In the wake of the corona disaster, wearing masks has become a common practice in Japan, both in summer and winter. Although it is an anti-infection measure, there are reports that the number of influenza cases that spread every year has been reduced to about 1/1000 in a few places, which clearly shows how important it is to take measures against things that enter through the mouth and nose.
By the way, your heart rate is about 60-80 beats per minute at rest. Have you ever been aware of how much you are breathing?
This is 12 to 20 breaths for a healthy adult, or about 20,000 breaths per day.
It is said that you breathe about 500 ml of air at one time, which means that you breathe the air of 20,000 PET bottles every day.
Breathing training is also important for improving performance. It is often said that you should take deep breaths when you are tense, as it helps to relax your body, especially your brain, by letting in more oxygen. On the other hand, shallow breathing seems to create a state of tension.
There was such an article on Red Bull's owned media.
Personally, I've been having a hard time breathing during certain exercises lately.
When a Zwift workout requires power well in excess of FTP for a relatively long time.
When I'm riding my bike and I'm pedaling hard, especially uphill.
I thought that this was because I didn't have enough muscle mass to reach my limit, but it turns out that it's not just that.
Breathing training device: Airofit
As for the device, the combination of the mouthpiece type mentioned above and the app can be used for breathing training. When using the device for the first time, the strength of the inhalation, exhalation, and lung capacity are checked. In my case, the initial result was that my exhaling strength was weak.
Many training programs are prepared to improve inhalation, exhalation, and lung capacity. It is recommended to continue training for about 5-10 minutes every day. If you want to train intensively, you can continue for 30 minutes a day. I tried it once, and in less than a month, I improved my exhalation by more than 50% and my lung capacity by almost 15%. But it didn't last.
As for how the breath training has affected me when I ride my bike, I can feel it in the aforementioned workouts and hill climbs, but I definitely feel that I can apply more power in a longer time than before. It's a feeling of being able to do the same things with more ease.
It seems to have a positive impact not only on endurance sports such as cycling, running, swimming and of course triathlon, but also on swinging competitions such as golf.
If you think of it as an "exercise", you can only do it a limited number of times per week, but if you think of it as a 10-minute breathing exercise, you don't have to spend much time preparing and it's a great way to continue every day.
Nose breathing to be reconsidered
When we think about breathing, we need to think again about nasal breathing.
Breathing through the nose warms the outside air, creates the right amount of humidity, removes impurities, and pumps air into the lungs. When we breathe through our mouths, we are entering the air directly, which increases the risk of infections and can lead to buck teeth.
When you take a deep breath, inhale slowly through your nose to expand your diaphragm, which will allow more air in. Try it.
Oxygen is necessary to increase metabolism
Energy expenditure (kcal) = 3.941 x oxygen uptake + 1.106 x carbon dioxide production - 2.17 x urinary nitrogen
e-Healthnet
https://www.e-healthnet.mhlw.go.jp/information/exercise/s-02-002.html
The above formula for energy expenditure. It has been shown that increasing oxygen intake and air intake increases energy expenditure and improves metabolism.
Consciously improving breathing is important for maintaining good health, not only for performance during exercise but also for increasing metabolism during normal times.
In the next article, we'll take a look at Gobe, which not only shows you how many calories you've consumed, but also how many calories you've taken in, as well as the ingredients.
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