Learn to breathe

If you're noticing that you're out of breath on the flats as well as the hills, you may find the article below helpful.  It's from Canadian Cycling Magazine

Learn to Breathe

As you ride, you likely noticed times when you are gasping 4 for air—but have you ever thought of your lungs like a trainable muscle? Luke Way, endurance coach and founder of the Isocapnic Respiratory Training System, says in Canadian Cycling, June & July 2025

“If your upper body isn’t solid and you’re gripping the handlebar really tightly, you’re wasting a bunch of energy to hold yourself in the position. Our breathing is something we can train—and by doing so, we can become more efficient riders. Even riding at an endurance pace, our breathing muscles alone take up around 12 to 14 per cent of total energy expenditure,”

he says.

“Breathing is incredibly energy intensive and important to performance. And there is so much room for improvement. We’ve seen that 70 per cent of the athletes we’ve tested are limited by their ability to breathe, and benefit from doing some respiratory muscle training”

he adds.

“Your lungs are like muscles. They need training and conditioning, just like your biceps or quads. Test your breathing with the body oxygen level test protocol. While sitting comfortably, time how long you can comfortably hold your breath after exhaling. Thirty seconds is good, 40 seconds is superior. The good news is that you can train your breath by practising this protocol. Simply do the test two to three times a day. Way says you’ll likely see improvements in your body’s ability to tolerate CO2 quickly.”

You can also take it up a notch with Isocapnic’s respiratory trainer, which allows you to train your lungs like any other muscle by keeping the respiratory system in balance by controlling CO2 levels. Way recommends breath training as part of your pre-workout warm-up routine, but you can also use a device like Isocapnic’s while scrolling your phone, checking emails or meditating.