Holding your breath as training

Dumb. Really dumb. Human beings are aerobic organisms. Training for running is all about processing energy sources, not withholding them.

I read somewhere that Anthony Famigletti used to do "lungbusters" in the pool as cross training. He would hold his breath and swim the whole length of the pool.

I really just think it's mental.

Joaquim Cruz would hold his breath the last 50 meters of an interval in some of his workouts.

I can hold my breath for 3 minutes without too much trouble and I'm pretty average as a runner.

Emil Zatopek used to hold his breath--not during a workout, but just during the course of his day.

In typically Zatopekian fashion, he got to the point where he could hold his breath until he fainted.

I don't think you can kill yourself from holding your breath (unless you're underwater, or you take a lethal fall), because once you're unconscious your breathing will resume automatically and you'll regain consciousness quickly. But if you *try* holding your breath until you pass out--maybe lying on a bed or in another safe situation--I think you'll find out how very difficult it is to do. The amount of willpower (and ignoring of the signals of extreme physical distress) involved is truly awesome.

...Though not necessarily beyond what might have been expected from Zatopek.

A fine young runner in Texas drowned himself trying to increase his lung capacity by holding his breath under water. This is just a stupid thing to do whether on land or otherwise. It does nothing to help you do better when running at an oxygen deficit or increase lung capacity or anything else. It is just dumb.

I have an even better idea. I will take up smoking to make my lungs tougher.

I believe I read that Bud Edelen could hold his breath for 300m. That's pretty remarkable, but then the Bud-ster was a remarkable athlete.

This subject was discussed at length on a Letsrun thread about a year ago.

Years ago I would occasionally do this during a run. Hold your breath for about 15 seconds, repeating every 2 minutes or so. I forget the exact time of breath holding and frequency. Try it, and you'll find a formula that works for you. It is sort of like doing intervals, where you repeatedly go into oxygen debt. It makes a regular run tougher without requiring any more time or distance.

You should probably try some deep breathing techniques instead. Somehow I think depriving your brain of too much oxygen is about as good for your running as having a concusion.

Pey wrote:

Somehow I think depriving your brain of too much oxygen is about as good for your running as having a concusion.

Hey, as the rowers say: "No brain, no pain."

Here is the other thread where this topic was discussed:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4454320

Although I am an admirer of Emil Zatopek, he also trained by running with his wife on his back. Ultimately he never recovered from that and had to retire from running.

There have actually been some good books and research done on breathing training, how breathing difficulties limit running speed, and training your breathing muscles to run faster. I would suggest reading the book Breathe Strong, Perform Better by Alison McConnell. She has done some really interesting research on improving race times after training the inspiratory muscles. There are also many breathing devices out there to do this.

malmo wrote:

Dumb. Really dumb. Human beings are aerobic organisms. Training for running is all about processing energy sources, not withholding them.

Not so dumb really. Breath holding can help build up tolerance to incredibly high Co2 levels (free diving pushes the limits on this). Since running also raises Co2 levels, breath holding can possibly help increase those limits providing a small benifit.

It's not as if breath holding will take away from your time running, it's easy to do while watching tv etc. Another technique is slow breathing drills, such as getting your breathing down to 2-3 times a minute, even once a minute, via slow exhale.

Yes, that's a good idea. Holding the breath can make someone stronger mentally.

Buteyko breathing is the best exercise to get better....dr mercola argues that buteyko breathing helps in aerobic sports...Please let me know if this works out for you haha :D

yet just another this wrote:

Although I am an admirer of Emil Zatopek, he also trained by running with his wife on his back. Ultimately he never recovered from that and had to retire from running.

That happened before the summer 1952 Olympics where he won 3 gold medals.

Top swimmers do this pretty often in certain workouts.