Breathe to Bike

If you are a cycling fanatic, you must know the importance of breathing, especially, when you ride uphill. Your lungs give up and you know how it can hinder your cycling performance and you can’t go any longer. If you learn specific breathing techniques through perfect yoga regime, then you know that you can boost your cycling performance drastically.

Let us learn about the techniques that can increase your endurance as well as boost your speed while cycling. Various breathing techniques are –

1. A few days before you prepare for cycling outdoors or at least a day before that, spend some time learning to breathe properly. Simply find a quiet spot and focus on your breathing pattern. Breathe slowly and make sure you feel light-headed. This will have a massive impact on your cycling performance.
2. Yoga: Yoga can accentuate your cycling performance immensely. Especially if you are going to participate in a cycling rally or any other competition, then this can work wonders in increasing your breathing performance. There are many breathing techniques of Yoga which can be helpful –

• Deep Yogic Breaths: Deep yogic breathing technique will maximize the capacity of your lungs and help your posture as well. Simply breathe through your nostrils rather than your mouth. Breathing through nostrils is effective at transporting oxygen as compared to the mouth breathing. Take deep breath, sending it to your belly so that the abdomen expands. The abdomen should expand so much that the diaphragm and intercostals muscles should also move.
• Pranayam (Alternate nostril breathing): First breathe through one nostril while closing the other one with your finger and then release the breath through the other one, while holding the one through which you inhaled. Complete the sets of alternate breathing. Around 50 sets are sufficient.
• Ardh Matsyendrasana (Sitting half spinal twist): The sitting half spinal twist will open up your chest and lungs. You could feel the air gushing into your lungs. This will increase the supply of oxygen to your lungs and this will reduce the probability of breaking down while cycling for longer hours.
• Setu Bandhasana (Bridge pose): The bridge pose is extremely helpful in opening up your lungs and chest cavity. It is very effective for asthma patients or those who encounter breathing problems. This easy posture can be vital for your cycling performance and will make you sustain for longer time without taking frequent breaks for rest.

3. Performance Breathing: Specifically designed for cycling, this breathing technique will increase your endurance and cycling time. It increases the utilization of oxygen by our lungs thereby opening up our lungs and increasing their capacity. The technique is performed by following a “2,2,4” count. Each breath cycle involves two counts, holding your breath on a count of two, and then releasing it on count of four. As you start, you will follow this count. As soon as you get accustomed to it, you can increase this to “4,4,8” and then to “5,5,10”.

“Never run out of air again.”