Your breathing is one of the most powerful tools you have when the workout gets hard.**

When your heart rate climbs, your legs are burning, and your brain starts telling you to slow down, your breathing changes.

You breathe faster.

You breathe harder.

Sometimes you start to panic.

Learning how to control your breathing won’t magically make a brutal workout easy. But it can help you stay composed, recover between efforts, and keep your head in the game.

That matters whether you’re running a trail, lifting a heavy barbell, rucking with a pack, competing in a race, or dealing with a stressful situation.

I’ve used breathing techniques during hard training, underwater work, and stressful situations during my time in the Navy SEALs.

The lesson is simple:

When things get chaotic, control what you can control. Start with your breathing.

Why Should Athletes Practice Breathing?

Most athletes spend hours training their muscles and cardiovascular system.

Very few spend even 5–10 minutes training their breathing and ability to stay calm under stress.

That’s a missed opportunity.

Controlled breathing can be used to:

• Help you shift from a highly stressed state toward a calmer state.
• Improve awareness of your breathing during exercise.
• Help you recover between hard efforts.
• Prepare mentally before competition or a difficult workout.
• Give you something simple to focus on when you’re under pressure.
• Develop better control of your breathing mechanics.

Research on diaphragmatic breathing suggests it can produce useful short-term cardiovascular and stress-related effects, although the evidence varies depending on the population and protocol.

You don’t need fancy equipment.

You don’t need an expensive recovery gadget.

You need a few minutes, a quiet place, and consistent practice.

1. Diaphragmatic Breathing

This is the foundation.

Lie on your back or sit comfortably.

Place one hand on your chest and one hand on your stomach.

Relax your shoulders.

Slowly breathe in through your nose and allow your abdomen and lower ribs to expand.

Then slowly breathe out.

Don’t force the breath.

Don’t try to suck in as much air as possible.

Think slow, controlled and relaxed.

Try this:

Inhale: 4 seconds
Exhale: 6 seconds

Continue for 3–5 minutes.

The longer exhale gives you something to focus on and encourages a slower breathing pattern.

You can also practice this after a hard workout while your heart rate is coming down.

Coach’s Tip

Don’t turn this into another workout.

The goal isn’t to see how big a breath you can take.

The goal is control.

2. Box Breathing

Box breathing is a simple way to give your mind something specific to focus on.

Try:

Inhale – 4 seconds
Hold – 4 seconds
Exhale – 4 seconds
Hold – 4 seconds

Repeat for 3–5 rounds.

If four seconds feels uncomfortable, shorten the count.

You can also remove the breath holds and simply use:

4 seconds in / 4 seconds out.

The important part is maintaining a controlled rhythm.

This is especially useful before a workout, competition, presentation, difficult conversation, or any situation where you feel yourself getting wound up.

3. The Long Exhale

Here’s one of my favorite simple breathing drills.

Sit or stand tall.

Take a comfortable breath in.

Then slowly breathe out for longer than you breathed in.

Try:

Inhale – 4 seconds
Exhale – 6–8 seconds

Repeat for 2–5 minutes.

Your job is to make the exhale smooth.

Don’t strain.

Don’t completely empty your lungs.

Just slow things down.

This is a great drill to use after intervals, hill repeats, rucking, or other hard efforts when you need to regain control.

4. Breath Counting

Sometimes the hardest part of breathing practice isn’t the breathing.

It’s getting your brain to shut up.

Breath counting gives your mind a job.

Sit comfortably and breathe normally.

Count each exhale:

1

2

3

4

5

Then start again at 1.

If you lose count, start over.

That’s it.

Do this for 5–10 minutes.

Your mind will wander.

That’s normal.

Notice it.

Return to the breath.

Return to the count.

This is less about becoming perfectly calm and more about learning how to regain control of your attention.

That is a skill athletes can use.

5. Breathing During Easy Training

Don’t wait until you’re stressed to practice breathing.

Use easy training to develop awareness.

During an easy run, ruck, bike ride or warm-up, occasionally check:

Am I breathing smoothly?

Are my shoulders relaxed?

Am I holding my breath?

Am I breathing too fast for the intensity?

At lower exercise intensities, nasal breathing can be a useful way to practice controlled breathing. But don’t force exclusive nasal breathing during hard exercise simply because someone told you it’s always better.

Research suggests nasal breathing can be practical during lower-intensity exercise, while exclusive nasal breathing can become a ventilatory limitation as exercise intensity increases.

The goal isn’t to win a contest for who can breathe through their nose the longest.

The goal is to breathe effectively for the work you’re doing.

1. Breathing Between Intervals

Here’s where breathing really becomes useful for athletes.

Let’s say you’re doing:

• Hill sprints
• Assault bike intervals
• Running intervals
• Ruck intervals
• Sled pushes
• Hard rowing intervals

You finish the effort.

You’re breathing hard.

Instead of immediately worrying about the next interval, use your recovery period to regain control.

Stand or walk slowly.

Relax your shoulders.

Take controlled breaths.

Focus on a smooth exhale.

Don’t force yourself to take enormous breaths.

Just regain rhythm.

As your breathing settles, your brain gets a signal:

We’re back in control.

Then you’re ready for the next effort.

1. Breathing Before a Heavy Lift

Breathing has another important role in strength training.

Before a heavy lift, you don’t necessarily want to spend several minutes trying to become completely relaxed.

You need to be focused.

You need to be aggressive.

You need to create stability.

A recent randomized crossover study found that a brief 5-minute diaphragmatic breathing warm-up produced a small improvement in 1-repetition-max deadlift performance in resistance-trained adults. The effect was modest and didn’t occur in everyone, but it suggests breathing may have a practical role in preparation for strength performance.

Try 3–5 minutes of controlled diaphragmatic breathing during your general warm-up.

Then transition into your normal lifting-specific warm-up.

As the weight gets heavy, use the breathing and bracing technique you’ve already practiced.

Don’t experiment with a new breathing technique for the first time under a maximum barbell.

8. The 60-Second Reset

Here’s a simple drill you can use almost anywhere.

Set a timer for 60 seconds.

Stand or sit tall.

Relax your jaw.

Drop your shoulders.

Breathe slowly.

Make your exhale slightly longer than your inhale.

For example:

Inhale – 4

Exhale – 6

Repeat.

That’s it.

One minute.

Use it before:

• A hard workout
• A race
• A presentation
• A competition
• A difficult conversation
• A stressful meeting
• Going to bed
• Your next big challenge

You don’t need perfect conditions.

You need one minute.

What About Running?

Don’t overcomplicate your breathing when you run.

Your breathing pattern will naturally change as intensity increases.

During easy running, experiment with relaxed rhythmic breathing.

You might try:

2 steps inhale / 2 steps exhale

or

3 steps inhale / 3 steps exhale

Find a rhythm that feels natural.

As the intensity increases, your breathing will increase.

That’s normal.

Don’t force a particular breathing pattern when your body needs more ventilation.

Instead, learn to recognize when you’re becoming tense.

Relax your shoulders.

Relax your hands.

Keep your breathing as controlled as the intensity allows.

The Mental Side of Breathing

This is where breathing gets really interesting.

When you’re under stress, your breathing often changes before you consciously realize you’re stressed.

Your breathing gets faster.

Your shoulders tighten.

Your attention narrows.

You start thinking about everything that could go wrong.

That’s when breathing becomes a tool.

Slow the breath.

Control the exhale.

Focus on the next breath.

Then focus on the next task.

You don’t have to solve the entire problem.

You just have to control the next thing you can control.

I learned that lesson repeatedly during Navy SEAL training and operations.

When you’re underwater, exhausted, cold, or under pressure, wasting energy isn’t an option.

You have to stay calm enough to think.

You have to control your breathing.

You have to do the job in front of you.

A Simple 5-Minute Breathing Workout

You don’t need a complicated program.

Try this once a day.

Minute 1

Breathe normally and pay attention to your breathing.

Minute 2

Inhale for 4 seconds.

Exhale for 6 seconds.

Minute 3

Continue the 4-in / 6-out pattern.

Relax your shoulders.

Minute 4

Switch to natural breathing.

Count each exhale from 1–5 and repeat.

Minute 5

Close your eyes and breathe normally.

When your mind wanders, bring it back to your breathing.

That’s your workout.

Five minutes.

Every day.

Breathing Is a Skill

You don’t learn breathing control by reading about it.

You learn it by practicing.

Start when you’re calm.

Then use the skill during training.

Then use it when the workout gets hard.

Eventually, you want controlled breathing to become something you can access without thinking about it.

Calm doesn’t mean soft.

Calm means controlled.

The goal isn’t to eliminate stress.

The goal is to learn how to perform while stress is present.

That’s what makes breathing such a valuable tool for athletes.

The SEALgrinderPT Breathing Challenge

For the next 7 days, spend 5 minutes a day practicing controlled breathing.

That’s only 35 minutes for the entire week.

Don’t worry about being perfect.

Don’t chase some magical breathing technique.

Just practice.

5 minutes.

7 days.

One skill.

Then take that skill into your training.

When the workout gets hard, don’t panic.

When your heart rate climbs, don’t quit.

When your brain starts telling you that you can’t do it, take control of the next breath.

Then take the next step.

Breathe.

Focus.

Execute.

Find a way to win.

— Coach Brad McLeod
SEALgrinderPT

About the Author:
Coach Brad McLeod is a former U.S. Navy SEAL, SEAL Team Four veteran, fitness coach, and founder of SEALgrinderPT, where he has coached athletes since 2010. Brad teaches athletes to build strength, endurance, mental toughness, and the ability to stay calm and focused when the pressure is on. His training is built around one simple idea: to prepare for the real-world test. If you’re ready to strengthen your mental game and learn practical breathing and mental toughness skills you can use in training and everyday life, check out the SEALgrinderPT Coaching program and start training your mind like you train your body.

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