Endurance sports like running have been notoriously associated with some of the highest injury rates of any physical activity not only due to the sheer number or participants worldwide, but also the ultra repetitive trauma placed on the body through use of specific and repetitive movement patterns. While cardiovascular health and wellness should be a staple focus across the board no matter the demographic or specific activity of choice, it’s imperative that chasing cardiovascular health does not jeopardize orthopedic health.

But chronic pain, injuries and breakdown is exactly what ends up happening to a majority of people chasing endurance as their sole physical focus. Sure, biomechanical positions, general technique, tissue preparedness and a host of other co-factors interplay to create potentially injurious physical conditions, but as we continue to learn more about growing injury rates in endurance sport, one of the central tenets that becomes potentially risky across the board is the association of dysfunctional breathing patterns and injury.

If your goal is to maximise cardiovascular fitness while minimising risk of injuries in the process, the rhythmical breathe can be a powerful mechanism of keeping you safe while also unlocking performance potential at the highest of levels. By embracing a relaxed rhythmical breathe in alternating right left patterns upon ground contacts, we can equalise mechanical stressors in the body with more symmetry while also retraining the neuromuscular system to perform at lower threshold strategies. Here’s exactly how and why to use this powerful technique.

When To Use This Technique:

As the sympathetic side of the central nervous system is spiked through high levels of physical activities, our body naturally shifts into a fight or flight protection mode. While this can be useful in the short term, in the long term this red lining of our system creates potential problems centered on potential injuries and performance glass ceilings in bouts of exercise exceeding 10-15 seconds in duration. When we perceive stress, our bodies and minds shift into a reactionary autopilot mode, which isn’t necessarily a good thing.

Since traditional reciprocating cardiovascular activities such as walking, running, biking, swimming and cardio machine training are usually trained at durations exceeding a few minutes, fighting the sympathetic response and maintaining lower level outputs both centrally and mechanically can become extremely advantageous for increased training effect and decreased risk of pain and injuries. By operating at lower outputs, we also are able to more volitionally monitor breathing cycles in coordination with our physical positions. That’s where rhythmical breathing comes in.

The highest amount of force and stress in an activity such as running takes place upon initial foot contact with ground, which can exceed 3-4 times bodyweight. And with many runners simply operating in survival mode, breathing becomes shallow, chest emphasised, and most importantly, utilising an exhalation that occurs on ground contact of one side most frequently as opposed to being equal between right and left.

As an exhalation occurs, the diaphragm rises, decreasing central core super stiffness that can create increased unwanted traveling force up chain from the foot into the knee, hip and spine. Simply put, one side of the body tends to take a brunt of the forceful hit of ground contact while the other is spared. And as we know, one of the biggest predictors of future pain and injury is symmetry of chronic loading.

The rhythmical breathing technique is best incorporated into any reciprocating cardiovascular activity that utilises the arm and leg moving opposite of one another such as running, walking, swimming and many others. With a 3:2 tempo of 3 strides on inhalation and 2 strides on exhalation, we can alternate side-to-side ground contacts in activities such as running, or even out side to side breathing strategies in activities like swimming. In the short term, the rhythmical breath will be a performance enhancing skill. In the long term, it will have the ability to keep you healthier across the board.

How To Execute The Rhythmic Breathing:

Like any other motor skill, rhythmical breathing must be intelligently implemented into training with a predictable step-by-step approach to mastery. To think that you can go from dysfunctional one sided breathing patterns on your run one day to a 3:2 tempo on the next day seamlessly without detriment to your performance is a bit of a stretch. So similar to the method that’s proved highly effective for rebuilding foundational movement patterns (remembering that locomotion is itself a foundational movement pattern) we will incorporate a 3-step progressive strategy for rhythmical breathing.

• Supine 3:2 Breathing with March

• Standing 3:2 Breathing with March

• Locomotion with 3:2 Breathing

With the normalised developmental sequence in mind, we start our clients down on the ground in a supine position with the feet flat on the floor and hips and knees flexed. From this position, we have more stable ground contacts supporting the spine while also having two feet on the ground, which is a pivotal position for walking and running dynamic transference. The feet will be lifting up and down with alternating form while the breathe is first taken over the duration of 3 steps at the feet, and exhaled out during the duration of 2 steps at the feet. Continue to practice this coordinating of breathing and foot striking out of the supine position for 3-5 minutes at first, then up to 10 minutes with mindfulness and coordination.

Once you have the ability to exceed 10 minutes, it’s time to get up to standing on two feet. In a similar way, we will march the feet on the ground alternating right and left while coordinating the 3:2 rhythm with 3 steps taken on inhalation and 2 steps taken on an active exhalation. You’ll note that this rhythm and tempo will create alternating foot contacts with the ground upon every other exhalation, essentially distributing the force through the ground and feet evenly between right and left.

The final step in the process is implementing body locomotion via walking (and eventually higher paced jogging and running) with the same 3:2 breathing strategy. Start slow here, only walking or running as fast as you can coordinate the breathing cycle with 3 steps taken for every inhalation and 2 steps taken for every exhalation. This is a continuously evolving process and skill set with the ultimate goal of being able to be automatic with this cycle.

Tempo of Breath: Inhale 3 steps / Exhale 2 steps

As it indicates in the name, the focus on rhythmical breathing is the rhythm and tempo of the breathing patterns itself as coordinated with movement. While the average runner or endurance athlete utilises a 2:2 breathing sequence naturally, this again creates problems as the exhalation is notoriously taken while one side is striking the ground more than the other, creating asymmetries in force exerted on the right vs. the left side of the body.

The simple fix here is incorporating a 3:2 breathing sequence where 3 steps are taken during times of inhalation, and 2 steps for the duration of exhalation, essentially alternating ground contact forces occurring on the right and left sides respectively. This will look like this through two 3:2 breath cycles:

• Inhalation: Right Strike – Left Strike – Right Strike

• Exhalation: Left Strike – Right Strike

• Inhalation: Left Strike – Right Strike – Left Strike

• Exhalation: Right Strike – Left Strike

• This reciprocation continues

*Bold indicates side strike pattern at full exhalation

While alternating strike patterns doesn’t seem like a huge deal in the short term, in the long term after accumulating literally millions of gait cycles all hitting on one side while exhaling and loose in the core and pillar complex, the stress adds up, and can even manifest as pain or injuries. Systemise your breath with cardiovascular activities, perform your best and protect your body in the process. That’s how we make cardio work for us without risking orthopedic health during the chase to improve endurance.