Optimizing your breathing means optimizing your mental preparation and performance.
This assertion, increasingly supported by scientific research, takes on particular significance in high-level sports.
Long-term breathing exercises can improve heart rate variability (HRV), reduce fatigue, andincrease performance by up to 5%.
So, how can you incorporate breathing to improve your performance? Mental preparation for sports breathing: explanations based on the latest scientific advances.
The impact of breathing on athletic performance
Breathing is much more than a passive biological function. It influences stress, concentration, endurance, and recovery.
Research in sports physiology has shown that athletes who incorporate specific breathing exercises achieve measurable gains in performance.
source: Harbour E, et al. Breath Tools: A Synthesis of Evidence-Based Breathing Strategies to Enhance Human Running. Front Physiol. 2022 Mar 17;13:813243.
Why does breathing play a key role?
🔹 Optimized muscle oxygenation: More efficient breathing improves oxygen diffusion and delays the accumulation of lactic acid. The result? Less fatigue and greater endurance.
🔹 Stress and mental control: Techniques such ascoherent breathing stress management and increase mental resilience during competition.
🔹 Faster recovery: Deep breathing after exercise helps rebalance the autonomic nervous system and reduce recovery time.
Breathing techniques that boost performance
1. coherent breathing the ultimate anti-stress weapon
coherent breathing a breathing technique that stabilizes the heart rate by synchronizing breathing to a specific rhythm (usually 6 breaths per minute). It activates the parasympathetic nervous system, reduces cortisol, and improves decision-making under pressure.
How to practice?
🕐 At least 15 minutes a day, ideally in one go
💨 Breathe in for 5 seconds – Breathe out for 5 seconds
😌 Immediate effect of emotional regulation and focus
To learn more, I recommend the webinar "The Science of Breathing for Mental and Athletic Performance" with Sylvain Laborde, a researcher in performance psychology at the German Sport University Cologne.
source: Laborde, S., et al (2022). The influence of breathing techniques on physical sport performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 17(2), 1222–1277.
2. Abdominal breathing: more power, less effort
Abdominal breathing maximizes the use of the diaphragm and optimizes lung capacity.
An athlete who breathes poorly compensates with inefficient chest breathing, which increases energy expenditure and fatigue.
📌 Simple exercise:
- Place one hand on your stomach and the other on your chest.
- Breathe in deeply, filling your belly (not your chest).
- Exhale slowly while pulling in your stomach.
- Repeat for 10 breathing cycles.
3. Monitoring breathing rate during exercise
The study by Harbour et al. (2022) on breathing and running showed that deliberately slowing down breathing while increasing the depth of inhalations reduces perceived exertion and improves running economy.
📌 Try it while running:
🏃♂️ Adopt a 2:2 breathing rhythm (2 steps to inhale, 2 steps to exhale).
📈 Experiment with a 3:2 rhythm (3 steps to inhale, 2 steps to exhale) to optimize your effort over long distances.
Case studies and testimonials
Many top athletes have incorporated coherent breathing their mental preparation.
For example, French swimmer Léon Marchand attributed part of his success to regularly practicing coherent breathing, which helped him better manage the pressure during international competitions.
neoflo: your coach for optimizing your breathing
Breathing properly requires regularity and structured practice.
The short-term impact of these techniques on performance is limited, but everything changes in the long term.
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Breathe better to perform better in sports
Breathing, and in particular coherent breathing, is an indispensable tool in the mental preparation of athletes.
It offers tangible benefits in terms of stress management, performance improvement, and recovery.
Integrating these techniques into daily training is a holistic approach to achieving athletic excellence.
