G'day if you have joined our community welcome - if you haven't already check out your personal messages as you would have received a message from me inviting you to join our 50% off offer to our Performance Breathing Course. This is a limited intro offer which will expire soon. Here are some key things about the course > Lifetime access to the course which you can work through at your own time. There are no restrictions - this is your course - you own it. > Access to fortnightly coaching rooms where you can ask me questions, engage in conversation and learn more about breathing training. It doesn't matter where you are in the course, the coaching rooms are open to everybody. > Access to the Performance Breathing discussion page. I will be posting content, exercises, case studies and tips on breathing knowledge, skills and exercises. You can ask questions and join in on conversion. > Access to over 30 videos split into 3 core modules. BREATHING MECHANICS – More efficient activation & function of the diaphragm; the primary muscle of breathing. BREATHING FOR CALM AND FOCUS – Gain further competence to take ultimate control of your breathing, exploring expert knowledge & fundamentals which work together to mentally & physically train a calm, focused response to stress & pressure situations. Learn powerful, easy to implement breathing practices that can be used daily to balance your nervous system and promote deep recovery states. DYNAMIC BREATHING – Superior control of your breathing rate & depth during any given level of exercise or training intensity. This will have a direct effect on endurance, recovery, focus, energy control and power. Cheers Dave Wood

You will see this exercise in the breathing for calm and focus section of the course. A 5:20:10 (inhale:hold:exhale) restricts your breathing to around 2 breath cycles per minute. See the questions below and comment with your answers. I will be posting a follow up to this post. 1. Could this exercise be used as a calming breathing practice? 2. What do you think will happen in terms of arterial oxygenation saturation? Oxygen saturation (SpO2) is a measurement of how much oxygen your blood is carrying as a percentage of the maximum it could carry. It is a reading out of 100%. Normal Sp02 is between 95-98% and can be recorded on a simple pulse oximeter. 3. If one day you find this exercise easy (no stress or air huger) and another day you find it more difficult, what is that a reflection of? 4. This is an exercise I would regularly use at the start of a recovery session with athletes we train (see pic below). Why would I start with this? what am I trying to learn about the state of the athlete with this exercise? FYI - Generally 2 things result in a low Sp02 readings below 95% - An inability of the lungs to inhale and send oxygen to all cells and tissues - An inability of the bloodstream to circulate to the lungs, collect oxygen, and transport it around the body Try performing a 5:20:10 for 2 minutes and see how you feel. Use the breathing pacer. Rip in with some answers or questions