondered what the deal was, because if i stress, i struggle alot! but if i am relaxed, even though i haven´t been outside of the house for a week, i can walk for hours and fast, with no struggle at all in my breath. I meditate and are very conscious on my breath (I always breathe with only my nose except when i´m clogged or sore) so i kinda felt the link but i didnt understand it. How cool!! I do get tired in my feet though but i use barefoot shoes and walk with my entire foot so i get easily tired but in a really good and healthy way

Great video, such an interesting interview and subject.

I am happy to have come across this video. I have been doing restrictive nose breathing for 5 minutes every day. This works amazing for relaxing my breathing when doing physical activity afterwards. Also seems to help remind me to breathe with the diaphragm.

Thanks for sharing this! I will be focusing on breath now.

Patrick and Chase thank you. I watched this to help with my training but I picked up bronchitis. The insights must have sunk in because I found myself using the tips of subtle, light nasal breathing and mild breath-holding to keep the coughing under control and be able to finally get some sleep! By really focusing on the breathing process I could keep the breath from going into part of the lungs that I felt would trigger a coughing fit. This was a big improvement from the night before. I think this practice could also help with snoring ...brilliant video. Thanks again !

**NERD ALERT** If you like researching, see this review that Patrick contribued to: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7865730/

I breathe through my mouth when easy running, but do use a ratio of 6 strides for breathing in and 6 for breathing out. This helps regulate effort and lower heart rate. I'll try more nasal breathing and see how it goes.

Thank you, Chase! I have learned so much from you!!

Hi Chase, I watched one of your recent videos on breathing and started putting into practice which is hard. That being said I just watched this video and it was so interesting so thank you! You mentioned you are able to help people when they get altitude sickness, what is it you do?. I recently solo hiked R2R in a day in Grand Canyon and felt great the whole way till the every end when I finished. I was very nauseated the rest of the night. Any help is appreciated. Safe and Happy trails

On just nose breathing and anxiety, I've found that if I'm beginning to become stressed it is easier to notice with deeper breathing compared to a faster shallow breath that you probably are habituated to and not notice until the trigger goes beyond the norm and is harder to manage.

I find this a fascinating subject. I am now 51 and have been freediving since 2008. One of the things I really worked on early on was breathing, I naturally now seems to breath through my nose and also from the stomach. One of the main things I worked on freediving was CO2 tolerance. I was part of some medical trials where they were studying the effects on the body when someone stops breathing. The medical examiner mentioned that my initial CO2 levels before I started the breath hold were high compared to other participants.

Very cool information. I think about this whilst cycling as well. It's good to see someone actually talk about it. Subscribed. And kudos.

For many years, i have enjoyed beginning my walks/ hikes with a gentle 45 minute incline, decent stretch. Soon I would not feel winded at the top. Then i would increase my speed or incline depending upon my breathing. I have always called it "finding my rhythm." Great video to share, thanks Chase and Patrick!

I learned about the importance of nasal breathing from What I've Learned's video on mouth breatings and have been trying to breather in and out of my nose when I do something physically exerting. Climbed a mountain peak yesterday primarily breathing through my nose and I had a pleasent time on the steepest incline.

This is the real deal! Thank you for this information.

When I first started marathon training I'd get side-aches. In through the nose, out through the mouth.....worked every time(!) and could then finish my 4 or 5 miles. Love your videos. My mind is there altho my body is not...keep up the good work!

Great video, Chase, thank you. I am actually in the middle of Nestor's "Breath" but was a believer even before reading it. I started mouth taping just a few short weeks ago and almost immediately began sleeping more soundly and, therefore, feeling much more energetic. As someone with a history of panic attacks r/t small spaces and flying, I think my biggest hurdle with nasal breathing is psychological. The increased heart rate and oxygen hunger I feel while nasal breathing on hikes is very reminiscent of the physical effects I felt when spiraling into panic. But I will continue practicing because I know from working to resolve my anxiety and panic that each success improves my confidence. The anxiety and panic may be scary, but it's not dangerous, and I can resolve it. I believe the breath work is well worth the effort!

Throughout the day I can breath through my nose fairly easily, but like you, I have difficulty doing it while exercising. I am pushing myself though to do it and it is getting easier to breath through my nose while running. I am going to have to try some of these exercises because my BOLT score is horrendous.

Just wanted to drop a quick comment here to say thank you for the videos and material, you have a great channel and videos like this REALLY help, well done mate, hope you never stop! Btw I don't agree with everything you say always but that's fine and the way it should be, but you're always a voice to hear

This is an excellent point. I am very fit but not elite level of fit; however, I have achieved some major goals on big mountains with relative ease beyond what my physical shape would appear possible and I believe it's because of my breathing technique which keeps my heart rate very low - even during maximal exertion and my recovery is very fast during rest breaks. Breathing is very key and all mountaineers teach that.

I've always wondered why I get so out of breath for how fit I am and for how much I hike. I'm going to take the breathing test and explore more...

Great video!! Thank you!

Thanks for the video, this is something I have been working on for many years due to my chronic pain and I have seen great results. Now I think there are many pieces of the puzzle that the video misses e.g. posture and somatics but I guess that would have complicated the content and made it for more reduced audiences...

James Nestor books "Breath" and "Deep" are great!!!! I learned so much from them

Another excellent video! Over-breathing is something that subtly or profoundly affects so many people without them even realizing, from chronic pain suffers to athletes. Over-breathing really messes up your blood biochemistry, and consequently just about all your physiological functions. Too right, it's totally a self-perpetuating vicious circle! Runners - Z2 entirely nose breathing is a great thing to work on! Funnily enough, your HR will start dropping for the same level of exercise/perceived effort and..... you will start being able to run faster for the same heart rate level.

This is something I've been trying to do more. I have chronic bad allergies, so I pretty much always sleep with my mouth open and have been trying to work more on nasal breathing, especially when I workout

This is an impressive video! Thanks!

I took the Buteyko breathing therapy course 27 years ago in the 1990's as an asthma therapy. Patrick McKeown was in his early twenties then but the techniques were the same. I was also a competitive cyclist and took regular blood tests and had good data on my personal fitness and training PB's. I did 6 weeks off the bike and focused entirely on the breathing techniques. My haematocrit levels (red blood cell percentage in your blood) went from 46.5% to 49.5% in that 6 weeks. As a reference, 50% is the point where the UCI's anti-doping authority put you on a watch list for blood doping and you can be excluded from competition. My training route hill climb times improved 17% across the board. That level of improvement after 6 weeks of no physical training was unheard of. My body fat dropped dramatically and, like Wim Hof, my temperature regulation was amazing. While all this was happening the current affairs TV shows replayed the Big Pharma mantra that Buteyko was dangerous and that there was no evidence that holding your breath had any benefits for asthma sufferers. My asthma virtually vanished in 3 weeks. That was the 90's. Nothing has changed.

Awesome bro, thanks for this.

Great vid. I’m definitely going to work on this and find out my bolt score. Also, you’re looking totally jacked in this vid! Crazy.

I can't remember their names, but I remember reading (maybe 80's or 70's) about a couple of brothers that lived in the wilderness that had a massive police hunt for them, even deploying special forces, and the brothers mentioned how even with the soldiers they could hear them breathing raggedly when going through the mountainous terrain. This made it easy for them to elude the task force.

Very much agree with this since I found Patrick through the Extramilest channel. I learnt to slow down to the pace that I can nasal breath, typically 4 steps in, 4 steps out. Hiking in Canada this week and found I could hike well nose breathing at that rate which felt great. Thanks Chase.

Great video 👍

Great video with practical advice

Trueeee.. I have Asthma.. So i go hiking for the purpose to make my Asthma better, but of course before i go on hike i prepare my self.. Other than workout (cardio and body weight training), i learn to be aware of my breathing.. Since I'm doing this, even though my physique not as great as my friends out there, but i have better condition on the trail (i was less out of breath than them and didn't need a long rest as much as them). At my first hike, i did lot of cardio and my hiking actually went well (when i was not aware of how to breathe more efficiently, just do the work out), but i easily out of breath. But now, even when I'm not doing a lot of cardio before hiking, i can hike just fine and have better control of my body. Indeed, breathing tech is really important and does improve my daily life. Thanks for this video, i learn more about breathing!

Super interesting and useful!

great video dude, thank you for your research. Question: Where are you hiking and livign? Loooks great!!

I’ll report back here after 3 months of incorporating breathing drills into my routine. I’m 42, always been active but I’ve always struggled improving high intensity performance times, despite being able to go on and on. My times plateaued long ago and they are way average. After watching this, I’m convinced my breathing is the bottleneck. I always seem to be the one puffing the most. I will be quietly optimistic that things will improve now ❤ EDIT: for what it is worth, I did the test as I started my walk, and I scored 13 seconds. I then did this breathing exercise throughout the rest of that 9km walk, and afterwards, I could do 24 seconds. That’s pretty cool.

grateful i found your channel.

Love this about breathing . So helpful.

Excellent video

Amazing!! thks Chase!!!

Breath holds also increase the level of cortisol. Fundamentally, this triggers the fight or flight response, pushing blood to the limbs. Swimming as an exercise is so efficient as breath holding is inherent and quickly elevates the body's stress level higher than sports without breath control, releasing a ton of endorphins. Glad to see other sports start to think about it, but more importantly, applying it outside of the sport and in everyday life.

WOW! very interesting, thanks

Not sure how I got here. But very interesting topic once pointed out. For me, first few miles I am bit reckless and mouth breathing but after that its like I relax and breathe via nose and everything 100% more conformable. I will have add notes to paper and review in 6 months. Totally makes sense and wish I could learned more about when running 5k 10k for time. Coach yelling harder harder is better etc push it, never a lesson on breathing. Thanks for pointing out something to an old oak tree.

Great video Chase. I'm curious about how best to use improved breathing at altitude - most of the focus on nose breathing and better awareness of your breathing is about slowing down your breathing (and adopting slower nose breathing has been great for me whilst cycling at elevated heart rates), but at altitude you would need to breath faster to account for the reduced oxygen (this is what diamox does right? Just increases your breath rate?). How do you balance those two? You also mentioned coaching someone out of a hypoxic state at altitude - what breathing exercises did you adopt to do this?

Interesting, I reached about 21-23 before I felt the desire to breath in. Breath is something the shooting community has really started to focus on whether it's for competition or for LE/Mil because the benefits are obvious. But realistically it extends to almost every aspect of our life, I definitely struggle to breath through my nose consistently because of polyps I had them removed once already but I am pretty sure thy returned on one side and it does cut the flow down a bit. Thanks for putting more information out there for us, I think I should just get the book since this isn't the first time I have heard it referenced.

Thanks! Your channel is amazing. Passing this on to my grandaughter.

I had to come back to this video with paper and a pen to take notes. Good shit.

Yeah I definitely need to increase my BOLT. After exhale, I can only hold comfortably for 12 seconds. Though, I can hold for a minute comfortably after inhale. I don't know if thats a plus. I remember when I was a kid I used to swim and hold my breath for a long time under water after taking in a big breath through the nose. I always breath through the nose. Never felt natural to breathe through the mouth. I always hated the in through the nose and out through the mouth stuff because it actually felt like a chore to open my mouth to breathe out and get that rhythm of nose mouth nose mouth, etc... So its nice to hear subtle nose breathing is better anyway.

You described breath holding and said do this about five times and dont go to extremes with it. My first thought was, Dont let Crossfitters hear that. It will be an event at the next Games!

thank you for making this

Thank you.

Great video

Fascinating!

This is very Interesting👍🐥

NIce guest, good vid!

I’ve been working on 3 stage breathing. Heading to Glacier tomorrow. I’ll see if it works

Great topic! Train smarter, not harder. Training myself to nose breathe while asleep and awake. Really helps with a good tongue position in the mouth, too. I am convinced this is not just a fad, but is to our cardiovascular system as healthy barefoot function is to our entire kinetic chain. Here’s to good health.

Thanks

Nice work. I thought it would feel horrible to do the bolt test as I'm always out of breath and often have a congested nose. Surprisingly, first try I got 26 seconds! I used to have a huge lung capacity when I played flute but I haven't meditated in a bit and am not as fit as I would like to be. Gonna try nasal breathing during walks.

Currently have to get screen for a hiatal hernia that is caused some issues with breathing efficiently through my work outs so it’s been discouraging but hopefully I can get it figured out soon so that I can get back to optimal training

This is brilliant! Thanks Chase! Any ideas to clear what feels like nasal congestion, which you mentioned you have as well when breathing out? (Of course if you're sick or have allergies that's a separate issue). Or is it just a case of building that tolerance for CO2 that Patrick explains?

This is one great info on breathing

I was the weakest runner in the marines .. strongest person but weakest runner ..3 miles 5 miles kilked me.. 10 min into a run always... 15 years later have a heart attack and decide ima do a ironman... when i looked into how to breath ... i tried it and my 1st run 10 miles ... i had not ran in years and just a mile or 2 at that always killed me... i had NO intention of running that far. But i could breath so good ..heart didnt beat 2 fast... omg it blew my mind !!! 3 months aft that i did 16 miles ... wow breathing is everything.. 1st 10 min of breathing i dont breath fast i make me stay slow and let the body feel the pain but after about 10 min my heart rate goes down to zone 2 and i can go for hours and have a conversation..bc i breath slow and only through nose....

My breathing was all over the place trying to translate “both score”. Turns out it is BOLT SCORE.

I changed the way I breathed and it really helped my running endurance.

Great video!! Have you noticed improvement in your ability to acclimation since you posted this video :)?