Often we have heard the question – if breath training actually works, why aren’t the Pros doing it? The truth is, we have a long and fruitful relationship within the world of elite cycling. It was one of the first sports to realize the huge potential of breath-training for competitive edge and faster recovery.

Last year, those closely following the Professional cycling world noticed Quinn Simmons posting his impressive breath training results days before winning Tour of Wallonie. Later, the same happened with Vincenzo Nibali who posted a shot of his Airofit a couple of weeks before winning Tour of Sicily – his first victory in over 2 years. 

With our recently announced partnership with Lotto Soudal WorldTeam even more cycling pros can experience the advantages of the world’s only smart breath-training system.

Now the cat is out of the bag, and more and more professional athletes are getting on board, by adding breath-training to their routines. Lotto Soudal rider Tim Wellens explains why he is a big fan of Airofit:

“My breathing exercises have become a ritual in my daily training”, he explains. “I use Airofit not only to improve my lung muscles and lung capacity, but also for relaxation and mental health exercises. With the user-friendly application, you can easily follow your progress and monitor your training sessions.”

Tim Wellens, Professional cyclist for Lotto Soudal

At the highest levels of competition, the demands on riders are intense. For the elite professionals taking part in the Tour de France, the grueling ascents and high-speed descents take a toll on both mind and body. Its 21 stages over 23 days, makes huge demands on the participants. 

Tough at the top

Riders have to contend with exhaustion, higher altitudes, lack of sleep and the challenge of trying to fuel and maintain bodies that are pushed to the absolute limits of physical and mental performance. 

“It never gets easier; you just go faster.”

Greg LeMond, American former professional road cyclist

It’s easy to see why competitors at this level are looking for effective training methods that can be easily used during rest periods and don’t take up too much time. Using the Airofit pro, riders can build stronger breathing muscles in short daily sessions of just 5-10 minutes a day.

The app allow users to focus on their particular goals and needs. There are programs for increasing accessible lung capacity, as well as mindfulness breathing patterns designed to reduce stress and improve sleep. And you can follow personalized training plans, to maximize your progress.

You can easily track your results, and just a few weeks training can provide significant improvement in performance, as well as better sleep and recovery.

And when we say significant, we mean significant!Respiratory muscle training has been scientifically proven to be as effective in improving cycling performance as high intensity interval training at VO2max! While implementing additional 2 hours of high intensity cycling intervals a week into your current training could improve your cycling performance by 5%, targeted breath training can bring you the same results – by training less than half an hour, from the comfort of your home. 

A breath of fresh air

Master breathing instructor, Sean Coakley has over 25 years of experience in breath training. He has seen first-hand how the typical postures adopted by riders affect the body and impact on breathing patterns. Problems like upper chest breathing and muscular tension in the back, chest and shoulders can reduce a rider’s ability to get the air they need, when they need it most. And bad breathing habits mean less energy, reduced performance and slower recovery.

Sean works with riders to help teach good breath management. This includes getting comfortable with apnea – the state of lacking oxygen. Riders can benefit from learning to tolerate working with apnea, as well as making nasal breathing the default during times of lower demand. And learning to relax muscles and not tense up can also help ensure maximum efficiency and power during races.

Peak performance

When you combine this with the short daily Airofit training sessions to boost available lung capacity, you can see why breath training has become a hot topic among top cyclists and the sports world in general. 

“The ability to measure and track respiratory training has been a game changer. Airofit makes training simple and provides the feedback needed to validate and guide people to improved performance.”

Sean Coakley, Master Breathing Instructor

While the majority of cyclists may never get to compete at the highest levels of competition, most of us can benefit from the techniques used by the Pros.

Better breathing has all-round benefits, in every walk (or cycle) of life. And with just a short app-guided daily practice, Airofit can help you reach your own peak.