Training CO2 Tolerance
Hey folks!
Welcome back.
In the last article, I briefly introduced a breathing technique that serves as an excellent introduction to training CO2 tolerance. We spoke a little bit about why training CO2 tolerance might be a valuable focus for people who spend a little more energy than they would like on controlling and battling feelings of stress, anxiety, or other kinds of overwhelming physiological states. Improving CO2 tolerance through training has also been shown to significantly improve physical performance in athletes in various kinds of sport.
As a brief reminder; CO2 tolerance is our bodies ability to tolerate CO2. CO2 is produced in varying amounts throughout the day, with the most being produced during moments of physiological arousal such as physical activity, or stress/anxiety. In individuals who have a low tolerance/high sensitivity to CO2, they typically experience symptoms that, outside of situations that demand physical output like in sport or exercise, look almost exactly like anxiety; rapid heart rate, shortness of breath, and perception of suffocation, despite rapid breathing.
There is a simple way to assess your CO2 tolerance through a test called the Body Oxygen Level Test, or BOLT for short. A BOLT score can be achieved quite quickly and is easily done alone.
To get your BOLT score, simply sit quietly for a few minutes. The goal is to get close to something that would look like a “resting state” (so don’t try this in the middle of a workout or panic attack). Whenever you’re ready, take in a normal nasal breath like you normally do, and hold it. Time how long you can *comfortably* hold your breath and stop the timer when you first take your inhale. If you have to gasp and choke for air, you held it for too long. More on this later
So if you just tried this, I think its important to briefly reflect on how that felt. Drop it in the comments or just remember for yourself, because if you decide to start training your CO2 tolerance, this test can be a great quantifier for your progress; although I wouldn’t do it too often, more than once a month probably isn’t that useful. These changes take time.
So enough of that; here is a great beginner training program to improve your CO2 tolerance.
Legend:
Light Breathing: Inhales and exhales are so slow that the fine hairs in your nose don’t move.
Deep Breathing: Breathing using the diaphragm. Breathing should enlarge the stomach and area underneath the ribcage in a 360-degree fashion. Shoulder/neck movement should be minimal.
Slow Breathing: Breathing at a cadence of 4 second inhales, 6 second exhales, and 5 second holds.
Warm-up:
2 minutes of Light Breathing
2 minutes of Deep Breathing
2 minutes of Slow Breathing
Workout:
5 minutes (accumulated) of Light, Deep, and Slow breathing (techniques are combined). If your air hunger gets to be too much, just pause your timer, catch your breath, and jump in again. It’s important to remember though that the air hunger is the real training stimulus here. It will take a few sessions but try your best to relax into that feeling. Think of it as the burn you get when you exercise; just don’t overdo it.
This can be done 2-3 days a week with a day in between for beginners. Be sure to watch Our Blue Sky Minds Instagram posts because this will be a big focus of mine for the weeks and months to come. I’ll be posting breathing sessions that you can follow along with and learn from, mixed with lots of neat scientific findings and anecdotes that might help incentivize your practice.
Have a great holiday break everyone.
