Optimize Cycling Performance and Recovery Through Breath
In this exclusive Q&A article for Gravelstoke we sit down with Matteo Pistono, a seasoned endurance athlete and breath and meditation teacher, to delve into optimizing breathing for cycling performance and recovery. Having previously contributed to our site with his compelling narratives on his bikepacking adventures, Matteo brings a wealth of knowledge drawn from his extensive background in cycling, breath, and meditation practices. Matteo brings insights into breathing techniques that can enhance endurance, improve recovery times, and elevate overall performance. Matteo’s latest book, Breathe How You Want to Feel, is released today, May 28, 2024.
Gravelstoke: You write in your book that functional breathing is an overlooked aspect for cyclists—what do you mean by functional breathing?
Matteo Pistono: Functional breathing techniques are crucial for cycling performance, particularly by improving endurance through better exercise economy. By optimizing breathing mechanics, and here I mean diaphragmatic breathing through the nose as much as possible, instead of upper chest mouth breathing, cyclists can significantly boost their stamina and overall performance.
Gravelstoke: What specifically does diaphragmatic breathing do for cyclists?
Matteo Pistono: Diaphragmatic breathing engages the lower part of the lungs where the maximum amount of oxygen exchange to the blood happens. This is the most efficient way to breathe. Efficient breathing ensures muscles receive adequate oxygen, especially over the long run. Your cycling will benefit if you learn to breathe diaphragmatically instead of using upper chest breathing and panting.
Of course we have to breathe sometimes through our mouths as our effort increases, as we enter into Zone 3 and 4. But if we train to breathe through our nose even as our effort increases, even in higher Zone 2, our exercise economy will be improved as will our recovery.
Matteo Pistono at the 2021 Stagecoach 400 bikepacking challenge. PC: Robert Jacobson
Gravelstoke: Does the position on the bike make it difficult to breathe diaphragmatically?
Matteo Pistono: For sure. Diaphragmatic breathing can be a challenge because of the hunched-over position on the bike puts pressure on the front of the diaphragm. This will sometimes cause us to use the upper chest and neck muscles which are secondary respiratory muscles. The result of this is a less stable core and pain in the upper back and neck from overuse. Training to breathe diaphragmatically on the bike means we have to learn how to breath horizontally, expanding the sides of the ribs and into the lower back, rather than breathing vertically where the shoulders move up and down.
Diaphragmatic breathing creates an invigorating motion that massages and stimulates your heart, liver, stomach, and large intestines. Even the kidneys, located at the back of your torso, directly benefit from the rhythmic motion of the diaphragm. As the diaphragm descends, the organs underneath are gently pushed forward, backward, and sideways. This expansion of the abdomen gives the impression of breathing into the stomach, even though there is no respiration occurring in the belly. This is why diaphragmatic breathing is sometimes called “Belly Breathing.”
Gravelstoke: You write that we should breathe through our nose when we are in Zone 2 and even Zone 3. How can we train to breathe through our nose?
Matteo Pistono: The greatest influence on the way we breathe during cycling is how we breathe in daily life. Establishing proper breathing mechanics, particularly diaphragmatic and nasal breathing, in everyday life is crucial for optimizing cycling performance. Poor breathing mechanics or chronic mouth and overbreathing carry over into cycling, affecting performance. So we can start by breathing all the time through the nose—except while eating, speaking, or high intensity exercise—keep it nasal. The mantra of my book is KEEP IT NASAL.
Matteo Pistono (right) on a 400 mile bikepacking adventure in San Diego, CA. PC: Tim Ingersoll
Gravelstoke: What are the benefits of nasal breathing during cycling?
Matteo Pistono: First of all, nasal breathing increasing oxygen uptake into the muscles and brain. Nasal breathing offers about 50% more resistance than mouth breathing due to the smaller nasal passages, resulting in approximately 20% more oxygen absorption into the tissues. This may seem counter-intuitive but by taking less breaths, you will have slightly higher levels of CO2 in your system and this results in increased oxygen uptake into your muscles and brain. This enhanced oxygen uptake fuels muscles and optimizes performance, especially for sustained efforts.
Nasal breathing helps retain moisture, preventing dehydration. Mouth breathing leads to significant moisture loss, with 42% more water escaping compared to nasal breathing. Especially for long days in the saddle, keep it nasal throughout your Zone 2 pedaling.
Finally, nasal breathing promotes the diffusion of nitric oxide (created in your sinuses), which promotes vasodilation and bronchodilation. This improves blood flow and respiratory function, delivering more oxygen and nutrients to muscles.
Gravelstoke: You talk about overbreathing—what is that?
Matteo Pistono: Overbreathing occurs when we breathe more than our metabolic demands require. This often happens during exercise, leading to rapid, upper-chest panting. Overbreathing disrupts blood gas balance, reduces oxygen delivery to the brain and muscles, and impairs decision-making. It also causes electrolyte imbalances, leading to muscle spasms, weakness, and fatigue. Many of us overbreathe during the day because of chronic mouth breathing. This is why it is very beneficial breathe through your nose on the bike as much as possible.
Is it better to breathe through your nose or mouth when cycling? Matteo Pistono offers the answer in his latest book, Breath How You Want to Feel. PC: Dave Malwitz
Gravelstoke: How can we begin to train to nasal breathe?
Matteo Pistono: Maintain nasal breathing during all physical activities—unless you are in Zone 3 or it’s HIIT. Walking the dog—keep it nasal. Mowing the yard—keep it nasal. Carrying groceries—keep it nasal. Zone 1 and 2 on the bike—keep it nasal. If you become out of breath, slow down rather than mouth breathe. This trains your system to tolerate higher carbon dioxide levels, ensuring efficient oxygen delivery, improving physical and cognitive performance, and increasing lung capacity. And, I should say, nasal breathing supports a longer health span, focusing on quality of life and well-being—so it’s not just for performance on the bike.
I spoke above about breathing efficiency and exercise economy. Breathing efficiency impacts heart rate, respiratory rate, and energy consumption. Slower nasal breathing improves oxygen uptake, reduces heart rate, and conserves energy for muscles and brain. Enhanced breathing efficiency unlocks greater energy reserves for physical activities, maximizing performance and enjoyment.
And it should be noted that nasal breathing enhances executive function and motor skills, crucial for quick decisions and injury prevention in sports and resistance training. This is key when you are ripping downhill on your mountain bike or are concentrating in the peloton.
Gravelstoke: Are There Breathing Warm-Up Techniques You Recommend Before Going Out on a Ride?
Matteo Pistono: I have found that I perform better, quicker, if I fire up my system with the breath before I ride. Just as you warm up and stretch your muscles before exercising, I believe it is essential to do the same for your respiratory muscles. The diaphragm, along with the intercostals, plays a crucial role in breathing. A proper warm-up allows these muscles to contribute fully to efficient breathing and fueling your system. By massaging, stretching, and warming up your diaphragm and intercostals, you can enhance their flexibility, reduce the risk of strain or injury, and improve their overall function.
I write about a number of upregulating breathing techniques in the book that can be used as preparation before exercise, training, or competition. Choose one that fits the time you have available and spend a few minutes on self-massage or gentle rolling of the diaphragm, intercostals, and middle and upper back.
My favorite one is the Diaphragm Warm-Up Exercise which is an excellent preparation. Incorporating respiratory warm-up exercises will enhance your breathing capacity and optimize your overall performance. The Diaphragm Warm-Up Exercise consists of three rounds of energetic diaphragmatic breathing with breath holds. If anyone wants to a guided Diaphragm Warm-Up Exercise audio, they can email me and I’ll send it to them.
Matteo explains why nasal breathing could be key to breathing better on your next MTB or gravel ride. PC: Dave Malwitz
Gravelstoke: You write about an Exercise Intensity Dial as a way to think about breathing while we are on the bike—what is the Exercise Intensity Dial?
Matteo Pistono: For the past few years, I've been participating in long-distance multi-day self-supported mountain bike races. The courses are located in remote and extreme terrain, and we cycle for 15 to 20 hours a day for multiple consecutive days. While my preparation included the usual strength and endurance training regimen of an endurance cyclist, the most impactful element on my performance has been breath training.
The breath training I'm referring to is what we are discussing in this chapter: properly warming up the diaphragm and intercostals, using the exercise intensity dial that we'll discuss below, and breathing for recovery. Neglecting any aspect of this led to a lack of fuel for my engine.
Exercise Intensity Dial
I'm not a professional athlete by any measure; I'm a recreational athlete. However, using breath techniques for performance is beneficial whether you're an elite athlete or a weekend warrior because it allows us to maximize our stamina and strength, enhance our mental focus and concentration, and above all, enjoy moving our bodies.
One way to think about breathing while on the bike is this Exercise Intensity Dial (EID). The EID builds on other breathing dials I write about (strength, pace, and depth of breath). But here the EID serves as a practical tool to help us monitor and adjust our breathing patterns in real-time, using nasal and mouth breathing when appropriate. It integrates mindfulness, interoception, and a combination of nasal and mouth breathing techniques at different intensities. Its purpose is not only to enhance our performance and endurance but also to counteract the negative effects of improper breathing patterns contributing to fatigue.
Clicks 1 to 4: Quiet Nasal In/Out—Low Intensity—Balanced Breath
Use clicks 1 to 4, the lower end of the EID, for low-intensity activities like when you are in Zone 1 on the bike (or yoga, Pilates, golf, or warming up on rower). This is nasal breathing that offers you enhanced filtration, warming, and humidification of the air. Additionally, nasal breathing promotes increased production and inhalation of nitric oxide, a vasodilator and bronchodilator. Nasal breathing importantly maintains the optimal blood gas balance and proper uptake of oxygen into your muscles.
Clicks 5 to 10: Audible Nasal In/Out—Moderate Intensity—Increasing Breath
Dial to clicks 5 to 10 during moderate-intensity activity like when you are moving into Zone 2 (or jogging, swimming, dancing, or jumping rope). This corresponds to higher aerobic activity where you can still speak normally but require additional breaths. By focusing on slow and deep nasal inhales and exhales, you stimulate the engagement of your diaphragm, optimize oxygen uptake into cells, and improve carbon dioxide exchange. This deliberate approach to breathing helps regulate your breathing rate, leading to enhanced endurance and overall performance physically and cognitively.
Clicks 11 to 17: Power Nasal In/Nasal Out or Nasal in/Mouth Out—High Intensity—Intense Breath
Clicks 11 to 17 are the transitional stage where nasal breathing remains the primary focus, albeit with increased challenges. This is high Zone 2 or into Zone 3. Speaking becomes less possible because of the intensity of the activity. You may need to powerfully inhale and exhale through the nose. Or you might need to switch to inhaling through the nose and exhaling out the mouth for a few breaths, blowing off carbon dioxide, which temporarily alleviates breathlessness, and then return to nasal only. Maintaining nasal breathing as much as possible is encouraged, even if occasional mouth exhales occur. It’s a challenge to stay nasal only on that border of Zone 2 & 3 (or with higher-intensity activities, such as powerful paddling, energetic Zumba classes or dancing.) This demands your attention. Try not to revert to panting continually through the mouth.
Clicks 18 to 21: Mouth In/Mouth Out—Maximum Intensity—Power Breath
When exercising at maximal exertion, your EID is turned all the way up. This is Zone 3 & 4 (or Tabata sessions, circuit training, or high-intensity interval training workouts.) During maximum-intensity efforts, mouth breathing becomes necessary to facilitate greater airflow, oxygen supply, and blowing off excessive carbon dioxide. However, try to turn the dial down a few clicks as soon as the intensity permits, as nasal breathing offers more physiological advantages and quickens recovery in the short and long-term. Dialing down to nasal breathing should be prioritized whenever possible, turning your EID from mouth in/out, to nose in/mouth out, to nasal only.
Remember, the goal is to dial your breathing appropriate to the intensity of your exercise, gradually moving up or down one click at a time. Proceed click by click. Like when you are driving a manual stick shift car, move up and down through the gears one after another, not jumping too quickly.
Training with this EID system in mind, you optimize your breathing patterns to enhance cycling performance, mental clarity, increase endurance, and recover optimally. Eventually, the EID becomes internalized, and your body and breath know how and when to turn the dial up and down, depending on the intensity of your activity.
Matteo Pistono (right), at the Enjoy The Farm Bike to Farm Cycling Adventure with Patagonia Cardiff. PC: Dave Malwitz
Gravelstoke: There is a lot of talk about the importance of recovery these days and what role does breathing have in recovery?
Matteo Pistono: There has been a significant increase in the study of recovery for athletes over the last decade. This trend is not limited to professional athletes alone; even those of us who exercise primarily for our health and enjoyment have benefited from the advancements in sports science and the growing recognition of the significance of recovery. This broader perspective acknowledges that recovery plays a crucial role in adaptation, repair, and extending our health span.
Why is recovery so important? Exercise, especially higher intensities, is an acute stressor on the body and mind. The physiological processes triggered during exercise are catabolic, meaning that they break muscle down to use the body’s energy for fuel and activation. We need recovery to restore, adapt, and become stronger
What this means is that we get fitter and stronger during recovery, not during exercise! Strenuous exercises and strength training taxes and depletes our system, breaking it down. Exercise sets off the release of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol and other inflammatory markers. The post-exercise period is when we want to move toward parasympathetic (rest & digest) dominance, downshifting to allow our muscles and systems to adapt and recover. To ensure effective adaptation to the stress of exercise, we must downregulate and focus on recovery right after our workouts or training sessions.
After finishing a ride or training session, it’s common to neglect this crucial step of transitioning our bodies into recovery mode—we jump straight into social media, looking at Strava KOMs, or start throwing down food! If we fail to initiate the recovery process immediately, we risk carrying those elevated stress levels with us throughout the day, affecting our interactions at work, causing us to drive through traffic in an agitated manner, or meaning we spend time at home with family while stressed out. To fully reap the benefits of our physical exertion, prioritizing post-exercise recovery is essential, and it can be jump-started as soon as we are off our bike.
Devoting five minutes or longer after exercise to restorative breathing techniques releases acetylcholine that not only calms our organs but also stimulates your body’s release of serotonin, dopamine, and prolactin, those feel-good hormones.
Here are two standard breathing interventions to jump-start your recovery:
4:6 Breathing Cadence: Focus on slow, nasal-only diaphragmatic breathing. Extend your exhales to find a 4:6 count; inhaling for a 4 count and exhaling for a 6 count. Extended exhalations while counting induce rest and recovery. Simple and effective.
Tactile Breathing: Place your thumbs and fingers around your lower ribs. Feel the expansion of the belly and lower ribs on the inhale and the contraction of them on the exhale. Inhale and exhale slowly through the nose, extending your exhale longer than your inhale. Use whatever cadence works for you, making sure you exhale longer than you inhale. Activate your rest-and-digest response in your nervous system with Tactile Breathing.
Buy Matteo’s new book, Breath How You Want to Feel
