Breathwork for Athletes

Breathwork for Athletes: Calming the Mind and Body

In sport, milliseconds and millimetres separate victory from defeat. While athletes spend years perfecting their physical craft, one of the most powerful performance tools remains right under their nose...literally. Breathwork has emerged as a cornerstone of mental skills training, helping athletes regulate arousal, sharpen focus, and accelerate recovery. Far from being a “wellness trend,” controlled breathing is grounded in decades of psychophysiological research linking respiration to emotional regulation and performance readiness.

The Science of Breathwork and Performance

Breathing is a window into the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which regulates our “fight or flight” and “rest and digest” states. When breathing becomes rapid and shallow under pressure, the sympathetic nervous system dominates, elevating heart rate, tightening muscles, and impairing coordination. Controlled, slow breathing, however, activates the parasympathetic system, promoting calmness, clarity, and physical control (Jerath et al., 2006; Zaccaro et al., 2018).

Research has shown that conscious control of breathing can directly influence brain regions involved in emotion and attention, such as the amygdala and prefrontal cortex (Critchley et al., 2015). This means that athletes who learn to manage their breath gain a neurological advantage; they can regulate anxiety, maintain focus, and recover faster between intense efforts.

Breathing Techniques for Athletes

Different breathwork approaches can be used depending on the desired outcome. Whether to calm the mind before competition, reset focus after an error, or promote recovery post-training. Below are four evidence-based breathing methods widely used in sport psychology.

Diaphragmatic Breathing (Belly Breathing)

Perhaps the most fundamental breathing technique, diaphragmatic breathing encourages full oxygen exchange and stabilizes physiological responses to stress. Studies have shown that this type of breathing reduces cortisol levels, improves attentional control, and lowers perceived anxiety in competitive athletes (Ma et al., 2017).

How to practice

Place one hand on your abdomen and one on your chest. Inhale deeply through the nose, feeling your abdomen rise while keeping your chest relatively still. Exhale slowly through the mouth. Aim for around 6–8 breaths per minute.

Box Breathing (4-4-4-4 Method)

Popularised by elite military training programs, box breathing helps athletes achieve a balanced state of focus and calm. The equal inhalation, holding, exhalation, and pause sequence creates rhythmic stability in the body and mind (Sarang & Telles, 2006).

How to practice

Inhale for 4 seconds → Hold for 4 → Exhale for 4 → Hold for 4.

Repeat for several cycles before competition or during breaks to reset arousal and clarity.

The Physiological Sigh

The physiological sigh is a powerful, rapid method for lowering stress and bringing the nervous system back to equilibrium. It occurs naturally, often as a spontaneous double inhale followed by a long exhale when the body needs to release carbon dioxide and calm the system.

Recent research from Stanford University (Huberman et al., 2023) found that just one to three cycles of the physiological sigh can significantly reduce anxiety and physiological arousal, outperforming many other controlled breathing methods in real-time stress regulation.

How to practice

Inhale deeply through the nose. At the top of the breath, take a second, smaller “sniff” to fully expand the lungs. Then exhale slowly and completely through the mouth.

Repeat 2–3 times when feeling anxious or tense. It's especially useful right before competition or after a mistake.

Resonance Frequency Breathing (RFB)

Resonance Frequency Breathing (around 5.5 to 6 breaths per minute) synchronises respiration with heart rhythms, enhancing heart rate variability (HRV), a marker of emotional and physical resilience (Lehrer et al., 2020).

Athletes who train using RFB through biofeedback or guided practice report improved focus, reduced fatigue, and faster recovery between efforts.

How to practice

Inhale for about 5.5 seconds and exhale for about 5.5 seconds, maintaining a smooth rhythm for several minutes. Incorporate this into warm-ups, cool-downs, or mindfulness sessions.

Breathwork in Action: Calming the Mind and Body

Competitive sport constantly challenges the athlete's capacity to stay composed under pressure. When anxiety spikes, breathing patterns become irregular, fast, shallow, or even held altogether, leading to impaired coordination and decision-making.

By consciously returning to structured breathing, athletes can regulate both somatic anxiety (bodily symptoms) and cognitive anxiety (racing thoughts), achieving a more balanced psychophysiological state (Martens et al., 1990).

Elite performers across disciplines use breathwork strategically:

• Archers and golfers coordinate breath with motor precision, exhaling slowly before executing a shot (Bernardi et al., 2017).
• Fighters and sprinters use sharp exhalations to cue power and rhythm.
• Endurance athletes integrate slow rhythmic breathing to sustain mental focus and oxygen efficiency.

Breathing for Recovery and Regeneration

Beyond performance, breathwork is one of the most effective tools for active recovery. Slow, controlled breathing increases vagal tone and HRV, allowing the body to transition more efficiently from high activation to rest (Laborde et al., 2021).

Post-training, these techniques promote muscle recovery, lower perceived exertion, and even enhance sleep quality (Brown & Gerbarg, 2013). For athletes navigating long seasons, travel fatigue, or burnout risk, recovery-focused breathing can be the difference between stagnation and sustained performance.

Integrating Breathwork into Mental Skills Training

Like any skill, breath control requires deliberate, consistent practice. The goal is for athletes to make breathing an automatic part of their mental toolkit, just as vital as technical drills or gym sessions.

A structured integration plan might include:

• Morning practice: 5–10 minutes of diaphragmatic or resonance breathing to set a calm tone for the day.
• Pre-performance: 2–3 minutes of box breathing or a few physiological sighs to control arousal.
• In-competition: One deep exhale or a physiological sigh to reset after an error.
• Recovery: Slow rhythmic breathing post-training to enhance regeneration.

When embedded into pre-performance routines (Cotterill, 2010) or paired with cue words like “calm,” “steady,” or “reset,” breathwork becomes a cornerstone of self-regulation.

Breath as the Bridge Between Body and Mind

The beauty of breathwork lies in its simplicity and scientific grounding. It's a direct link between the psychological and physiological, providing a way to manage internal states in real time. As studies in sport psychophysiology continue to show (McCraty et al., 2009), athletes who develop coherence between breath, heart, and mind perform with greater stability, resilience, and precision.

Breathing well is not a "soft skill", it's a performance skill.

FINAL THOUGHT

Breathwork for athletes isn't about relaxation for its own sake, it's about performance regulation. Whether preparing for competition, bouncing back after an error, or recovering post-race, breath control helps you stay in command of your mind and body.