The best way to approach the Oxygen Advantage program is to view it as a lifestyle change and something to be incorporated into your way of life as opposed to a set of exercises practiced formally throughout the day. This way it will become part of your daily routine rather than a regular chore or duty.
Quick Reference Summary of the Oxygen Advantage Program
Habitual overbreathing involves breathing more air than your body requires during rest and exercise. Overbreathing leads to:
• A reduction of the gas carbon dioxide in the blood
• Mouth breathing and underutilization of the gas nitric oxide
• Impaired release of oxygen from red blood cells (see the Bohr Effect.)
• Constriction of the smooth muscle in the blood vessels and airways
• Adverse effects on blood pH
• Reduced oxygenation of working muscles and organs, including the heart and brain
• Increased acidity and fatigue during exercise
• Limited sports performance
• Negative effects to overall health
Benefits of practicing the Oxygen Advantage program include:
• Improved sleep and energy
• Easier breathing with reduced breathlessness during exercise
• Naturally increasing the production of EPO and red blood cells
• Improving oxygenation of working muscles and organs
• Reduction of lactic acid buildup and fatigue
• Improved running economy and VO2 max
• Improved aerobic performance
• Improved anaerobic performance
Oxygen Advantage Exercise Summary
The following BOLT measurement and exercises are explained in detail in earlier chapters.
Body Oxygen Level Test (BOLT)
1. Nose Unblocking Exercise
2. Breathe Light to Breathe Right
3. Breathe Light to Breathe Right—Jogging, Running, or Any Other Activity
4. Breathing Recovery, Improved Concentration
5. Simulate High-Altitude Training—Walking
6. Simulate High-Altitude Training—Running, Cycling, Swimming
7. Advanced Simulation of High-Altitude Training
Body Oxygen Level Test (BOLT)
Your progress can be determined by a reduction to breathlessness during physical exercise, how you feel, and your BOLT score as follows:
1. Take a small, silent breath in through your nose, and allow a small, silent breath out through your nose.
2. Hold your nose with your fingers to prevent air from entering your lungs.
3. Count the number of seconds until you feel the first definite desire to breathe.
4. At the first definite desire to breathe in, you may also feel the first involuntary movements of your breathing muscles. (Your abdomen may jerk and the area around your neck may contract.)
5. Release your nose and breathe in through it.
6. Your inhalation at the end of the breath should be calm.
Your BOLT score is the length of time in seconds that you are able to hold your breath until you feel the first physical signals to take a breath. To increase your BOLT score, it is necessary to:
• Nose-breathe at all times, including during physical exercise and sleep.
• Avoid taking large breaths while sighing, yawning, and talking.
• Practice Oxygen Advantage exercises appropriate to your health and fitness.
By incorporating the Oxygen Advantage exercises into your routine, your BOLT score should increase by 3 to 4 seconds during the first week. After continued practice for a number of weeks, you may find your BOLT score remains stubbornly at about 20 seconds. Continue to practice and incorporate breath holds into your physical exercise to increase your BOLT score above 20 seconds. It can take 6 months for an individual to reach a BOLT score of 40 seconds, but by then your health and fitness levels will be at a totally different place than before. Enjoy the journey!
1. Nose Unblocking Exercise
(Please do not practice this exercise if your BOLT score is less than 10 seconds, or if you are pregnant or have high blood pressure, cardiovascular issues, diabetes, or any serious health concerns.)
To unblock the nose, perform the following:
1. Take a small, silent breath in and a small, silent breath out through your nose.
2. Pinch your nose with your fingers to hold your breath.
3. Walk as many paces as possible with your breath held. Try to build up a strong air shortage, without overdoing it, of course!
4. When you resume breathing, do so only through your nose; your breathing must be calmed immediately.
5. After resuming your breathing, your first breath will usually be bigger than normal. Make sure that you calm your breathing as soon as possible by suppressing your second and third breaths.
6. You should be able to recover your breath within 2 to 3 breaths. If you cannot, you have held your breath for too long.
7. Wait for about a minute or so and then repeat.
8. Repeat this exercise 5 or 6 times until the nose is decongested.
2. Breathe Light to Breathe Right
1. Place one hand on your chest and the other just above your navel to help you to follow your breathing.
2. Breathe in and gently guide your abdomen outward.
3. Breathe out and gently guide your abdomen inward.
4. Observe your breathing pattern, noting the size and depth of each breath.
5. Apply gentle pressure with your hands to slightly reduce your breathing movements. It should feel as if you are breathing against your hands.
6. Encourage the depth of each breath to reduce.
7. Take in a smaller or shorter breath than you would like.
8. Allow a relaxed breath out, exhaling gently, slowly, and easily.
9. Bring a feeling of relaxation to your breathing.
10. Do not tense your body, hold your breath, or pause your breathing. Continue to breathe smoothly but take in less air than before.
11. The objective of this exercise is to create a tolerable hunger for air. Try to sustain this for 3 to 5 minutes at a time. If your breathing rhythm becomes chaotic or if your breathing muscles contract, then the air shortage you have created is too much. If these signs occur, stop the exercise and return to it when breathing is back to normal.
3. Breathe Light to Breathe Right—Jogging, Running, or Any Other Activity
No matter what type of exercise you prefer, make sure that you observe your breath and become aware of your inner body. Bring your entire attention from your mind into your body. Move with every cell of your body, from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.
Allow your body to find its perfect work rate by breathing through your nose in a steady and regular fashion. Continue to increase your pace to the point where you can maintain steady and regular nasal breathing. If your breathing rhythm becomes chaotic and it is necessary to open your mouth to breathe, you will know that the intensity is too much. If necessary, slow your pace to a walk for 2 to 3 minutes before resuming your jog.
As you run, feel each gentle connection between your feet and the ground as you propel yourself forward. Avoid pounding the pavement as this will lead to sore hips and joints and other possible injuries. Instead, bring a feeling of lightness to your body and visualize yourself barely touching the ground as your run. Imagine yourself running over thin twigs, treading so softly that they do not break. The mantra to follow is: light foot strikes, a relaxed body, and regular, steady breathing.
If you keep your mouth closed throughout your exercise, your breathing will recover quickly.
4. Breathing Recovery, Improved Concentration
To recover from physical exercise and to help calm your breathing or mind, practice the following exercise for 3 to 5 minutes:
1. Exhale as normal through the nose.
2. Pinch your nose with your fingers to hold the breath for 2 to 5 sec
onds.
3. Breathe normally through the nose for 10 seconds.
4. Repeat the first three steps.
Important Note Regarding the “Simulate High-Altitude Training” Exercises That Follow
Please do not practice any exercise that simulates high-altitude training if your BOLT score is less than 20 seconds (or less than 30 seconds for advanced simulation of high-altitude training) or if you are pregnant, have high blood pressure or other cardiovascular issues, have diabetes, or have any serious health concerns. While these exercises involve the creation of a medium to strong air hunger, there is no point in overdoing it. Upon completion of each breath hold, you should be able to recover your breathing within 2 to 3 breaths. If while practicing these exercises, you experience dizziness or any other negative side effect, then please stop immediately.
5. Simulate High-Altitude Training—Walking
If you have a pulse oximeter, you might find it motivating to observe the decrease to your oxygen saturation as you do this. Continue walking throughout the exercise and hold your breath only until you feel a medium hunger for air for the first 2 to 3 breath holds. For the remaining breath holds, it is beneficial to hold the breath until you feel a relatively strong hunger for air.
1. Walk for 1 minute or so while breathing through your nose.
2. Gently exhale and hold your breath, followed by minimal breathing for 15 seconds: Gently exhale, pinch your nose, and walk while holding the breath until you feel a medium hunger for air, then release your nose, inhale through it, and minimize your breathing for 15 seconds by taking short breaths. After 30 seconds of continued walking and nose breathing, repeat the breath hold until you feel a medium hunger for air. Minimize your breathing for 15 seconds, then allow your breathing to return to normal and through the nose.
3. Continue walking for 30 seconds and repeat: Continue walking for around 30 seconds while breathing through your nose, then gently exhale and pinch your nose with your fingers. Walk while holding your breath until you feel a medium to strong hunger for air. Release your nose and minimize your breathing by taking short breaths for about 15 seconds. Then resume breathing through your nose.
4. Repeat breath holds 8 to 10 times: While continuing to walk, perform a breath hold every minute or so in order to create a medium to strong need for air. Minimize your breathing for 15 seconds following each breath hold. Repeat for a total of 8 to 10 breath holds during your walk.
A typical increase in the number of paces per breath hold might look like this: 20, 20, 30, 35, 42, 47, 53, 60, 60, 55.
6. Simulate High-Altitude Training—Running, Cycling, Swimming
Breath Holding During Running
Breath holding can also be incorporated into more intense exercise, such as running:
1. 10 to 15 minutes into your run, gently exhale and hold your breath until a strong air shortage is reached. The length of the breath hold may range from 10 to 40 paces and will depend on your running speed and BOLT score.
2. Following the breath hold, continue to jog with nose breathing for about 1 minute, until your breathing has partially recovered.
3. Repeat the breath hold 8 to 10 times for the duration of your run. The breath hold should be a challenge and, at the same time, should allow breathing to recover to normal within a couple of breaths.
Breath Holding During Cycling
A similar practice can be employed during cycling:
• After your body has warmed up, exhale and hold your breath for 5 to 15 pedal rotations.
• Resume nose breathing while continuing to cycle for about 1 minute.
• Repeat this exercise 8 to 10 times throughout your ride.
Breath Holding During Swimming
During swimming, increase the number of strokes between breaths. You can do this in gradual increments, increasing the number of strokes between breaths from 3 to 5 to 7 over a series of lengths.
7. Advanced Simulation of High-Altitude Training
For this exercise, it is necessary to monitor your blood oxygen saturation with a pulse oximeter, ensuring that your SpO2 does not drop below 80 percent.
1. Walk for a minute or so. Exhale and hold your breath for approximately 40 paces, then take a sip of air into the lungs. A “sip” is a tiny breath—just enough to reduce tension. Hold the breath for a further 10 paces.
2. Now take a sip of air in or out of the lungs. Hold for 10 paces or so.
3. Continue taking sips of air and repeating short breath holds until you feel a fairly strong air shortage.
4. If the air shortage is too strong, then reduce the hold to 5 paces or less. With each successive breath hold, oxygen saturation will continue to decrease.
5. Challenge but do not stress yourself.
6. Continue to monitor pulse oxygen saturation. Do not go below 80 percent SpO2.
7. Perform this exercise for 1 to 2 minutes.
Breathe Light to Breathe Right (Advanced Method)
The advanced version of Breathe Light to Breathe Right is best practiced after you have mastered the basic exercise as described on page 74. The following will teach you how to combine reduced breathing with abdominal breathing to increase your BOLT score.
Please note that just like any form of physical exercise, it is easier and more beneficial if you practice reduced breathing exercises at least an hour or more after eating a meal.
This exercise involves three simple stages:
1. Activating and strengthening the diaphragm
2. Merging your breathing with the movements of your abdomen
3. Reducing your breathing to create an air shortage
By practicing abdominal breathing, you will allow it to become your natural breathing method. This exercise is split into three parts to ensure that you learn the technique correctly and to gradually incorporate abdominal breathing into your normal breathing habits. First you must learn to relax the diaphragm muscle so that it can be activated during breathing. Second, you must learn to match the movements of the abdomen with the breath to engage the diaphragm. And finally, you will be able to practice breathing lightly with abdominal breathing to maximize body oxygenation during rest. Remember that to improve your breathing during exercise, you must first learn how to breathe efficiently at rest.
Stage 1: Relaxing and Activating the Diaphragm
• Sit up straight but do not force yourself into a rigid upright position, as doing so will only increase the tension in your body. Instead, try to lengthen the distance between your navel and sternum (chest); imagine a piece of string gently lifting you up from the top of the back of your head.
• As you guide your body upward, imagine the space between your ribs becoming wider.
• Place one hand on your chest and one hand just above your navel. At this point, do not concern yourself with how you are breathing.
• Bring your attention to the movements of your lower hand. While sitting up straight, gently guide your hand outward by pushing your abdomen outward, just enough to feel the movement. There is no need to make any changes to your breathing at this point—this stage is primarily to encourage abdominal movement.
• Now draw in your abdomen and watch your hand move gently inward.
• Perform this simple exercise for a few minutes to help activate a “stiff” diaphragm.
• Alternatively, you could perform this exercise while lying on your back with both knees bent and your feet flat on the floor.
Stage 1 in Brief
• Gently push your abdomen out. Watch your hand move outward.
• Gently draw your abdomen in. Watch your hand move inward.
If your diaphragm is particularly stiff due to years of breathing with the upper chest, the following additional exercise will help to activate the muscle and encourage better breathing:
• Take a gentle breath in through your nose.
• Allow a gentle breath out through your nose.
• Hold your nose with your fingers and close your mouth
to prevent air from flowing.
• Now try to breathe in and out, while at the same time holding your breath.
• As you try to breathe in and out, you may feel your stomach move in and out as your breathing muscles contract to help relax the diaphragm.
• When you feel a medium desire to breathe, let go of your nose and resume breathing normally through your nose.
• Practice this exercise 2 or 3 times to help to relax the diaphragm.
The Oxygen Advantage: The Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Techniques for a Healthier, Slimmer, Faster, and Fitter You Page 24