Breathing In Games

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Breathing in Competition

The slow Type 1 and fast Type 2a muscle fibers require oxygen to provide an on-going supply of energy when exercising. When the amount of oxygen provided by the lungs is insufficient:

performance, attention, endurance, strength and power suffers.
the risk of an Exercise-Induced Breathing Issue (EIB or EIA attacks) increases. See links in top of left column for What to Do if an Attack Happens and What to Do after EIB/EIA Attacks
the risk of injury as the individual tries to play through fatigue increases.

Warming up and Cooling down for Breathing in Sports
Do a minimum of a 10 minute warm-up with walking and jogging prior to exercises. Do a 10 minute cool down after exercise. If you have a respiratory infection avoid exercise until your condition improves.

Breathing in through the Nose
Most individuals who start to play sports need to learn how to breathe in deeply through the nose to warm and filter the air. When the mucous membrane is irritated the airway narrows and the deep breathing required to provide oxygen to the muscles is impossible. When playing sports:

Outdoors or indoors in cold air wear a mask to warm the air.
Outdoors or indoors when allergens and/or pollutants are present wear a mask to filter the air and keep the mucous membrane from being irritated.

When Lung Capacity Is Limited
Deep breathing exercises dramatically improve a player's ability to improve their match play. When the amount of oxygen available to the muscles is limited players can not perform up to their potential or be as successful as when their muscles have a generous supply of oxygen.

Breathing for Soccer
Two types of breathing exercises are used to improve a players breathing ability in soccer.

Deep breathing exercises, done on the athlete's own time and not during practices, increase the capacity of the lungs to bring oxygen rich air into the body. In these exercises the athlete breathes in deeply, holds the breath and then breathes out slowly. Follow the link to Exercises To Improve Breathing in the top of the left column.
Game breathing exercises, done in practices and on the athlete's own time, are for breathing while sprinting, breathing while running and breathing when standing, walking or jogging. Follow the link to the Breathing During Soccer Games link in the top of the left column.

The practice format is simple:

Individual looks at a clock or starts a stopwatch while breathing in very deeply and slowly, through their nose, trying to fill their lungs to capacity. When the lungs are filled to capacity they check to see the number of seconds it took to fill their lungs.
Then they go to the form below and enter the number of seconds and an animation will appear based on what their current lung capacity is.

Watching the animation the individual should:

breathe in slowly through their nose when that message appears,
hold their breath when that message appears,
breathe out when that message appears (the mouth is used to exhale because when it's cold outside the air going out should go out the mouth), and
repeats all three steps for 5 minutes each evening on the computer. This slow breathing exercise calms the body so doing it before going to bed is the best time of day for many individuals.

The deep breathing exercise can be done anywhere, at any time. If it takes you 12 seconds to slowly fill your lungs, hold your breath for 6 seconds and then breathe out for 6 seconds. If you don't have a watch or stopwatch a second is approximately how long it takes you to count 0ne thousand one.