Other/Mixed James Nestor’s Breath vs Oxygen Advantage vs Wim Hof

[TheWolf]

There are some good points above.

I have only read on James Nestor and Wim Hof. I find they both offer very insightful information and I apply them separately to each other.

Breath, I have found, is about a general consensus on the way we should breathe. Hence, I aim to breathe through my nose as much as possible--during the day, while sleeping, training, etc. I find the hardest time to do this is during intense physical activity. I cannot remember if it was Nestor in his book or if it was in Aaron Alexander's book (relating to Nestor's book) but one of them says to breathe only through the nose when training and if you can't, reduce the intensity and build from there. While I can appreciate this, I found initially that breathing through my nose only during intense activity made me severely reduce the intensity which I felt made me not work as hard. So, I breathe through my nose when training still but if my intensity surpasses my capability to do that, I mouth-breathe.

Now, Wim Hof? I love his concept. Someone above it said that the science disagrees with it. Slightly incorrect: science doesn't disagree with it. Science doesn't properly understand it. Using the Wim Hof Method of breathing I have felt my stress has reduced and my breath retention, oxygen use, co2 tolerance, etc improved greatly. Add the cold exposure and you have increased mental resilience and the like. I did drift away from the WHM for a bit due to just not finding the motivation to continue it but I have started recently to use it again. My retention times have significantly dropped in the several weeks I had off so that is concerning. Further, if the WHM claims are true, the strengthening of the immune system and the reduction in inflammation is definitely a benefit--hence I usually complete three rounds of WHM post-workout.

So again, I use nasal breathing throughout the general day and night, and the WHM during a particular moment(s) of the day.

Further to this, I also do HIIT sessions using Bas Rutten's O2 Trainer which--either actually or via the placebo effect--feels to help me improve my lung capacity and function.

Then, I was for a while conducting evening sessions of Freediving Apnea Training--where you conduct several rounds of breathing and holding with reductions or increases in either. I did this only briefly, a few weeks, however so cannot say if it helped or not.

 

[Pantrolyx]

Personal experiences:

Benefits gained from "the oxygen advantage":
- Applying the "less is more" and strict nose breathing from the Buteyko paradigm has been very benecifial for my endurance and somewhat beneficial for stress handling
- Some of the easy drills for unblocking the nose and simulating altitude training, are excellent
- The light breathing drills has contributed a bit to reduce sleeping issues (still drink way too much coffee)
- Some of the cognitive/psychological perspectives are very wise (consciously focusing on what you can actually affect and achieve in your daily life, while ideally not wasting energy on regretful decisions 10 years ago)

Benefits gained from the WHM:
- Cold showers and swims provide tremendous mental benefits and seemingly some physical ones (raising energy levels and awareness)
- The breathing techniques for stretching in the WHM work very well
- Consciously seeking and mastering the cold can really intensify the experiences of being out in the (more or less) wild nature
- The "brown fat activation breathing" works really well for handling the cold

As for the daily WHM breathing sessions, I still try to do them, but in all honesty I do not feel them raising my mental energy level as they used to. Maybe my lacking concentration is to blame.

 

[pet']

Hello,

Here is another one along the same line :


Kind regards,

Pet'

 

[Stoneface77]

Related Question,

Anyone read "Breathing for Warriors" by Dr. Belisa Vranich and Brian Sabin? She cites Pavel in the book and it has blurbs from Dan John, Dr. McGill, and Joe DeFranco (which is interesting since that isn't the usual "stable of DragonDoor authors" that all write blurbs for each other's books.) I'm really surprised I haven't seen anything about it.

I have this book and actually finished it about 3 weeks ago. My take:

1) It’s quite readable, and the chapters are reasonably short.
2) It has quite a few practical drills- some are diagnostic, some are skill/strength building
3) the explanation and approach to the mechanics of breathing in this book are somewhat counterintuitive, at least to someone like me who has not done a deep dive into the topic. Kind of like “you’ve been breathing wrong all these years”
4) I think this book is much more geared toward performance and conditioning. If you are looking for stress relief breathing techniques, I have found other more meditation based practices more useful.
5) The practical portion of the book is broken down by application- I.e., breathing for runners, for fighters, etc. I believe the section on BJJ will be quite useful when I get back into training regularly.

 

[PeterLuffman]

I started with the WH breathing and although I liked how it made me feel afterwards, I didn't see or feel any other benefit.

Oxygen advantage makes way more sense to me and I'm currently trying to do the breathe light breathe right exercise every day. I find it very challenging!

Sounds like I need to attend Second wind next!

 

[silveraw]

I think this book is much more geared toward performance and conditioning. If you are looking for stress relief breathing techniques, I have found other more meditation based practices more useful.

That is kind of interesting because I took the "breathing for warriors" title to sort of indicate it would focus on the performance AND the recovery aspect. I would have guessed the book focused mostly on recovery and relaxation stuff.

Hello,

Here is another one along the same line :


Kind regards,

Pet'

That is a good one! I have had this podcast saved that covers some of the Second Wind approachs to breathing as applied to S&S with @Pavel Macek and the Breakthrough Secrets guys (RIP to a great podcast!)

#140 - Pavel Macek: Breathwork - The Breakthrough Secrets Podcast

In the 140th Episode of The Breakthrough Secrets Podcast, Mike, Chris and our special guest, StrongFirst Certified Master Instructor, founder and chief instructor at KB5 Gym, Pavel Macek chat about the power of breath and why it's the first thing ...

breakthroughsecretspodcast.buzzsprout.com

It is a bit different approach than what Patrick does and a lot different from WH.

 

[pet']

Hello,

The last one I stumbled accross :


Kind regards,

Pet'

 

[mvikred]

- James Nestor - Breath:
I love this book and it‘s more a kind of overview about different breathing systems and techniques. He writes about Wim Hof and also about Oxygen Advantage. It‘s a good starting point into the topic of breathing. Highly recommended.

1. Breathe is like a pop sci intro to breathing. It covers a lot and not very deeply, but it is engaging, makes a good case, and have a few actionable things that have a larger payoff (mouth tape).

I agree .. This is an intro book but is engaging enough to introduce the importance of Breath and Breathwork. I had already changed my breathing to diaphragmatic breathing ever since I read Original Strength. But since reading this book, I rarely do any mouth breathing ... even when I am working out. There are instances when exercises push me to the level where I am forced to take in a gulp or 2 of air with my mouth (which is fine based on what I read). But that indicator is important for me, as it tells me if my breathing capacity is increasing or not.