I love my exercise. I'm not an exercise or gym junky. I enjoy road and trail running. Some solid aerobic sessions. Oh - and outside only. I don't do treadmills :-(
And after long runs, short runs, interval sessions, games of football, HIIT sessions, whatever; once it's all done I experience that feeling of breathlessness.
That feeling when you double over, hands on knees and try to 'suck in the big ones'. As your body feels like you are incredibly short of breath and you need to get more air & oxygen in to your body to refuel.
Turns out that when I was trying to 'suck in the big ones' I was actually making my recovery process longer. And also placing my body into a stressed state without me realising it.
And here's why.
The Urge To Breath is NOT due to Lack of Oxygen
The urge to breath is actually the body's reaction to excessive Carbon Dioxide (CO2) build-up as the by-product of energy production in our body. The energy that we use requires Oxygen (O2). And this gas exchange results in the O2 being used and swapped out for CO2 which is then expelled as a waste product.
But when we exercise hard, the CO2 builds up to allow more O2 to be released into our muscles and tissues. And we eventually experience what initially feels like breathlessness. But is actually too much CO2.
Try This 5 Second Breath Practise Post-Exercise
Next time you have finished a solid aerobic workout. And you notice that feeling of breathlessness. Rather than trying to 'breath more' as a solution.
Take a deep and low inhale through your nose. Really breath deep and allow your belly to expand (diaphragmatic breath).
Then forcefully exhale through rounded lips. Push that residual air out. Not just what you've inhaled in that breath. But you are 'pushing out' some of the 'stale air' or air with higher built up levels of CO2.
And repeat at least three (3) times. (See video example below).
What you're likely to experience is that the feeling of breathlessness will rapidly 'vanish'. You will be left feeling way more relaxed. Your breathing will rapidly slow and balance out again. Allowing your recovery to be faster. And your body to move back into a relaxed state easier.
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