Elite athletes are increasingly recognizing that breathing is the most undertrained aspect of physical performance. Your respiratory system is the gatekeeper for oxygen delivery to working muscles, and its efficiency directly determines your performance ceiling. While most athletes train their cardiovascular system, muscular strength, and technique extensively, few systematically train their breathing — leaving significant performance gains untapped.
Athletic breathing training targets three domains: respiratory muscle strength (training the diaphragm and intercostals to work harder without fatigue), CO2 tolerance (building the ability to maintain composure and efficiency at higher metabolic demands), and pattern optimization (matching breathing rhythm to movement cadence for each sport). Research shows that respiratory muscle training alone can improve time-to-exhaustion by 15-25% in endurance athletes, while CO2 tolerance training enhances the anaerobic threshold.
Pre-competition breathwork is equally valuable. Box breathing or coherence breathing in the 30 minutes before competition optimizes the arousal state — enough activation for peak performance without the excess anxiety that degrades fine motor control, decision-making, and pacing. Many Olympic athletes now include structured breathwork in their competition warm-up protocols, recognizing that the mental state at the start determines the quality of the entire performance.