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Tag: breathing

  • Breathing During Exercise – Some Research

    In my last post, “The Little Known Secret to Endless Cardio” I talked about the importance of breathing to cardio and performance in MMA (or any other sport that requires the ability to make decisions instantly).

    I just wanted to follow up with some research data so you see I’m not just blowing smoke out of my ass.

    Check out this graph, which I totally lost the reference to. If you know the study this comes from, please enlighten me.

    Click to enlarge.

    What I want you to notice in this graph is that there is a direct linear relationship between heart rate (HR) and respiratory rate (RR) during exercise, which means that they go up together as exercise intensity increases.

    The other thing to notice is that at the highest exertion point in this study, where the heart rate is around 170 bpm, the respiratory rate is around 27 breaths per minute.

    That’s why in the video I said that Brandon Vera was hyperventilating – because his breathing rate was around 72 breaths per minute.

    Taking short, shallow breaths when exerting energy lowers the amount of oxygen you get in your system and also decreases the amount of CO2 you expel from your lungs, both bad things if you need energy.

    breathing diagram

    So when you’re sucking wind, focus on breathing slow and deep. Do this when recovering from and during work sets and hard intervals, between rounds when sparring or hitting the bag, and anytime your breathing gets elevated to get the diaphragm involved in your breathing and give you more energy to fight, train, or do whatever it is you’re doing that’s got you breathing hot and heavy. 🙂

  • 1 Little-Known Secret to Endless Cardio

    I’m baaaaaack with another Ask EricWongMMA segment.

    But I almost didn’t make it back.

    I was in the airport waiting around and was making my way to the departure gates.

    I walked through some doors, thinking they led to my gate, but when I looked back I thought, “Uh, oh” because they had those do not enter signs – you know the big red circle with the white line through the middle.

    DAMN YOU Chinese genes and your malfunctioning GPS for a brain for leading me astray (yet again).

    I asked one of the workers where to go by pointing to the gate on my ticketand he simply pointed to go that way to the end and up… When I got up there, I realized I WAS BACK WHERE I’D STARTED.

    I had to check in again, go through security and sprint to the gate. When I arrived, they looked a little upset and said I might have to stay another night in Barcelona. But they eventually let me on and my wife greeted me by laughing at me.

    Barcelona was a lot of fun and is very beautiful as well, as you may have seen in my Muscleups in Barcelona post.

    But all good things must come to an end and every ending is a new beginning so this week’s Ask EricWongMMA question came from Steve from New Zealand and I throw in some clips and relate my answer to this past UFC, specifically the two light heavyweight main event bouts.

    He asked about how to not tense up when sparring, and in answering it, I reveal 1 “Little-Known” Secret to Endless Cardio…

    Discover this secret in today’s Ask EricWongMMA video:

    The exercise I show you in the video above is best performed daily. It won’t feel like much. But it works.

    The keys are to:

    • Inhale, focusing on expanding the area below your nipples while relaxing your neck and shoulders
    • Breathe in through the nose and out through either the nose or mouth
    • Practice regularly!

    If you try too hard, you might even feel an intense shooting pain in your left chest/neck – this is a “spasm” in your diaphragm and nothing to worry about. It’ll go away after a minute or so.

    I’m going to do a post on the “hyperventilation” concept next week so stay tuned for that… It’s going to be pretty cool.

    As always, I appreciate your Likes, Shares and Comments – do so below.