Nose Breathing

A light bike doesn't replace good fitness.

Moderator: Moderator Team

User avatar
SystmSix
Posts: 43
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2022 12:00 am
Location: Palm Coast, Fl.

by SystmSix

This may be covered somewhere else but I couldnt find it.... How does one train oneself to strickly breath through the nose and exhale through your mouth without slipping up and breathing in through your mouth. I have been trying to perfect this for the past month but always feel like Im not getting enough air through the nose to exert the strength needed for the mileage I'd like to go at a said pace....

TobinHatesYou
Posts: 12456
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm

by TobinHatesYou

SystmSix wrote:
Thu Mar 17, 2022 2:24 am
This may be covered somewhere else but I couldnt find it.... How does one train oneself to strickly breath through the nose and exhale through your mouth without slipping up and breathing in through your mouth. I have been trying to perfect this for the past month but always feel like Im not getting enough air through the nose to exert the strength needed for the mileage I'd like to go at a said pace....

Why would you want to? Look, at tempo I can inhale exclusively through the nose, but it's added stress for no reason. Just slacken your jaw and let that air in through your mouth if you want to be most efficient in any training zone. The main thing you want to be focusing on is expelling CO2. You will mostly passively draw air into your lungs as your diaphragm relaxes.

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



AJS914
Posts: 5397
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:52 pm

by AJS914

SystmSix wrote:
Thu Mar 17, 2022 2:24 am
This may be covered somewhere else but I couldnt find it.... How does one train oneself to strickly breath through the nose and exhale through your mouth without slipping up and breathing in through your mouth. I have been trying to perfect this for the past month but always feel like Im not getting enough air through the nose to exert the strength needed for the mileage I'd like to go at a said pace....
Don't buy the nonsense in these breathing books. There's no advantage to trying to nose breathing at higher intensities. But sure, if you want, nose breath at your endurance pace.
Last edited by AJS914 on Fri Mar 18, 2022 1:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

usr
Posts: 889
Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:58 pm

by usr

I know "in through the nose" as a performance trick suggested by my father before participating in a children's bike race when I was eleven years old (on a three-speed that must have been three times my age, loved that thing). Because he has never, to my knowledge, been into anything athletic I've always assumed that this "in through the nose" might have been a pacing strategy taught at the military, a simple rule to limit output to a sustainable level. Less annoying than the singing I suppose.

TobinHatesYou
Posts: 12456
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm

by TobinHatesYou

There is training you can do with fancy breathing, but it really has nothing to do with which passages you draw air through. Hypoventilated training is nifty and doable at Z2 or even Z1 and it will 1) improve your lactate tolerance and 2) improve your ability to buffer/clear it... all without doing hard Z5+ power efforts so you can do it indefinitely. Basically inhale, hold, pedal, pedal until you are blue in the face and then exhale. You'll notice a couple things during this time. Your HR will drop like an anchor. I can get my HR into the 40bpm range while doing 100W...it will spike even lower immediately after you exhale and then spike up to compensate. You will feel the lactate and carbonic acid burn in your leg muscles despite only pedaling at 100W.

I figure during a recovery ride you may as well do this because it doesn't at all mess with your ability to ride hard the next day.

User avatar
SystmSix
Posts: 43
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2022 12:00 am
Location: Palm Coast, Fl.

by SystmSix

Very well said everyone. I will note that for some reason breathing through the nose I dont seem to be nearly as tired on my lunch ride as I did in the past. I keep a pace of 20-22mph for 13 miles (2 miles at 25-26 sprint) which is a loop in my area. Like pointed out in your answers the lactic acid build up seems to be alot higher when breathing in by the mouth....

TobinHatesYou
Posts: 12456
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm

by TobinHatesYou

SystmSix wrote:
Fri Mar 18, 2022 4:01 pm
Like pointed out in your answers the lactic acid build up seems to be alot higher when breathing in by the mouth....

That’s not what I said. Lactate / carbonic acid build-up is caused by anaerobic efforts. Anaerobic efforts occur under oxygen starvation. If you are only breathing in through your nose, you are MORE likely to be slightly oxygen deprived, not less. At some point you will definitely be oxygen deprived. Mouth+nose will always result in the path of least resistance for getting air into your lungs.

Pay attention to what we’re actually saying/typing.

In short, cut it out. Stop trying to exclusively nose-breathe without reason. Unless your throat gets easily irritated by pollutants or bad air quality, use your damn mouth in addition to your nose.

User avatar
SystmSix
Posts: 43
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2022 12:00 am
Location: Palm Coast, Fl.

by SystmSix

Noted well.... Thank You :thumbup:

SilentDrone
Posts: 254
Joined: Fri Sep 22, 2017 5:55 pm

by SilentDrone

It may not be your technique that’s the problem. Consult with an ENT doctor. I thought I was breathing fine through my nose and mouth until I had a surgical correction for a deviated septum with turbinate reduction. Wow, what a difference. Now I can get all the air I need at high intensity exertion through the my nose, and I almost never open my mouth to breath now. It made a huge difference.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

TobinHatesYou
Posts: 12456
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm

by TobinHatesYou

SilentDrone wrote:
Tue Mar 22, 2022 5:42 am
It may not be your technique that’s the problem. Consult with an ENT doctor. I thought I was breathing fine through my nose and mouth until I had a surgical correction for a deviated septum with turbinate reduction. Wow, what a difference. Now I can get all the air I need at high intensity exertion through the my nose, and I almost never open my mouth to breath now. It made a huge difference.

You're not riding hard enough then.

willdsouth
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2022 6:48 pm

by willdsouth

I would find it difficult to use nose only for anything strenuous.

YH0
Posts: 29
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2022 1:34 pm

by YH0

I read some books covering this topic and I have tried to apply nose breathing to sport. It is very difficult to keep the mouth close all the time and for me impossible going for HIT.

Just keeping the experience short: during the rides you can keep your pulse low breathing throught the nose and if you open the mouth the pulse increase. It is like your are saving your watts and not getting too tired, but and the same time my FTP is lately less than before after trying nose breathing on many of my rides. The worst is that I don´t have any logical explanation about why. Maybe I am doing it on the wrong way.

For sure that something changes in the body breathing only through the nose but I am not sure if this is the best for cycling on some intensity. Maybe someone knows more than me and can solve my questions.

TobinHatesYou
Posts: 12456
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm

by TobinHatesYou

My low intensity HR is lowest when I am exhaling large volumes of CO2 with a slack jaw. It is also lowest when I intentionally slow my respiration rate. I practice this in bed and I can hit 27-28 bpm. I also practice while riding in addition to doing more extreme hypoventilation drills where I hold my breath for ~20 seconds while pedaling. I exhale when I absolutely have to and the result is acid buildup in the leg muscles without any of the other negative factors like muscle tearing because you aren't actually doing high-intensity.

Andrew69
Posts: 593
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2009 10:52 am
Location: ɹǝpunuʍop

by Andrew69

Im not sure if people are misunderstanding the purpose why many people advocate nose breathing or that the books people are reading are deliberatly misrepresenting the benefits.
Nose breathing has forever been used a technique just to ensure you arent going too hard on an endurance ride.
If you cant breathe pretty much exclusively through your nose, its probably an indication that you're riding harder than you should.

Its a technique that has been around forever and is just an easy way to make sure you're training as intended without needing a PM or HR monitor.
If someone is advocating nose breathing while doing higher intensities as if it is some kind of magic trainging secret, than Id suggest maybe they stop giving advice

usr
Posts: 889
Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:58 pm

by usr

Andrew69 wrote:
Wed Sep 21, 2022 3:43 am
If you cant breathe pretty much exclusively through your nose, its probably an indication that you're riding harder than you should.
Why should you ride that slow? Yes, it's a technique that has been around forever because people did not have a PM or HR monitor, but not so much for teasing out some extra training training effectivity, but for achieving longer distances. It's a pacing technique, and likely one that leads to objectively worse outcomes than what you would get if you hit the same pace using other methods.

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



Post Reply