The Oxygen Advantage: The Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Techniques for a Healthier, Slimmer, Faster, and Fitter You Read online

  If you reduce your breathing and properly regulate the amount of air you take in, you will teach your body to breathe more efficiently, and you will become healthier. No matter what your athletic baseline is to begin with, better breathing will revolutionize your fitness, your endurance, and your performance. I know this for a fact because I have experienced it myself. I was once a chronic overbreather.

  Back in 1997 I was an executive in the corporate world, but since childhood I had experienced poor health as a result of asthma. My identity was based on everything that I wasn’t. I wasn’t fit, I wasn’t healthy, and I wasn’t confident. I looked desperately for a solution to my health problems. Then I found it.

  My life changed forever when I discovered the work of the late Dr. Konstantin Buteyko, a brilliant Russian physician who conducted groundbreaking research to determine the optimal breathing for astronauts during the Soviet Space Race. The Cold War had trapped his pioneering methods on the other side of the Iron Curtain, but, starting in the 1990s, they began to be known in the rest of the world. Using breathing exercises based on Buteyko’s teachings, I successfully reversed my own sleep-disordered breathing and chronic asthma, fully recovering from the conditions I had suffered from my whole life. Inspired, I left my corporate job and trained directly under Dr. Buteyko. Thanks to his work, my life underwent a profound transformation. When you experience something like that, it’s impossible not to want to share it. In my case, sharing it has become my passion and my profession.

  Over the last thirteen years I have built on Dr. Buteyko’s innovative approach and developed the Oxygen Advantage program not only for significantly improving asthma control but also for helping to improve anyone’s health and fitness. I have worked with more than five thousand individuals, running the gamut from lifelong couch potatoes to ripped-ab Olympians.

  I’d like to tell you three stories about people whose lives radically changed because they learned how to stop overbreathing. One is a competitive athlete, one is a newly converted fitness junkie, and one was just trying to lose weight and to become a little healthier.

  Breathing Excessively

  In the Croke Park arena in Dublin, where I’m from, more than eighty thousand fans regularly crowd into the stadium to watch their favorite football teams compete. Every game feels like Super Bowl Sunday at “the Croker.” Irish football is more than a sporting event—it’s a passion, a way of life, and a source of national pride. While the players are considered semiprofessional, management spends considerable sums of money on the latest sports technology for the team members and closely monitors their lifestyle and physiological parameters, 24-7. If a player eats a french fry late at night, management knows.

  I met David when he was a rising star at Croke Park. He was twenty years old and trained five days a week with his team. He was in excellent physical shape, but he frequently succumbed to breathlessness and experienced nasal congestion and coughing. There was nothing more exhilarating for David than to play in front of a packed stadium, but after every game he was dogged by a barking cough, and his lungs felt like they were full of junk. He worked hard at his training and even harder at hiding his symptoms from his coaches and their electronic monitors. Finally David paid a visit to his doctor and was prescribed medication, which helped slightly, but he still struggled to keep up with his fellow players and still worried that he would be dropped from the team if his coaches found out about his difficulties.

  When I first started working with David, he displayed all the characteristics of a person who was breathing far more than his body required. He breathed heavily and through his mouth, even while resting. He was getting oxygen into his lungs but too much, and he wasn’t self-regulating in the way that was natural—and indispensable—for a competitive athlete. Through bad habits accumulated over the years, his body was out of sync with his breath, and he had become unable to meet his own needs for CO2.

  I went through my program with David, and he practiced the exercises exactly as described in this book: reduced breathing, breath holding during training, and keeping his mouth closed at night to train him to breathe through his nose. Today, David is one of the star players on his team and no longer has to hide his breathlessness from his coach. But he still has to hide his love of french fries.

  Like David, many competitive athletes breathe excessively, regardless of how many years they have spent training. For some, no matter how hard they train, they will never attain their ideal fitness. In addition, in order to maintain their fitness, they will need to train more than their peers. The first time athletes hear of the effects of chronic overbreathing it can take a little while to sink in, although often it comes as a revelation, answering questions that have been at the backs of their minds for years and giving them a whole new understanding of their training. By incorporating simple practices into your existing training program, you can enjoy a more intense workout without putting extra strain on your lungs. One factor that differentiates elite athletes from others is their ability to exercise at a higher intensity with reduced breathlessness. This book will help you to understand the factors that allow oxygen to be released to organs and working muscles, enabling you to improve running economy (lowering of energy expended during running) and increase “VO2 max” (the maximum capacity of the body to transport and use oxygen).

  Throughout the years I have witnessed miraculous results with all types of athletes, including rugby players, soccer players, runners, cyclists, swimmers, and Olympic competitors. So many of these athletes suffered from excessive breathlessness, weak diaphragms, and inefficient breathing, and the difference efficient breathing brought to their athletic ability has been nothing short of amazing to witness. Developing body strength while ignoring breathing efficiency is counterproductive, and this book will show you how to build your respiratory stamina alongside any athletic training program.

  Harnessing Explosive Athletic Potential

  While David’s story is powerful, don’t think that better breathing techniques only benefit elite athletes. They can be just as transformative for “normal” people and, in fact, are often more so. Take the case of Doug.

  Doug is a high-powered American professional in his midforties. Since childhood he battled asthma, and he never considered himself an athlete. Doug’s brother, on the other hand, was the jock. When they were kids they would go to the park, where his brother played basketball with their dad while Doug just watched. Doug always felt like there was something wrong with his body. He did manage to row crew in college for a year, trying to follow in his father’s footsteps, but after each training run, his lungs would scream for mercy. His aerobic capacity—or lack thereof—limited him, keeping an athletic lifestyle out of reach. But finally, when his father started to become frail, he resolved to take action so that he would be around for his own kids and grandkids.

  Doug started running, but he fell into his habitual gasping for breath after just a handful of steps. He realized he needed to rebuild his cardiovascular fitness from the ground up, and that’s when he contacted me. By incorporating the simple program described in this book into a busy work and family life, he started making progress. From being able to run only ten feet with his mouth closed, he progressed to running a 10K in a few months, then a half-marathon after a few more, and finally the Big Sur marathon less than a year after we began working together.

  Doug needed to let go of lifelong breathing habits. Overbreathing distorted his self-understanding and turned him into someone who he wasn’t. I needed to convey to Doug that inheriting the genetic predisposition toward asthma didn’t mean he was resigned to a life of breathing problems. Asthma has been around for thousands of years, with records dating back as far as ancient Egypt. However, it has become much more prevalent since the 1980s, and considering that our gene pool doesn’t change in forty years, it is necessary to look at lifestyle and address the impact that this has on our breathing. Currently almost one in ten adults and children have asthma, and if yo
u add the number who have cyclist’s cough, exercise-induced asthma, or other lung-limiting conditions, the number skyrockets.

  Over the years, I have worked with thousands of people like Doug who have been diagnosed with asthma, and it’s nearly always the same story: Explosive athletic potential is limited by a condition they don’t think they can ever overcome. By not addressing the root problem, enthusiasts like Doug often devote their formidable willpower to training practices that inevitably lead them back to square one. It doesn’t have to be this way. At first it may seem counterintuitive to think that implementing simple techniques over a short period of time can reverse decades of limitations, but that’s how transformative correcting breathing is. With breath-holding exercises that unblock the nose and combat wheezing or coughing, nonprofessional athletes—even those with asthma—can lift their passions to an entirely new level.

  You may not have major athletic goals. Some of us just want to get to a weight that makes us feel good when we look in the mirror. For many people struggling to attain this sense of satisfaction, the barrier is standing right there—not in front of them, but inside them, in the quantity of air they are taking in. Without correct breathing, it’s like walking up a down escalator—you get nowhere.

  Feeling Defeated

  There wasn’t a diet Donna hadn’t tried. You’ve heard of them all: low-carb, South Beach, The Zone, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Mediterranean, Atkins, Slim-Fast. You name it, she had been on it. Her medicine cabinet was filled with fat burners, carb blockers, and a host of appetite suppressants. For twenty-five years she had believed that with each new diet she would finally lose the extra forty pounds she carried, finally be able to step outside in something other than black, form-hiding clothing, and finally reclaim the health she enjoyed when she was younger. But after the initial enthusiasm of beginning a new diet faded, the weight she lost would return and a profound sense of failure would set in.

  When Donna came to see me, she was defeated. She had spent thousands of dollars to slim down again and again, but she was still forty pounds overweight—and still miserable. She had tried just as many exercise programs as diets, but always ended up quitting because she ran out of breath after minimal exertion. As is the case for so many people, oxygen felt like an opponent rather than an ally. The sensation of intense breathlessness limited her physical endurance far more than muscle fatigue.

  “I can’t exercise because I’m too heavy,” Donna said. “And I can’t lose weight because I can’t exercise.” During the few times that Donna did visit the gym, she felt totally self-conscious and out of place. She panted on the treadmill while beautifully sculpted bodies decked out in form-fitting clothing jogged effortlessly on either side of her, adding another blow to her self-confidence.

  It was a vicious cycle, but one I had seen many times before. Her body wasn’t properly metabolizing oxygen. Donna needed a simple routine that wouldn’t put excess stress on her body and breathing, but would give her fast, concrete results to keep her motivated and boost her confidence. I gave her simple breathing exercises and encouraged her to practice breathing through her nose while watching television or working at her desk.

  In two weeks, Donna lost six pounds. She didn’t modify her diet, but her breath-reduction exercises gave a kick-start to the oxygen levels in her blood, which caused her body to process foods more efficiently and naturally supressed her appetite. She benefited from one of the most startling aspects of my program: Substantial gains can be accomplished while literally sitting on the couch. Once you see this progress, however, the last thing you’ll want to do is keep sitting.

  Today Donna has lost thirty pounds, and, more important, she finds it much easier to keep them off. My work with her and so many other people in similar situations has nothing to do with what to eat or not eat. It’s critical to take a step back from the table as well as the scale in order to get a big-picture view of the problem. Weight loss only occurs when the amount of calories we burn is greater than those we consume, and our breathing has a direct bearing on this process. By focusing on not just how much we eat but how much we breathe, we cause our consumption-to-burning ratio to even out. With properly oxygenated cells, our bodies operate more efficiently, even—or especially—in passive activities like sitting. A desire for more water and less processed food naturally follows. This is why diet work is not a part of this book. The only guidance I give to people like Donna is to eat when hungry and stop when satisfied, allowing self-control to come from the inside. Putting better breathing at the center of your health plan makes you look and feel better.

  The Oxygen Advantage program detailed in this book is the culmination of my work with thousands of people like David, Doug, and Donna. It empowers people, regardless of their activity level, to improve their health, fitness, and performance—without training more or taking any drug or supplement. The program also provides readers with the ability to easily and accurately measure advances and ensures that exercise is done safely, reducing the risk of injury. Lastly, the Oxygen Advantage program can be tailored to anyone and any lifestyle, enabling you to seamlessly incorporate it into your daily obligations and exercise routine.

  The chapters to come will provide knowledge and practical breathing techniques so that you can optimize oxygen release at a cellular level. The simple practices I will explain, while unknown to most athletes, have been utilized since ancient times to great effect. All you need to apply them is a straightforward understanding of how your breathing affects the oxygenation of your body

  Part I of this book, The Secret of Breath, explains in greater detail the function of oxygen and CO2 in your body and helps you to evaluate how fit you actually are. You’ll learn about the importance of nose breathing over mouth breathing, as well as the first key technique that will begin to reverse overbreathing. I will also teach you about the ancient breathing secrets that have been used for centuries.

  In Part II, The Secret of Fitness, you will learn about red blood cells and how utilizing them the way Olympic athletes do will carry you into a new realm of fitness. This section also introduces you to simulated high-altitude training and teaches you how to find “the zone” mentally as well as physically.

  Part III, The Secret of Health, explores how better breathing naturally leads to weight loss and reduces the risk of sports-related injuries. It also explains the relationship between oxygenation and improved heart function. And for people prone to asthma, it gives you the tools to eliminate exercise-induced asthma.

  Part IV takes everything you’ve learned and shows you how to construct your own personal Oxygen Advantage program. This section is geared toward specific groups based on their health and fitness. Breathing is generally an involuntary activity that we engage in unconsciously and rarely think about, but it’s there always, every single moment we’re alive, either helping us forward or holding us back. The point of this book is to elevate your awareness of how you can harness your breath to reclaim your body’s natural ability to breathe in a way that will help you to achieve lifelong health and fitness, whether you are running to catch up with your kids or running to win a gold medal. My promise is that by applying the concepts and simple exercises in this book, each and every person, whether they consider themselves an athlete or not, will be able to attain tangible and profound improvements to their health, fitness, and performance within just a few weeks. Isn’t it time you did more—conditioning, winning, living—with less effort?

  PART I

  The Secret of Breath

  CHAPTER 1

  The Oxygen Paradox

  Sport has always been the great love of Don Gordon’s life. He loved everything about it—the sweat, the competition, the adversity, the triumph. Growing up, he attended many races and football games with his father, watching his favorite competitors and aspiring to be just like them. Nothing compared to the atmosphere of a good game: the excitement of the fans, the shouts of encouragement (or profanities, according to the progress
of the game), and always the belief and the hope that one day he would be just like the athletes he idolized.

  As a teenager, cycling was Don’s sport. He spent hours training on his bike, but he could never quite keep up with his fellow cyclists. He tired quickly and more often than not found himself breathless, watching from a distance as his friends rode their bikes farther and longer than he ever could. As time passed Don reluctantly gave up his dream of competing like the athletes he so admired as a boy. He finally accepted that there was no place for him in the world of competitive cycling.

  Twenty years later Don had become director of European operations in a leading American technology firm. While on a trip to Europe, he happened across my Oxygen Advantage program. Because Don had tried so many things before, he was skeptical, but decided to give it a shot. He got in touch with me, and in our first session together I gave him the crash course I gave you in the introduction to this book. He had never considered the relationship between physical capacity and correct breathing, but with a new understanding of the potential of improved body oxygenation, Don began practicing the exercises I gave him. Within days he felt better and had greater energy than ever before. Flash-forward to today: Don has been free of wheezing, allergies, and medications for more than seven years. He is also now a competitive long-distance cycler, and in his most recent race he finished first in his age division. And here’s the best part: At the age of fifty-eight, he had the twenty-ninth-fastest overall time across a wide field of 320 competitors, including exceedingly fit twenty- to thirty-year-olds. He has finally come to resemble the athletes he so looked up to as a boy.