Proper Breathing..

Expert Discussion Advanced Sprint Training
1

I have just discovered one of my biggest problems when sprinting and many other types of training is my breathing pattern. How should one breathe when doing long exercise? I just came back from treading water for 10 minutes, and it was really easy (not really tired at all), but I was really dizzy the entire time doing it. I would always have problems with this during basketball conditioning as well. I would really have problems holding my breath or not breathing properly when running, and I would get dizzy to the point where I had to throw up.

This isn’t a problem for me in the 100m or anything short and intense like that, but in the longer things such as the treading water or the 400m. Anything that is fairly intense and long.

Should I breath in through the nose and out through the mouth slowly, or what? I am starting rowing tomorrow and I have to be able to tread water for 10 minutes, so any help would be appreciated. I know that the 10 minute limit is easy, its just I was light headed the whole time I did it today.

2

You will find that the breathing issue is a subjective one to begin with, and becomes even more subjective as the duration of exercise increases.

A few things to keep in mind:

  • the shorter the duration, the less need there is for air. Hence the anaerobic (without O2) component. Many athletes will hold their air, not breath at all, during the 40yd dash.

  • the longer the duration, the more variance there is in breathing techniques and usually the breathing pattern will coincide with some sort of rythmic sequence that is in sink with strides (in running) or strokes (in swimming) etc.

  • the longer the duration, the more need for adequate O2 uptake in order to facilitate the clearing of lactic acid from muscle tissue, as well as exhalation which facilitates the clearing of CO2 from the lungs

  • try some different breathing patterns and see what works best for you

3

Thanks, I am going up to the pool later on and I will see what works. I have never had the dizziness problem in the 100 or 200m or anything like that. In fact, the only thing that has bothered me was the 400m and anything like that. I have a problem of holding my breath too long…