If you have followed my newsletter for any length of time then you know that I am a huge advocate for better breathing habits. Breathing is the one lever that you can pull that will improve just about everything you do on the bike, including cardio, strength and even your skills.

As important as it is, though, few riders really focus on it as part of their training program. The good news is that it doesn’t take a lot of time and you don’t need fancy equipment.

In fact, a great way to train your breathing is to use a straw. Yes, the same thing you use to drink your favorite beverage when you’re out at a restaurant is also a great training tool for your breathing.

Just get a straw, have a seat and start to breathe through it. Just 5 minutes of this a few times a week will make an impact on several aspects of your breathing that will help you on the trail.

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First, when you start breathing through a straw you will notice that you really have to slow your breathing down. Overbreathing is a common problem and this forced slow down of your breathing will create a situation where you aren’t overbreathing anymore and your body gets a chance to experience slower, deeper breathing.

Which leads to the second thing that breathing through a straw will do for you. In order to get enough oxygen in with each breath you will have to breathe deeply into the bottom of the lungs and fill the lungs all the way to the top. This forces you to use your diaphragm and reinforces good breathing mechanics.

The third thing that this technique does is raise the levels of CO2 in your blood. Because you are breathing slower on both the inhale and the exhale you can’t blow off CO2 as quickly, which leads to this rise.

Since improving your CO2 tolerance is an important part of cardio performance, exposing your body to these elevated levels of CO2 will help conditioning the body to tolerate higher levels of it before triggering the “holy crap, I can’t catch my breath” feeling that plagues so many riders when pushing hard on the bike.

And because CO2 is used to unlock oxygen from red blood cells so that our working muscles can use it, being able to tolerate higher levels of CO2 also means that you will be able to more efficiently get oxygen where it is needed.

As a bonus, the increased use of the diaphragm, the slow exhales and the elevated levels of CO2 all trigger a relaxation response in the body. That makes this drill a good one to do to help calm your mind during the day or to get you ready to sleep before bed.

Once you get the hang of doing this drill with a single straw you can increase the difficulty level by stacking two straws together, making a single extra long straw. To be honest I haven’t done this or found it necessary for my goals but the option is there for those of you who want the extra challenge.

Breathwork training is an important part of MTB cardio training, especially as we get older. The good news is that it doesn’t take a lot of time or equipment – 5 minutes of breathing through a straw a few times a week can be enough to make an impact on it. 

And if you want to learn even more about breathwork training for MTB, be sure to check out my Guide To Better Breathing For MTB. In it you’ll find how to assess your breathing and several drills and strategies to help you optimize your breathing for better health and performance.

Until next time…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson