Breathing in your sport
Find your
moments.
Wear OxyCourt. Notice when you breathe — and turn it into a routine in your own sport. Pick your sport below.
A point lasts 5–8 seconds. Between points you get 25. At the changeover, 90. Between sets, 120.
You spend far less of the match playing than standing still. The rally belongs to the mouth. Everything in between belongs to the nose.
Tennis — three moments
Close your mouth the second the point ends. Walk back toward the fence and breathe through your nose the whole way to the baseline. You are down before the next ball is struck.
Three calm breaths through the nose before you turn around. It gives your head something else to do for a few seconds, and that is usually enough for the mistake to stay in the last point.
Sit down. Towel, drink, then ten to fifteen breaths through the nose with a longer exhale than inhale. It is the best recovery available in a tennis match and it costs nothing.
Longer rallies than tennis, the same breaks: 25 seconds between points, 90 at the changeover.
Padel has longer rallies and shorter distances. You rarely come down during the point — which makes the seconds after it matter more.
Padel — three moments
Walk to the glass, turn away and take three breaths through your nose before you look up. That is the difference between entering the next point gasping or composed.
You stand still for four seconds. Use them. Mouth closed, one deep breath through the nose, then ready position.
Two minutes. Sit down, drink, and breathe six breaths a minute through your nose. The body settles faster than if you stand and talk.
The ball is out of play for roughly half the match. Throw-ins, free kicks, goal kicks, injuries, substitutions, half time.
A football match is ninety minutes long but effective playing time is about fifty-five. That leaves thirty-five minutes of recovery nobody trains.
Football — three moments
Throw-in, free kick, goal kick. Close your mouth and breathe through your nose while you walk back into position. It happens twenty to thirty times a match.
You just pressed and the ball went out. Jog back with your mouth closed. If you cannot manage that yet, start with the last five steps.
Fifteen minutes. The first five: sit down and breathe through your nose with a longer exhale. Tactics after that, not before.
A shift lasts 40–60 seconds on the ice. Then two to four minutes on the bench.
You are on the ice a quarter of the time. The bench is not waiting — the bench is the work.
Ice hockey — three moments
Sit down, lean forward with your elbows on your knees and close your mouth. Nose breathing immediately. The faster you come down, the more you have left for the next shift.
Five breaths through the nose while you stand at the door. Short inhale, long exhale. You go on sharp instead of wound up.
Fifteen minutes in the dressing room. The first five through the nose, sitting down. Talk after that.
The clock stops constantly. Free throws, timeouts, dead balls, substitutions.
Basketball is one of the few sports where the pause is written into the rulebook. The free-throw routine is the most underrated breathing opportunity in sport.
Basketball — three moments
You stand there with four seconds. One breath in through the nose, out through the nose, then shoot. The same breath every time — it becomes part of the routine, not something extra.
Close your mouth. Get back on defence through the nose. The clock is stopped, but you are recovering.
Thirty to sixty seconds. Sit, drink, and breathe through your nose while the coach talks. You can listen and breathe at the same time.
Fast transitions, but the ball is dead at goals, free throws and substitutions. One timeout per half.
Handball swings between maximum intensity and complete stillness in a couple of seconds. That makes recovery between attacks decisive.
Handball — three moments
The ball goes back to the centre. You have five to ten seconds. Close your mouth and walk back through the nose instead of standing there gasping.
Sit down straight away. Mouth closed, longer exhale than inhale. You are back on court in two minutes and you decide in what shape.
The wall stands still for a few seconds. Use them.
Shifts every 60–90 seconds. High intensity, short bursts.
Floorball has hockey's shift rhythm without the ice. Same principle: the bench is where the match is won.
Floorball — three moments
Sit down, mouth closed. Resist the urge to stand there talking while you gasp.
Two minutes in the box or on the bench. The most valuable pause you get. Spend it breathing, not arguing.
You stand still for a couple of seconds. One breath in and out through the nose before the ball drops.
No breaks in a distance run. Much clearer boundaries in intervals.
Running is where nasal breathing is easiest to train, because you choose the pace. If you can talk without opening your mouth, you are in the right zone.
Running — three moments
Run the whole session with your mouth closed. If you cannot, you went too fast — and that is the most useful thing you can learn about your easy run.
During the interval you breathe however you must. In the rest between: mouth closed from the first second. The faster you come down, the better the next interval.
The last five minutes, always through the nose. The body settles while you are still moving instead of once you sit down in the car.
Long rides with natural shifts: climb, flat, descent.
Cycling gives you the longest continuous stretches of controlled effort there are. Ideal for building nasal breathing.
Cycling — three moments
The whole ride through the nose. That is the entire point of a long ride — and the nose stops you from going too hard.
The summit is not the finish line. Close your mouth as soon as it levels out and recover on the way down instead of on the next flat.
Free recovery that almost everyone wastes. Mouth closed, longer exhale, gather yourself before the next climb.
Sets of 30–60 seconds. Rest of 60–180 seconds. Two thirds of the session is rest.
You stand still longer than you lift. The rest between sets is the largest unused space in the session.
Gym and strength training — three moments
Sit or stand still. Mouth closed, nasal breathing with a longer exhale. Scroll afterwards, not instead.
Three breaths through the nose, then the last one in through the nose and hold. You enter the lift composed instead of wound up.
Five minutes at six breaths a minute. The body shifts into recovery while you are still in the gym.
High output with no natural breaks. You have to create them yourself in the transitions.
CrossFit is built to remove the pauses. That makes the few seconds between movements worth more here than anywhere else.
CrossFit — three moments
The walk from the barbell to the pull-up rig is two seconds. Close your mouth for it. It sounds small, but it happens fifty times in a session.
If the programme has rest: nasal breathing from the first second. Not hands on knees, mouth open.
Do not lie on the floor gasping. Sit up, close your mouth and take ten breaths through the nose. You are back faster.
Eight kilometres of running split into eighths, with a station between each one.
The roxzone is the whole race. The running between stations is really active recovery that most people treat as a race.
Hyrox — three moments
You are coming off maximum effort. Close your mouth and take the first steps through the nose if you can. Come down early and you hold the pace later.
The transition between station and run is where seconds are decided. Mouth closed on the way there.
Breathe all the way out through the nose before you put your shoulders into the sled. You start with control instead of panic.
Rounds of 3–5 minutes. Sixty seconds in the corner.
Sixty seconds is short. It is also all the recovery you get, and it is entirely under your control.
MMA and combat sports — three moments
Sit, mouth closed, nasal breathing with a long exhale. The coach talks. You breathe. Both work.
Slow nasal breathing while you hang on your opponent. It is the only rest that exists inside a round.
Same discipline as in a fight. The habit is built in the gym, not in the cage.
Continuous, low intensity. No breaks needed.
The best place to build the habit. The intensity is low enough that the nose is enough the whole way.
Power walking — three moments
Mouth closed from start to finish. If you need to open it you are walking too fast — slow down rather than compromise.
This is where it is tested. Shorten your stride and keep the nasal breathing instead of raising the pace and opening your mouth.
Four steps in, six steps out. It turns the walk into breathing practice without you having to watch a clock.
Four hours. The shot takes two seconds. Everything else is walking and waiting.
Golf is almost entirely pause. No sport has more time to fill and fewer people filling it deliberately.
Golf — three moments
One breath in through the nose during the practice swing, out through the nose as you address the ball. The same every time — it becomes part of the routine.
Two slow breaths through the nose before you read the line. The pulse drops, the hands go quieter.
Mouth closed the whole way. Four hours of nasal breathing is four hours of practice that costs you nothing.
Long sessions in the cold, with natural shifts in the terrain.
Cold, dry air is the hardest environment there is for the airways. The nose warms and humidifies the air on the way in — that is its entire construction.
Cross-country skiing — three moments
The whole session through the nose. In the cold it is worth even more, since the nose has time to treat the air before it goes further down.
Free rest. Close your mouth, longer exhale, gather yourself before the next climb.
The first minutes indoors: calm nasal breathing before you start talking and drinking.
Seven to nine hours. The longest continuous stretch you have.
No training session gives you eight hours in a row. The night does. It is the single biggest opportunity on this list.
Sleep and recovery — three moments
Lie down and breathe six breaths a minute through your nose for five minutes. The body settles before you turn off the light.
The strip stays on. It does not do the work for you, but it makes nasal breathing easier — and the night is the only time you cannot choose consciously.
Take it off wet in the shower. Soak it for ten seconds and peel it back over itself, close to the skin.
OxyCourt widens the sides of the nose mechanically so airflow resistance drops and it becomes easier to breathe through the nose. The rest is up to you — but the strip reminds you every time you feel it.
Shop OxyCourtBreathing through the mouth at maximum effort is completely normal and not a failure. The point is to stay in nasal breathing as long as you can — and to use the pauses, which are the largest unused space in almost every sport.