Yeah, yeah. You all know that breathing exercises can help you stay calm under pressure. You’ve heard it a million times. But did you know that it can also give your workout a next-level boost?
With the Tokyo Olympics on the horizon, peak performance specialist Nam Baldwin, from Equalize Training, is busy coaching a pretty impressive roster of surfers – including the entire Aussie Olympic team and Peruvian world champion Sofía Mulánovich (pictured above) – plus, the most successful canoe slalom athlete of all time, Jess Fox (below). However, his sessions don’t use weights or require sweating. Instead, Baldwin teaches elite athletes (as well as peeps like us) how to use their breath to their advantage.
“My training helps not only athletes with recovery, but also with calming their nervous system and managing better under a high heart-rate scenario,” he explains. “If you’re breathing better when you’re stressing out due to high heart rate and high action activity, you’ll get more from the workout.”
You don’t need to just take his word. Mulánovich says, “I think that Nam’s breathwork system is amazing! I felt I had so much more control over my body after just two sessions, and I felt a lot calmer, too.”
By harnessing your breath, Baldwin says athletes can safely put in more, leading to more effective training or results.
Intrigued? Thought so.
Give it a go with this breathing warm-up before you tackle your next sweat sesh.
The champion breathing workout
“Take time to warm-up your lungs and breathing muscles through nose breath work at the start of your training session,” says Baldwin. “This will facilitate better overall oxygenation for when you go into the harder work later. Try breathing in for 6 seconds, breathing out for 6 seconds. And then when you breathe out, exaggerate your breath and keep good posture. Do this for the first 3 to 4 minutes of your workout.”
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