I had never paid attention to my breathing or what was going on inside my body while hiking. I simply thought it was normal to feel out of breath until I started studying breathing mechanics—everything started to change. And I’m still learning a lot through trial and error.

Strong breathing is about much more than just the size of your lungs.

Your lungs cannot move air on their own. To function properly, they rely entirely on your primary breathing muscles. It is the strength of your breathing muscles that determine how efficiently you bring oxygen into your body and remove carbon dioxide.

When you go out hiking, you clearly feel your breathing, and you might quickly find yourself out of breath. It’s easy to assume that because your lungs are working hard, you are actively training your respiratory system. But this is a misconception. The exercise is a great way to train your heart and build a strong heart, it does not automatically teach you to breathe correctly. Strong breathing needs to be trained separately from your training. 

There has been written a lot about cardiovascular fitness and having a strong heart when it comes to training. However, if your breathing mechanics are weak or restricted, your body simply cannot take in enough oxygen or transport it to your working muscles. Your lungs and heart work together—and a strong heart can only perform as well as the breathing muscles supporting it. 

The Next Step:

Next time you’re on the trail and feel breathless, remember that while your heart is working hard, your breathing muscles might be struggling. Often, that intense sensation of being out of breath simply comes from fatigued breathing muscles.

To help you fix this, I created a 4-Week Breathing Workbook designed specifically to correct your breathing mechanics and strengthen these muscles. By training them, you make your breathing highly efficient, making it much easier for your heart to deliver oxygen to your working muscles and accelerate your recovery.

Note: The concept regarding lung tissue and respiratory muscle training was inspired by the work of Dr. Belisa Vranich in her book “Breathe.”