dubchi

Breathing exercises for athletes

Free guided breathing for 25 sports, from running and swimming to golf and boxing. For every sport: where to start, what to do in training, a game-day routine and recovery.

Every sport page answers the same four questions: what to practise every day, how to breathe in training, a routine for game or race day, and how to come back down afterwards. Each one starts with a single recommended exercise, so you are never choosing from a list cold.

Endurance

• Breathing Exercises for Running — Most runners never train their breathing on purpose, and it shows in the moments that cost the most: a side stitch at kilometre eight, a heart rate that will not settle on easy days, nerves that burn energy before the gun.
• Breathing Exercises for Trail Running — Trails break the rhythm road runners rely on.
• Breathing Exercises for Cycling — On the bike your upper body is folded and your diaphragm has less room, so shallow chest breathing creeps in, especially in the drops and on long efforts.
• Breathing Exercises for Triathlon — Triathlon asks for three different breathing skills in one race: scheduled breaths in the swim, a folded position on the bike, and a footstrike rhythm on the run.
• Breathing Exercises for Rowing — Rowing is a full-body effort folded at the hips, and on the catch your diaphragm is compressed exactly when you want air.
• Breathing Exercises for Endurance / Ultra — In ultras and long events, breathing efficiency adds up over hours.
• Breathing Exercises for Hiking — Hikers mostly get breathing wrong on the climbs: pushing too hard, breathing too fast, then stopping completely to recover.

Water

• Breathing Exercises for Swimming — Swimming is the only sport where you cannot breathe whenever you want.
• Breathing Exercises for Freediving — In freediving, breathing is the sport.
• Breathing Exercises for Surfing — The breath that matters most in surfing is the one you do not get: the hold-down after a wipeout.

Strength & Power

• Breathing Exercises for Weightlifting — Breathing is part of the lift.
• Breathing Exercises for CrossFit — CrossFit workouts mix heavy lifts and all-out conditioning in the same few minutes.

Combat

• Breathing Exercises for Boxing — Boxers gas out from breathing badly, not just from poor fitness: held breaths during combinations, tight shoulders, panic after taking a shot.
• Breathing Exercises for Martial Arts — Every martial art teaches breathing in some form, from the kiai to the exhale on a throw.

Team Sports

• Breathing Exercises for Soccer — Football is ninety minutes of repeated sprints with almost no planned rest.
• Breathing Exercises for Basketball — Basketball switches between full-court sprints and dead stops for free throws and timeouts.

Racquet & Paddle

• Breathing Exercises for Tennis — A tennis match is mostly the gaps between points, and that is where matches are won and lost.

Precision

• Breathing Exercises for Golf — Golf is a sport of long walks and short, precise moments.
• Breathing Exercises for Archery — In archery the shot happens in stillness, so your breathing directly moves your aim.
• Breathing Exercises for Shooting — Your breathing moves the sights.

Mind & Body

• Breathing Exercises for Yoga — Pranayama is half of yoga, and most classes leave little time for it.
• Breathing Exercises for Pilates — Pilates is built on breath: a lateral rib breath that keeps the deep core engaged while the limbs move.

Alpine & Climb

• Breathing Exercises for Skiing / Snow — Skiing combines cold, often thin air with bursts of hard work that are over before your breathing catches up.

Mind Games

• Breathing Exercises for Chess — Chess is a physical sport in one way: long games under stress raise your heart rate, and players feel pressure in their bodies during time trouble.
• Breathing Exercises for Esports — Competitive gaming means long sessions of sitting still with your nervous system at full alert, and the clutch round is decided by steady hands.

The app also covers 17 more sports with a shorter list of techniques.

Get the app

dubchi is free in the browser at dubchi.com (it installs as an app and works offline) and on Android, on Google Play. No account is needed to practise.