fitness

I last babbled about my fitness regiment in September 2013 and since then (over two years!) I’ve done quite a bit of experimentation with movements and techniques, and I am still continually tweaking my routines. Every workout I try to make a small adjustment and learn something new. And it’s that perpetual state of flux that’s caused me to not want to report any of my findings — because I feel like I know nothing! (“That’s deep, man. Far out, man.”)

But let’s be real: does anyone really know anything? (“No.”) So in the interest of potentially contributing even a sliver of understanding to our entropic cosmos, I’ll share my current viewpoints on recreational physical fitness.

No. 1 Idea: Don’t Get Injured

I am a steadfast believer that if you want have any interest in maintaining physical fitness, absolutely do not engage in any activity that causes discomfort. If you sense your body breaking down — most commonly in the form of joint pain — then stop. It’s the opposite of your objective, which should be to empower your tangible self. Getting injured sucks. It’s the worst. And injuries only exacerbate as you get older.

I’ve come to better terms with this notion, and have dropped a bunch of exercises I previously considered to be safe and effective. Dips, for example, were nagging my wrist and elbow. I liked doing dips, and so did my physique, but eventually I was honest with myself and accepted that long term they’re not for me. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do dips though! I have a trick elbow and glass wrist. You might be fine.

Please note: not all pain is bad. Learn to recognize the difference between eustress and malfunction.

No. 2 Idea: Move in Bilateral Symmetry

By this I mean avoiding exercises that isolate one side of your body (e.g. lunges, 1-armed push-ups, etc.). Your stability is way better during exercises displaying bilateral symmetry in movement and — surprise! — you are less likely to injure yourself.

Machines and barbells can often fit this notion; dumbbells, while appearing to coincide, are too precarious. I want both hands involved with the same weight.

No. 3 Idea: Weights are Necessary

In continuation with the last idea, to make an exercise challenging enough to gain significant muscle, an auxiliary form of resistance must be added. Don’t isolate one arm or leg to increase the intensity.

This is not to say you can’t get in decent shape doing bodyweight exercises like push- or pull-ups. With immaculate form and technique, you can! But your progress will be slow and eventually stall and unless you’ve got access to a gravity chamber like Goku in Dragon Ball Z.

No. 4 Idea: Be Able to Bail

I believe in pushing your muscles to failure — i.e., maximal energy expenditure — and consequently that means you’ve got to be able to easily bail out of the exercise so you aren’t crushed by a weight or whatever.

(Hint: It’s pretty hard to bail out at the bottom of a squat.)

No. 5 Idea: Reps are Dumb; Go till Failure

I hate numbers. They’re pointless. You should be aiming for a high intensity level with your movements. Who cares if you can crank out a ton of reps with shitty form?

The burn. Feel it. That’s the barometer to go by. I know it’s an abstraction and unquantifiable, but if you feel lactic acid building up then it means your muscles are doing meaningful work.

No. 6 Idea: Limit Range of Motion

I’ve slowly picked up on the idea of limiting my ranges of motion after some instruction and some failed experimentation. The seeds for this concept were planted when I realized I was messing up my rotator cuff trying to do pull-ups at too broad a grip. I could suspend myself — and quickly fatigue — but any attempt to get my chin over the bar resulted in obvious mechanical discord. So from this I learned that holding form could be better than completing a full range of motion.

Likewise, certain HIT exercises I’ve played around with (wall sits in particular) advocate maintaining a 90º angle, which is said to be the point of “highest resistive force” (or something … I’m not an expert on levers and fulcrums). The big-picture idea is that the moment at which a right angle is formed is most challenging.

Now, these HIT movements I’d read about instructed to hold the right angle until failure. My current notion is that holding is bad. I think locking into any position under force will cause undue stress on your joints.

BUT — I think moving back and forth around 90º is cool. That’s the sweet spot. Don’t hold at 90, but rock as best you can between say 85º–95º so you are in a controlled motion and repeatedly approaching that most challenging 90º angle from both sides of the plane. Doing this also expedites the onset of fatigue. Less time under stress is good!

This brings me to the main epiphany behind today’s article and

Rock the 90™*

To engage in a controlled, limited motion of exertion about a 90º angle.

*Patent Pending

With that preamble out of the way, let’s discuss: what exercises are part of my routine at this point?

Exercise 1: Pull-ups

I’ve been humbled by the pull-up. I’ve grappled them with the utmost regularity for over five years, experimenting with dozens of variations in that time, and yet … I still don’t know how to do one. But that’s ok! This process has taught me a lot about the uncertainty knowledge.

The 90 thing is sort of new. Last I wrote I’d been keen on the towel pull-up, and I had kept up with them until only a few months ago. Yes, towel pull-ups are challenging and they will improve your grip strength. But I will argue against them because of the stress they impose on your fingers. To do a towel pull-up, your grip becomes oriented like a handshake, unevenly dispersing the 100+ pounds of tension between fingers, and this consequently contorts the hand. It’s bad news bears. When gripping a standard bar, each of your fingers contributes more equally to the pull. Stability is markedly better.

So I reverted back to pull-ups without a towel, and I’d been playing around with this technique where I’d hold at the top of the pull-up — squeezing upward as tightly as possible — and descend slowly as I fatigued. This was a novel concept to me, and the challenge at first exceeded my skill level. (That’s good!) But eventually I caught up to the difficulty and to progress any further I would need to add weight. So after several hours of research and days of contemplation, I purchased an expensive weight vest online. Protip: Weight vests suck for pull-ups. Save your money. I returned mine immediately.

A weight belt is what you want to go with, and I opted for this one:

It’s legit. I like it. It’s unobtrusive and pretty easily adjustable. I haven’t tried any of the less expensive chained dipping belts, so I’d be remiss to say this one is superior, but I’ll certainly be sticking with it.

Anyway, once I started adding weights, it became apparent that holding at the top of the pull-up was stressing my elbow joints more than I’d cared to admit. It’s not a technique I could keep doing long term. This got my brain churning for an alternative, and I remembered back to my inefficacious days of wall sitting. Maybe I could transfer that theory here? After some trial and error I arrived at my current protocol.

The Technique

• Start with your widest comfortable pull-up grip (which should be not much more than shoulder width).
• Rock the 90 as described above; you’re not going for reps. Drop out at failure.
• Regain composure, then try again at the same width. Repeat until you’re unable to hold form.
• Take an extended breather, then repeat with your grip closer together — but in chin-up orientation (palms facing toward you). Then switch back to palms facing out at that same width.
• Repeat this progression until you’ve exhausted all sensible options.

Narrowing your grip is an elegant way to gradually reduce resistance (which is necessary as you fatigue). The reason for alternating grips is to engage slightly different muscle groups.

This sequencing has felt intuitive and substantial to me.

Exercise 2: Leg Press

I’ve actually only recently added the leg press to my repertoire, so — DISCLAIMER — I have not been doing the following long term. Heed these thoughts in particular with skepticism.

For the longest time I’d been relying on a combination of cycling and sprinting with hills thrown in for good measure to keep up a semblance leg strength. Squats are scary, and wall sits, which you’d think are pretty benign, destroy my knees. So I’m understandably cautious about pushing myself much when it comes to “leg day.”

However, I’m optimistic about this conservative approach to the leg press I’ve been practicing. So far, so good! The same philosophy from pull-ups applies with the technique listed here.

Technique

• Begin at a sensibly challenging weight. Rock the 90 until failure.
• Catch your breath.
• Lower the weight and repeat until it feels right to stop.

Pretty simple. Once again, the underlying theory is to gradually reduce resistance until thoroughly fatigued.

Exercise 3: Cycling

There is a certain blissful je ne sais quoi to cutting through a warm breeze on a balmy midsummer evening. Cycling isn’t without flaws, but man, a day on the bike is a good day.

I enjoy cycling. That’s the foremost reason I do it. It’s not an activity that’s going to get you a great body (professional cyclists are a skinny bunch) but there is an overwhelmingly positive sensory aspect to it. It makes you feel like a kid again. When is the last time you went on an adventure?

I also give cycling bonus points for being a low-impact sport and conducive for taking intermittent breaks.

Technique

• Hop on your bicycle.
• Explore the open road.

I personally get a kick out of climbing up big hills and flying down them with no hands.

And that’s pretty much it. I sometimes do sprints, or jog, or walk, or play tennis or frisbee or basketball, and I’m dinking around with some bodyweight squat and ab stuff right now, but in terms of regularity, pull-ups and cycling in particular have been my go-to’s.

Why? They don’t take a lot of time. I don’t get injured. I find them sufficiently challenging. And I’m happy with that!

My goal isn’t to become an underwear model or Mr. Universe. I’m putting in a calculated effort to reach a functional physique that makes me feel positive about myself and allows me to be active in other areas. I find the whole process a righteous challenge.

If I cared more about having defined musculature, deadlifts would probably the first heavy movement I’d add into the mix even though they don’t really match the philosophies laid out here. But who knows … maybe at some point I’ll mess around with them.

In regards to frequency, a full workout for me consists of just one of the above exercises. I like to put full focus onto one exercise so I can concentrate on my form and technique. It’s difficult to maintain composure over a long session! I don’t exercise every day, I always warm up, and I take a cautious approach to recovery (i.e., I will wait out soreness).

After all this explanation, let met me reiterate my sentiments from the intro: I don’t know what I’m doing!! You should figure out what works for you. I’m just one dude trying to chart his internal compass. The likelihood is high that I change course.

An Aside: Nose Breathing Follow-up

I previously wrote an article about nose breathing and why it’s likely beneficial to avoid breathing through your mouth during exercise (or at any time for that matter). The dude still abides to this philosophy, but when riding my bike I’ve found it impractical to consciously avoid lapsing. The energetic demands are too persistent. If anything I think this is a subtle knock on the premise of cardio.

Anyway, one new technique I picked up on not long after writing that piece is to drop your jaw while breathing through your nose. Doing this helps expand the airway. It’s like a cheat code for when you’re struggling during periods of high intensity.

For many years, I was quite undersized compared to my peers. At age 12 I stood on my tippy-toes at 4’8” and weighed in at 70 pounds, with a full set of hockey pads. My teenage years were noteworthy in that I scored some great deals in the “boys” section of Kohl’s. It wasn’t until my second year of college that I finally reached my full height of about 5’11”, but there was little substance to my slight, 137-pound (on a good day) frame.

It was short of a year prior to this time, when my vertical growth slowed, that I decided to take an interest in fitness with the intention of putting on muscle mass so that I wouldn’t look as ridiculous in any clothes I wore. When one is 20 years old, a shade or two below 6 feet, wearing small sized band t-shirts and 28” skinny jeans, they’re often genetically or environmentally hard-pressed to put on weight and must make a conscious and concerted effort to do so.

I began with no plan other than to work out as regularly as possible, with little notion of energy expenditure and musculoskeletal repair, but did make small strides despite much wasted effort and self-sabotage. It hasn’t been until the past couple years in my mid-twenties that I’ve put pieces together and gone up two shirt sizes, which, being a static marker of feedback, I feel is a better indicator of gain than an arbitrary number on a scale.

This article is intended for those who have trouble putting on muscle (the so-called “hardgainers”) and do not want to make an outlandish investment of time and emotion into gaining said weight. At this point, I feel fairly dialed in to controlling my mass and I think the techniques I’ve honed may be universally applicable. These are a few simple strategies that have worked for me after remaining at a compositional standstill for years.

1. Work Out Less

By less, I mean both with lower frequency and for shorter duration. In terms of the former, it is my hunch that many fitness enthusiasts do not give their bodies sufficient time to recover and subsequently overcompensate (i.e. enter a muscle building phase) from their previous workout.

I believe soreness is a good indicator of recuperation. My recommendation is to avoid working out until the entire body feels fresh (meaning there is no soreness felt anywhere), and then don’t target the same area that was previously sore; vary routines.

Personally, I split my upper and lower body, with a few different movement patterns for each, to give myself proper rest. This approach has also come for me with the added benefit of reducing the likelihood of injury.

To address the latter, through experience and observation it seems a certain level of intensity is required to stimulate muscle growth. This could mean lifting heavy weights, exerting force with controlled intent until failure, or engaging in bursts of predominantly fast-twitch movements like sprinting. In all cases though, the duration of exertion is relatively short. These are not endurance exercises.

Moreover, the less one works out, the easier it is to reach a caloric surplus, which leads into my second suggestion.

2. Eat More Food

I’m not going to preach the efficacy of any particular nutrient or diet, but instead give general guidelines on how consume more calories, since an energy deficit prevents weight (and muscle) gain.

• Foods that require little preparation are more likely to be eaten.
• Fats contain about twice the calories of proteins and carbohydrates.
• Liquids are easier to ingest than solids.
• Variety increases indulgence.

Andrew Kim recently wrote an interesting article on metabolism, which may be helpful in picking specific sources of calories to achieve the body composition one desires.

3. Get More Sleep

Firstly, sleeping burns less calories than, well, not being asleep (unless one is eating).

Secondly, I feel the non-waking hours are when the body makes the most strides in regard to recovery and growth. Simple as that.

My intention here was to put forth a few practical concepts that can be individually interpreted and applied. I acknowledge they might not be effective for everyone, but these ideologies have yielded for me the most significant results with the least effort and preoccupation.

If a person is aiming to lose weight, I imagine performing the opposite of one or more of the recommended actions above would help foster a net loss of energy.

A recent trend in the technology industry involves a push on quantifying and qualifying data pertaining to personal fitness levels in efforts to motivate consumers by making exercise, which typically involves abstract and delayed gratification, more desirable an activity by contriving concrete goals to be reached and rewarded.

My feeling is that the devices and apps being put out are an effective way to pull newbies into the fitness fold, but increase their risk of injury (or worse). The issue isn’t so much the technology, but the glorification of arbitrary data, ranging from miles run to weight lifted. This in my opinion has long been an issue of fitness folklore, and is now much more forefront and widespread with the adaptation of these tools.

After several years experimentation (and much wear and tear), I’ve found fitness far more attainable and sustainable when numbers are thrown out and feeling and intuition are instead favored to gauge the frequency and intensity required to make progress with one’s goals. Below I will detail what figures to avoid tracking (“the bad”) and what is better to rely upon (“the good”).

This discussion applies mainly to those who exercise for recreation and not competition or profession, which should entail a majority of readers.

The Bad

Distances, Speeds, Times, Calories Burned, Heart Rates, etc…

Basically, any points of data a treadmill will flash back at you, or that will be tracked by fitness apps (e.g. Strava) and other devices (e.g. Fitbit), are not important. It is all too easy to form unhealthy fixations on hitting arbitrary and ultimately pointless numbers to complete a workout, which often puts oneself at risk of injury by ignoring internal body dialogue. Calories burned is an especially questionable statistic to set a one’s goal.

Weights

Free weights can be dicey as well, especially when insecurity takes over and dudes feel the need to increase their lifts by a few pounds every workout, no matter what, so they can brag about new PB’s. This increases their likelihood of getting hurt. Fixed weights (e.g. machines) are probably safer, as they usually restrict the range of motion, but not foolproof.

Interval Training

I believe in allowing oneself to rest for as long as needed between bouts of exertion (ideally to let one’s heart rate and respiration to return close to baseline levels). Interval training totally eschews this mantra, requiring individuals abide by an almighty clock. Aside from often being overly demanding on newbies, this type of training can put people at risk of injury because they become so determined to perform movements for the full uptime, and not properly interpret pain they may be feeling.

Planned Repetitions (and to a Lesser Extent, Sets)

If one is performing a movement for repetitions, especially any including resistance measures, I believe they would be astute to listen to their body and gauge how many reps should be performed on a per set basis. It’s precarious to tell oneself they must do for example a set of eight barbell squats, but by the sixth repetition they are gassed and try to gut out the last two reps anyway with flawed technique. It is much safer and effective to simply perform reps until fatigue has set in and before form is compromised.

Being flexible with the amount of sets one performs is wise as well for the same reasons.

Scheduled Routines

The body need a distinct amount of time to recover from every individual workout, regardless of whether routines are fixed or varied. There are a multitude of contributing factors at play, aside from exercise intensity and duration, such as nutrition, stress, and sleep, which occur outside the gym, that affect recovery. These elements are not always easily controlled and homogenized from day to day, so therefore it’s unrealistic to believe one can reliably exercise on a fixed pattern and get optimal results.

When in doubt, I believe it’s better to be cautious and give oneself extra rest so that the body can fully rebuild and be less susceptible to injury. This might mean working out on average once a week or even less frequently.

Scales

Weighing oneself does not provide an accurate indicator of anything remotely meaningful, like how one feels or looks. A scale says nothing about body composition or health and wellbeing. Weight is a vastly overrated statistic for a majority of the population and many people would release a lot of anguish if they no longer tracked it.

The Good

How One Feels

This is above all the most important factor to consider when attempting to get in shape and further one’s fitness. The concept of intuition is often buried because of modern society, but one’s body will tell them all they need to know if they only listen. Being able to identify the difference between muscle fatigue and onset of injury, points of diminishing returns, and adequate recovery are all valuable skills to hone. No amount of data will be able to accurately describe those scenarios; they must be felt.

These days the only information I record about my workouts is which activities I’ve done and how I feel afterward so that I can self-reflect and make adjustments for the next time. The specifics of my routines are for the most part unplanned and I allow myself the flexibility to adjust mid-workout depending on how I’m feeling that day.

Nasal Breathing

If nasal breathing is not possible, I feel that’s a telltale sign I am pushing myself too hard. I stop until I regain control of my breath (and heart rate), then continue with my routine. Read this article for further explanation.

Cool Weather

The ability of the body to regulate its temperature is one of the most relevant and limiting factors in the exercise intensity one can safely achieve. Cool weather allows the body to dissipate heat, which is built up while working out, much more effectively than warm weather. Embrace the cold and be cautious as temperatures rise.

How One Looks

I’m hesitant to include this in “the good” because many people have issues with body dysmorphia, but I do think how one looks a better indicator of progress than say a scale, as long as one is realistic about their appearance and goals.

Conclusion

It has been freeing to work out without the added stress of meeting “magical” numbers. I’ve been better able to avoid injury and add muscle. (I can tell I’ve made gains because my clothes feel tighter and my muscle definition is about as good as it’s ever been.) I also now know that I don’t need to work out as often as I thought I did; I’d been sabotaging myself for years by cutting short my recovery time, thinking I needed to move around briskly at the least every three days.

In short, data-less exercise has been more rewarding in terms of time commitment, output, and enjoyability. I feel many others would also do well to get in touch with their instincts embrace this New Age wave of the future.

Did you know that the horse, generally regarded as one of the most robust animals on the planet, breathes almost exclusively through its nose? It is physically incapable of mouth breathing unless it suffers from an anatomical abnormality. [1][2][3]

Though I learned that tidbit after completing a majority of the research for this article, I think it is a testament that nature has designed mammals with an intent for optimal respiration through the nostrils.

The purpose of this piece is to investigate whether conscious nasal breathing during exercise, specifically that of the anaerobic type, might be beneficial over oronasal or mouth breathing in terms of performance and recovery.

Aerobic exertion relates to my findings as well.

Table of Contents

• The Meathead’s Explanation
• The Enthusiast’s Explanation
• The Know-It-All’s Explanation
• Practical Suggestions
• Concerns
• Related Topics
• References

The Meathead’s Explanation

Working out creates acidity. Acidity creates fatigue. Oxidation neutralizes acidity. Nasal breathing is better at oxidation than mouth breathing. Therefore nasal breathing should in theory reduce fatigue and speed recovery better than mouth breathing.

The Enthusiast’s Explanation

One of the penalties of kinetically induced metabolic excitation (i.e. exercise) is H⁺ and lactate production (the accumulation of which being more marked in the case of intense physical activity).

The buildup of these two byproducts creates acidity which the body wants to balance by raising its pH back up to normal levels. Acidity also inhibits glycolysis, the process by which most energy is generated under anaerobic conditions. These factors contribute to the feeling of fatigue.

The path of least resistance for restoring pH is through hyperventilation, which by definition is when the body expels more carbon dioxide (CO₂) than is produced. Hyperventilation typically occurs through the mouth (and not the nose).

However, a lower pH and higher concentration of CO₂ foster more willing delivery of oxygen throughout the body, as per the Bohr effect. Oxidation by definition offsets reduction (i.e. acidity), and also converts lactate back into pyruvate, a building block of energy production.

By nasal breathing, CO₂ is not dispelled as disparately and though airflow is constricted, limiting the rate at which oxygen can be assimilated into the bloodstream compared to mouth breathing, the oxygen that is inhaled is more efficiently distributed to fatigued tissues which should in theory improve athletic performance and recovery, with practice of the technique.

The Know-It-All’s Explanation

High intensity exercise, which often (but not always) recruits fast-twitch (aka type II) muscle fibers, stimulates glycolysis to synthesize ATP for energy in predominance over oxidative phosphorylation because glycolysis is able to produce ATP at a faster rate to fulfill acute energy demands, though oxidative phosphorylation is the preferential and more cost-efficient pathway of energy production within the body. [4][5][6]

Fermentation (i.e. reduction) of pyruvate to lactate oxidizes NADH back to NAD⁺ for reuse in glycolysis. (Pyruvate and NAHD themselves are products of glycolysis.) NAD⁺ is available in limitation, hence the need to regenerate it. [5][6]

Lactate is thus a byproduct of glycolysis. Hydrolysis of ATP generated by glycolysis releases H⁺ which accumulates in the muscle along with the lactate. [4][6][7]

Some of the H⁺ is buffered in the muscle and some diffuses into the blood in exchange for Na⁺ or along with lactate through monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs). This then decreases pH in the blood (because of the influx of H⁺ and plasma lactate, lowered HCO₃^– concentration, and thus increased amounts of CO₂ from H₂CO₃ dissociation) and as a consequence, the body wants to raise its pH back up to maintain homeostasis. [7] This acidity specifically inhibits phosphofructokinase, an enzyme that catalyzes a key regulatory step of glycolysis, and also impairs the utilization of glucose. [8][9][10][11][12][13] This is partly what causes fatigue and in a way shows the self-regulation of these mechanisms to protect the body from overexertion.

The path of least resistance for raising pH is by eliminating plasma CO₂, which is vaporized in the alveoli and exhaled by the lungs. [7][14] Its dismissal is hastened by hyperventilation, which happens primarily by breathing through the mouth.

This helps restore pH, though CO₂ is essentially displaced as lactate is produced, which is undesirable as lactate is not as synergetic with oxygen in the way carbon dioxide is through the Bohr effect. [14]

Another method by which pH can be leveled is consumption of the glycolytic byproducts, which is advantageous because this produces energy. The protons can be used in cellular respiration and the lactate can be oxidized back to pyruvate for use in metabolic processes as well. [9][15][16][17][18]

As a side note, I find the interconnection here rather elegant; the heart is able to utilize the built up plasma lactate for energy, which thus allows it to pump harder and increase blood flow to tissues that have a pressing need for oxygen. [19][20]

Mouth breathing is advantageous over nasal breathing in that it allows for increased airflow, which lets an individual reach higher levels of exercise intensity presumably because of the combination of higher oxygen consumption and lower carbon dioxide retention, both of which help balance acidity. [1][21][22][23][24] The cost of this is that it is inefficient when compared to nasal breathing due to the Bohr effect, which means energy is wasted to achieve similar results of oxidation and subsequently I would imagine fatigue sets in sooner as this is a stressful state of physiology. [21][25] If maintained, CO₂ concentrations will likely further deplete, making oxygen delivery even poorer, exacerbating the effect, suggesting this is a mechanism to be avoided when possible and used only for short durations.

Therefore nasal breathing is preferential for its energy efficiency which should in theory better promote oxidative metabolism of glycolytic byproducts, increase available ATP, and thus lessen fatigue and speed recovery from athletic endeavors.

Practical Suggestions

I believe there are a few simple takeaways to be gleaned from this science that can easily be applied to improve the efficacy of one’s training.

1. Consciously make an effort to breath through your nose at all times, as in 24/7, to develop mastery of the nasal breathing technique. [26]
2. During high intensity activity, allow yourself frequent breaks to fully regain control of your breathing and allow your heart rate to reset before continuing. Don’t keep pushing while you are winded.
3. Nasal strips can help improve airflow, which appears to be the limiting factor in the exercise intensity one can achieve solely through nose breathing. [1][27][28] (That limiting of intensity could be construed as a positive, however.) Nasal resistance does actually reduce on its own during exercise, too. [29][30]

Concerns

First and foremost, this is undoubtedly a simplified view of energetic processes and I do not claim to have that deep a grasp on the subject matter. There may be mistakes in my understanding and presentation above.

Secondly, I think there is ample evidence that shows mouth breathing allows for a higher respiratory rate than nose breathing. Whether the influx of oxygen or exhalation of carbon dioxide is the more relevant factor, I am not sure, but the increased flow rate of mouth breathing does allow exercise to reach a higher intensity.

However, unless you are a professional athlete and your livelihood hinges upon you sucking for air while putting your body through extreme stress, then do it when necessary, but for the rest of the population, if you are reaching the point where you must breathe through your mouth, I think that’s a sign you are training too hard.

What I am unclear about here though is exactly how oxygen is utilized when mouth breathing becomes a necessity at maximal intensity. It is delivered less efficiently, and I would assume certain metabolic processes take priority over others in terms of needing that oxygen. I am guessing oxidative phosphorylation is preferential over lactate consumption in this situation, which might help explain the lactate paradox. [9][14] This warrants further investigation.

Thirdly, by forcing nasal breathing during high intensity exercise, I have a feeling the body might be exposed to a more acute period of acidity as compared to mouth breathing because of the lower but more efficient ventilatory rate of nasal breathing. By mouth breathing, my hunch is that the body’s pH is restored more gradually as it is the less effective but more voluminous technique. There may be consequences associated with this, if my assumptions are correct.

Related Topics

Altitude

At high altitude, there is a belief that red blood cell production is stimulated to compensate for the relative scarcity of oxygen in the air, and that this is the primary cause for performance gains associated with altitude training. [31][32]

However, others postulate that the positive effects of altitude training are mostly due to other factors, such as an adaptation to a more economic utilization of oxygen. [33] This claim seems to be supported by the lactate paradox, which shows “reduced production of lactic acid at a given work rate at high altitude.” [14] Lactate levels should not be reduced if increased red blood cell mass was the predominant factor in performance increase because carbon dioxide plays such a role in oxygen delivery.

Building one’s tolerance of nasal breathing is probably comparable to physiological adaptations of high altitude.

Baking Soda

Sodium bicarbonate (i.e. baking soda) raises blood pH which helps buffer acidic buildup, delaying the onset of fatigue. [34] (Excessive acidity impairs energetic pathways.) [8][9][10][11][12][13]

It also increases PCO₂, allowing O₂ to be delivered more readily to fatigued muscles because of the Bohr effect, though the increase in pH may initially offset the increase in carbon dioxide concentration, limiting the phenomenon. [34]

Aerobic Exercise

As all this translates to aerobic exercise, the main principle still stands: nasal breathing improves the delivery of oxygen. Oxidative phosphorylation, the preferential metabolic pathway of the body, is more efficient than glycolysis and relies on O₂ availability. Thus, sufficiently supplying an increased demand for oxygen during low intensity activity is important as well.

Those interested in endurance exercise may want to read about lactate threshold and note how it relates to oxidation.

Temperature

Unmentioned here is that metabolic processes create heat. Thus when one exercises, extra energy is spent and body temperature rises. This typically is compensated for by the dissipation of heat through the skin to maintain a functional core temperature. [35] When one’s internal temperature becomes too high, performance suffers (and the risk of serious biological harm onsets). [36]

I have yet to delve deep into the literature on this subject matter, but as it relates to respiration, I think the goal is still ultimately to promote energy efficiency, and excessive heat retention should be viewed as the result of an obstruction, namely the temperature of the outside environment. [37]

It is unclear if there is an optimal ambient temperature for which to exercise, but marathon results show a progression of improved performance all the way down to 41 °F. [38] (Data presumably hasn’t been interpreted below that number.)

My guess would be that the lowest temperature one can tolerate without impediment of motor functioning is the best in terms of maximizing potential.

I am unsure about the relationship between respired air temperature and pulmonary gas exchange (it may again be influenced by the Bohr effect), but nasal breathing warms air better than mouth breathing, though tidal volume lessens with cold air. [39][40][41] Glycogenolysis is also reduced at lower temperatures, suggesting improved oxygenation. [42][43]

Alas, this is a topic for another day.

References

[1]: Hinchcliff KW, Kaneps AJ, Geor RJ. Equine Exercise Physiology, The Science of Exercise in the Athletic Horse. Elsevier Health Sciences; 2008:170.

“Horses maintain nasal breathing, normally, throughout exercise and rely on capacitance vessel constriction and contraction of upper airway dilating muscles to minimize airflow resistance.”

[2]: Holcombe SJ, Derksen FJ, Stick JA, Robinson NE. Effect of bilateral blockade of the pharyngeal branch of the vagus nerve on soft palate function in horses. Am J Vet Res. 1998;59(4):504-8.

“DDSP [(dorsal displacement of the soft palate)] creates flow-limiting expiratory obstruction and may be caused by neuromuscular dysfunction involving the pharyngeal branch of the vagus nerve. It may alter performance by causing expiratory obstruction and by altering breathing strategy in horses.”

[3]: Holcombe SJ. Neuromuscular Regulation of the Larynx and Nasopharynx in the Horse. Proceedings of the Annual Convention of the AAEP. 1998;44:28.

“Based on clinical observation, it has been suspected that horses might open-mouth breathe during episodes of dorsal displacement of the soft palate. Transoral breathing would be a unique feature of this syndrome because horses generally are obligate nasal breathers.”

[4]: Kravitz L. Lactate: Not Guilty as Charged. 2003. Available at: http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/lactate.html. Accessed November 25, 2013.

“Fast-twitch muscle fibers have fewer mitochondria (where cell respiration occurs as well as the uptake of protons) than slow-twitch, or aerobic endurance fibers. Thus, during high-intensity resistance training, because of the extensive use of the fast-twitch fibers (with few mitochondria and less uptake of protons) there is a greater accumulation of protons, causing acidosis.”

“Robergs et al. (2004) show through detailed chemical reactions that lactic acid is not produced in the body. Rather, lactate is the product of a side reaction in glycolysis.”

[5]: Busby R. The Role of Lactate Dehydrogenase in Glycolysis. 1999. Available at: http://www.chem.uwec.edu/webpapers_f99/pages/webpapers_f99/busbyrc/pages/background/background.htm. Accessed November 25, 2013.

“The utility of anaerobic glycolysis to a muscle cell when it needs large amounts of energy stems from the fact that the rate of ATP production from glycolysis is 100 times faster than from oxidative phosphorylation.”

“All cells have plenty of ADP and P_i because these are the hydrolysis products of ATP. However, the amounts of NAD⁺ are limited, and therefore NADH must be oxidized back to NAD⁺.”

[6]: Robergs RA, Ghiasvand F, Parker D. Biochemistry of exercise-induced metabolic acidosis. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2004;287(3):R502-16.

“Every time ATP is broken down to ADP and Pi, a proton is released. When the ATP demand of muscle contraction is met by mitochondrial respiration, there is no proton accumulation in the cell, as protons are used by the mitochondria for oxidative phosphorylation and to maintain the proton gradient in the intermembranous space. It is only when the exercise intensity increases beyond steady state that there is a need for greater reliance on ATP regeneration from glycolysis and the phosphagen system. The ATP that is supplied from these nonmitochondrial sources and is eventually used to fuel muscle contraction increases proton release and causes the acidosis of intense exercise. Lactate production increases under these cellular conditions to prevent pyruvate accumulation and supply the NAD⁺ needed for phase 2 of glycolysis.”

[7]: Péronnet F, Aguilaniu B. Lactic acid buffering, nonmetabolic CO₂ and exercise hyperventilation: a critical reappraisal. Respir Physiol Neurobiol. 2006;150(1):4-18.

“Hydrolysis of ATP generated by glycolysis, rather than glycolysis per se, releases H⁺ in the muscle (Robergs et al., 2004).”

“A portion of the muscle H⁺ load is removed by metabolic and fixed physicochemical buffers, and by the reduction in muscle bicarbonate concentration, while another portion leaves the cell in exchange with Na⁺ or along with lactate through MCTs. Plasma lactate and H⁺ concentration thus increase. Although fixed physicochemical buffers in the blood (Cerretelli and Samaja, 2003) remove a portion of the H⁺ load, plasma pH decreases, reducing the concentration of bicarbonate in the blood, and the CO₂ released appears in the expired gas.”

[8]: Stine ZE, Dang CV. Stress eating and tuning out: Cancer cells re-wire metabolism to counter stress. Crit Rev Biochem Mol Biol. 2013;48(6):609-19.

“A fall in pH also inhibits phosphofructokinase activity. The inhibition of phosphofructokinase by H+ prevents excessive formation of lactic acid (Section 16.1.9) and a precipitous drop in blood pH (acidosis).”

[9]: Phypers B. Lactate physiology in health and disease. Continuing Education in Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain. 2006;6(3):128-132.

“To support an increase in glycolysis, NAD+ from the conversion of pyruvate to lactate, is required. The activity of phosphofructokinase (PFK) is rate limiting.”

“Impairment of oxidative pathways during lactate production results in a net gain of H+ and acidosis occurs. (Oxidative phosphorylation during severe exercise prevents acidosis despite massive lactate production.)”

“Mitochondria-rich tissues such as skeletal and cardiac myocytes and proximal tubule cells remove the rest of the lactate by converting it to pyruvate.”

“With severe exercise, type II myocytes produce large amounts of lactate […] This provides some of the increased cardiac energy requirements (Fig. 4).”

[10]: Peak M, Al-habori M, Agius L. Regulation of glycogen synthesis and glycolysis by insulin, pH and cell volume. Interactions between swelling and alkalinization in mediating the effects of insulin. Biochem J. 1992;282 ( Pt 3):797-805.

“It is concluded that glycogen synthesis and glycolysis are both stimulated by cell swelling and inhibited by acidification, under certain conditions, but glycolysis is more sensitive to inhibition by acidification and glycogen synthesis to stimulation by swelling. Consequently, simultaneous swelling and acidification is associated with inhibition of glycolysis and stimulation of glycogen synthesis. Stimuli that cause swelling and alkalinization activate both glycogen synthesis and glycolysis, alkalinization being more important in control of glycolysis and swelling in control of glycogen synthesis. Both cell swelling and alkalinization are components of the mechanism by which insulin controls glycogen synthesis and glycolysis.”

[11]: Bevington A, Brown J, Pratt A, Messer J, Walls J. Impaired glycolysis and protein catabolism induced by acid in L6 rat muscle cells. Eur J Clin Invest. 1998;28(11):908-17.

“In skeletal muscle, metabolic acidosis stimulates protein degradation and oxidation of branched-chain amino acids. This could occur to compensate for impairment of glucose utilization induced by acid.”

[12]: Uchida K, Matuse R, Toyoda E, Okuda S, Tomita S. A new method of inhibiting glycolysis in blood samples. Clin Chim Acta. 1988;172(1):101-8.

“The maintenance of hydrogen ion concentration in blood samples at pH 5.3-5.9 immediately inhibits glycolysis. This effect is due to the inhibition of all glycolytic enzymes, as shown by measurement of various glycolytic intermediates.”

[13]: Rovetto MJ, Lamberton WF, Neely JR. Mechanisms of glycolytic inhibition in ischemic rat hearts. Circ Res. 1975;37(6):742-51.

“The major factors that accounted for the glycolytic inhibition in the ischemic heart compared with the anoxic heart appeared to be higher tissue levels of lactate and H+ in the ischemic tissue. […] It is concluded that accumulation of lactate represents a major factor in the inhibition of glycolysis that develops in ischemic hearts.”

[14]: Peat R. Altitude and Mortality. 2006. Available at: http://raypeat.com/articles/aging/altitude-mortality.shtml. Accessed November 25, 2013.

“Lactate paradox: The reduced production of lactic acid at a given work rate at high altitude. Muscle work efficiency may be 50% greater at high altitude. ATP wastage is decreased.”

“The idea of the “oxygen debt” produced by exercise or stress as being equivalent to the accumulation of lactic acid is far from accurate, but it’s true that activity increases the need for oxygen, and also increases the tendency to accumulate lactic acid, which can then be disposed of over an extended time, with the consumption of oxygen. This relationship between work and lactic acidemia and oxygen deficit led to the term “lactate paradox” to describe the lower production of lactic acid during maximal work at high altitude when people are adapted to the altiude. Carbon dioxide, retained through the Haldane effect, accounts for the lactate paradox, by inhibiting cellular excitation and sustaining oxidative metabolism to consume lactate efficiently.”

“The loss of carbon dioxide from the lungs in the presence of high oxygen pressure, the shift toward alkalosis, by the Bohr-Haldane effect increases the blood’s affinity for oxygen, and restricts its delivery to the tissues, but because of the abundance of oxygen in the lungs, the blood is almost completely saturated with oxygen.”

“At high altitude, the slight tendency toward carbon dioxide-retention acidosis decreases the blood’s affinity for oxygen, making it more available to the tissues. It happens that lactic acid also affects the blood’s oxygen affinity, though not as strongly as carbon dioxide. However, lactic acid doesn’t vaporize as the blood passes through the lungs, so its effect on the lungs’ ability to oxygenate the blood is the opposite of the easily exchangeable carbon dioxide’s. Besides dissociating oxygen from hemoglobin, lactate also displaces carbon dioxide from its (carbamino) binding sites on hemoglobin. If it does this in hemoglobin, it probably does it in many other places in the body.”

[15]: Brooks GA. The lactate shuttle during exercise and recovery. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1986;18(3):360-8.

“Most (75%+) of the lactate formed during sustained, steady-rate exercise is removed by oxidation during exercise, and only a minor fraction (approximately 20%) is converted to glucose.”

“Of the lactate which appears in blood, most of this will be removed and combusted by oxidative (muscle) fibers in the active bed and the heart.”

“However, as the muscle respiratory rate declines in recovery, lactate becomes the preferred substrate for hepatic gluconeogenesis. Practically all of the newly formed liver glucose will be released into the circulation to serve as a precursor for cardiac and skeletal muscle glycogen repletion. Liver glycogen depots will not be restored, and muscle glycogen will not be completely restored until refeeding.”

[16]: Brooks GA. Mammalian fuel utilization during sustained exercise. Comp Biochem Physiol B, Biochem Mol Biol. 1998;120(1):89-107.

“The concept of a ‘lactate shuttle’ is that during hard exercise, as well as other conditions of accelerated glycolysis, glycolytic flux in muscle involves lactate formation regardless of the state of oxygenation. Further, according to the lactate shuttle concept, lactate represents a major means of distributing carbohydrate potential energy for oxidation and gluconeogenesis. In humans and other mammals, the formation, distribution and disposal of lactate (not pyruvate) represent key steps in the regulation of intermediary metabolism during sustained exercise.”

[17]: Mazzeo RS, Brooks GA, Schoeller DA, Budinger TF. Disposal of blood [1-13C]lactate in humans during rest and exercise. J Appl Physiol. 1986;60(1):232-41.

“It was concluded that, in humans, 1) lactate disposal (turnover) rate is directly related to the metabolic rate, 2) oxidation is the major fate of lactate removal during exercise, and 3) blood lactate concentration is not an accurate indicator of lactate disposal and oxidation.”

[18]: Brooks GA. Cell-cell and intracellular lactate shuttles. J Physiol (Lond). 2009;587(Pt 23):5591-600.

“Lactate is actively oxidized at all times, especially during exercise when oxidation accounts for 70–75% of removal and gluconeogenesis for most of the remainder. Working skeletal muscle both produces and uses lactate as a fuel, with much of the lactate formed in glycolytic fibres being taken up and oxidized in adjacent oxidative fibres. Because it is more reduced that its keto-acid analogue, sequestration and oxidation of lactate to pyruvate affects cell redox state, both promoting energy flux and signalling cellular events.”

[19]: Prestwich KN. Removal of Lactic Acid — Oxidation and Gluconeogenesis. 2003. Available at: http://college.holycross.edu/faculty/kprestwi/exphys/lecture/ExPhysEx2Lect_pdf/ExPhys_03_M08_lac_remove.pdf. Accessed November 25, 2013.

“It is as if aerobic glycolysis started in the muscle and finished in the heart.”

[20]: Børsheim E, Bahr R. Effect of exercise intensity, duration and mode on post-exercise oxygen consumption. Sports Med. 2003;33(14):1037-60.

“In the recovery period after exercise there is an increase in oxygen uptake termed the ‘excess post-exercise oxygen consumption’ (EPOC), consisting of a rapid and a prolonged component.”

[21]: Morton AR, King K, Papalia S, Goodman C, Turley KR, Wilmore JH. Comparison of maximal oxygen consumption with oral and nasal breathing. Aust J Sci Med Sport. 1995;27(3):51-5.

“The percentage decrease in maximal ventilation with nose-only breathing compare to mouth and mouth plus nose breathing was three times the percentage decrease in maximal oxygen consumption. The pattern of nose-only breathing at maximal work showed a small reduction in tidal volume and large reduction in breathing frequency. Nasal breathing resulted in a reduction in FEO₂ and an increase in FECO₂. While breathing through the nose-only, all subjects could attain a work intensity great enough to produce an aerobic training effect (based on heart rate and percentage of VO₂ max).”

[22]: Niinimaa V, Cole P, Mintz S, Shephard RJ. The switching point from nasal to oronasal breathing. Respir Physiol. 1980;42(1):61-71.

“Twenty of the 30 subjects (normal augmenters) switched from nasal to oronasal breathing at submaximal exercise[…]”

[23]: Tanaka Y, Morikawa T, Honda Y. An assessment of nasal functions in control of breathing. J Appl Physiol. 1988;65(4):1520-4.

“Dead space and airway resistance were significantly greater during nose than during mouth breathing.”

“It is suggested that a loss of nasal functions, such as during nasal obstruction, may result in lowering of CO₂, fostering apneic spells during sleep.”

[24]: Tanaka Y, Honda Y. Nasal obstruction as a cause of reduced PCO₂ and disordered breathing during sleep. J Appl Physiol. 1989;67(3):970-2.

“End-tidal PCO₂ during nose-obstructed sleep was lower than that during nose-open sleep in all of the subjects.”

[25]: Hall RL. Energetics of nose and mouth breathing, body size, body composition, and nose volume in young adult males and females. Am J Hum Biol. 2005;17(3):321-30.

“Nose breathing was found to be more energetically efficient in most but not all subjects, but additional research is needed to explore this finding further.”

[26]: Thomas S. A., Phillips, V., Mock, C., Lock, M., Cox, G. and Baxter, J. (2009) The effects of nasal breathing on exercise tolerance. Liverpool conference centre: Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Annual Congress 2009, Liverpool conference centre, 16th and 17th October 2009.

“Nasal breathing was possible at 85% of maximum workload suggesting that people are capable of nose breathing at much higher intensities than they would normally chose to do, suggesting a potential for nose breathing training interventions even with normal healthy individuals.”

[27]: Geor RJ, Ommundson L, Fenton G, Pagan JD. Effects of an external nasal strip and frusemide on pulmonary haemorrhage in Thoroughbreds following high-intensity exercise. Equine Vet J. 2001;33(6):577-84.

“The external nasal strip appears to lower the metabolic cost of supramaximal exertion in horses.”

[28]: Tong TK, Fu FH, Chow BC. Nostril dilatation increases capacity to sustain moderate exercise under nasal breathing condition. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2001;41(4):470-8.

“Exercise time to exhaustion in NBFNS [(nasal breathing with fake nasal strip)] trial, which was 23.6+/-6.7% less than the CON [(oronasal breathing)] value, increased 31.9+/-12.3% under NBENDS [(nasal breathing with external nasal dilator strip)] condition. [….] Nasal breathing reduces the sustainability of moderate exercise measured under oronasal breathing condition. Nostril dilatation increases the capacity to sustain moderate exercise under nasal breathing condition.”

[29]: Olson LG, Strohl KP. The response of the nasal airway to exercise. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1987;135(2):356-9.

“Exercise causes a fall in nasal resistance that may be due to sympathetic vasoconstriction in the nasal mucosa.”

[30]: Fregosi RF, Lansing RW. Neural drive to nasal dilator muscles: influence of exercise intensity and oronasal flow partitioning. J Appl Physiol. 1995;79(4):1330-7.

“The results suggest that during incremental exercise 1) changes in AN EMG activities are highly correlated with changes in nasal VI, 2) turbulent flow in the nose may be the stimulus for the switch to oronasal breathing so that total pulmonary resistance is minimized, and 3) the correlation between nasal airflow and neural drive to the AN muscles is probably mediated by mechanisms that monitor airway resistance.”

[31]: Levine BD, Stray-gundersen J. Point: positive effects of intermittent hypoxia (live high:train low) on exercise performance are mediated primarily by augmented red cell volume. J Appl Physiol. 2005;99(5):2053-5.

[32]: Chapman R, Levine BD. Altitude Training for the Marathon. Sports Medicine. 2007;37(4):392-395.

“While the results of many early studies on the use of altitude training for sea level performance enhancement have produced equivocal results, newer studies using the ‘live high, train low’ altitude training model have demonstrated significant improvements in red cell mass, maximal oxygen uptake, oxygen uptake at ventilatory threshold, and 3000m and 5000m race time.”

[33]: Gore CJ, Hopkins WG. Counterpoint: positive effects of intermittent hypoxia (live high:train low) on exercise performance are not mediated primarily by augmented red cell volume. J Appl Physiol. 2005;99(5):2055-7.

[34]: Singer RB, Deering RC, Clark JK. The acute effects in man of a rapid intravenous infusion of hypertonic sodium bicarbonate solution. II. Changes in respiration and output of carbon dioxide. J Clin Invest. 1956;35(2):245-53.

“During the infusion of sodium bicarbonate, arterial pH, arterial and alveolar PCO₂, total ventilation, and rate of elimination of CO₂ were significantly increased above control levels.”

“Following the infusion, the rate of CO₂ elimination returned to the control level, but arterial pH was still elevated despite a steady fall toward the control range.”

[35]: Maughan RJ. Temperature regulation during marathon competition. Br J Sports Med. 1984;18(4):257-60.

“During hard physical exercise, metabolic rate may rise 10 or 15-fold, and this rate of heat production may be sustained for several hours. For the exercising individual, therefore, cold exposure does not normally represent a serious challenge to the body’s homeostatic mechanisms, but the problems of heat loss when exercising at a high ambient temperature may be acute.”

“It is also important to remember that, although it is the core body temperature which is regulated, it is the temperature of the skin relative to that of the environment which determines whether heat is gained or lost.”

[36]: González-alonso J, Teller C, Andersen SL, Jensen FB, Hyldig T, Nielsen B. Influence of body temperature on the development of fatigue during prolonged exercise in the heat. J Appl Physiol. 1999;86(3):1032-9.

“These results demonstrate that high internal body temperature per se causes fatigue in trained subjects during prolonged exercise in uncompensable hot environments. Furthermore, time to exhaustion in hot environments is inversely related to the initial temperature and directly related to the rate of heat storage.”

[37]: El helou N, Tafflet M, Berthelot G, et al. Impact of environmental parameters on marathon running performance. PLoS ONE. 2012;7(5):e37407.

“Air temperature is the most important factor influencing marathon running performance for runners of all levels.”

[38]: Ely MR, Cheuvront SN, Roberts WO, Montain SJ. Impact of weather on marathon-running performance. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2007;39(3):487-93.

“There is a progressive slowing of marathon performance as the WBGT [(Wet Bulb Globe Temperature)] increases from 5 to 25 degrees C. This seems true for men and women of wide ranging abilities, but performance is more negatively affected for slower populations of runners.”

[39]: Paczesny D, Rapiejko P, Weremczuk J, Jachowicz R, Jurkiewicz D. [Air temperature measurements in nasal cavities and oral cavity]. Otolaryngol Pol. 2007;61(5):864-7.

“The air inspired through the nose and oral cavity is heated during respiration. For typical external conditions (T = 22 degrees C i RH = 50%) the nose heats inspired air 1,5 times better then oral cavity (short time range of measurement approximately 1 min.). Heat from expired air is recovered for both nasal cavities and oral cavity. Nasal cavities respiration ability for heat recovery from expired air is 3 times higher then oral cavity respiration.”

[40]: Burgess KR, Whitelaw WA. Effects of nasal cold receptors on pattern of breathing. J Appl Physiol. 1988;64(1):371-6.

“The results confirm the previous observation that cold air breathed through the nose inhibits ventilation in normal subjects and show that this is not related to an increase in flow resistance.”

[41]: Keck T, Lindemann J. Numerical simulation and nasal air-conditioning. GMS Curr Top Otorhinolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2010;9:Doc08.

“Heating and humidification of the respiratory air are the main functions of the nasal airways in addition to cleansing and olfaction. Optimal nasal air conditioning is mandatory for an ideal pulmonary gas exchange in order to avoid desiccation and adhesion of the alveolar capillary bed.”

[42]: Febbraio MA, Snow RJ, Stathis CG, Hargreaves M, Carey MF. Blunting the rise in body temperature reduces muscle glycogenolysis during exercise in humans. Exp Physiol. 1996;81(4):685-93.

“These results suggest that glycogenolysis in contracting skeletal muscle is reduced during exercise when the rise in body core temperature is attenuated. These changes in carbohydrate metabolism appear to be influenced by alterations in muscle temperature and/or sympatho-adrenal activity.”

[43]: Febbraio MA, Snow RJ, Hargreaves M, Stathis CG, Martin IK, Carey MF. Muscle metabolism during exercise and heat stress in trained men: effect of acclimation. J Appl Physiol. 1994;76(2):589-97.

“Muscle glycogenolysis and percentage of type I muscle fibers showing glycogen depletion were greater (P < 0.05) in the PRE ACC [(40 degrees C and 20% relative humidity before acclimation)] than in the RTT [(20 degrees C and 20% relative humidity)] trial.”

In my quest to increase my physical fitness (i.e. look good without a shirt on), I’ve dabbled with various diets and exercise regiments over the years. Today, I’ll be discussing a new training routine I’m experimenting with and intend to document for effectiveness.

My Fitness Background

I started working out for the first time freshman year of college after noticing my buddy Conor eccentrically doing calisthenics by himself in our dormitory common area from time to time as his daily training session for the crew (rowing) team. I never knew how to work out, and desperately wanted to drop my scrawny physique, so I joined in with him one fateful evening and learned all about the wonderful world of sofa dips, bunny hops, and prison squats.

Using these newfound movements along with other bodyweight movements gathered from online tutorials I pieced together a routine I would perform in retrospect way too frequently in efforts to get a six-pack. I’ve kept up with mostly bodyweight exercises spliced with various forms of cardio (running, biking, jumping rope) throughout the years.

I have used machines when a gym has been readily available to me and more recently free weights to augment the force of gravity.

My goals behind increasing my fitness levels have been threefold; to become better at sports (tennis), to have an able body (for daily life), and to increase my aesthetic appeal (sup, ladies).

At the present moment, I am taking much more precaution to be smart with my workouts and minimize my risk of injury. Thus, I’ve eschewed any heavy lifting (squats, dead lifts, presses) at the recommendation of Michael Allen Smith. I have seen results from those lifts, but I realize at a only quarter-century old that I’m young and without perfect technique (which I do not possess and would not be able to maintain) I put myself in danger of slowly and abruptly hurting myself. Bodyweight exercises have been pretty gentle to my joints for the most part, so I’m going back to them… with a bit of a twist.

A New Theory

I stumbled across MAS’s article on high intensity training (HIT) a couple weeks ago and was very much intrigued by the notion.

Ever since I started doing resistance exercise, my only objectives have either been to hit a certain number of reps, or pump out reps until fatigue sets in and another repetition isn’t possible.

Over time I’ve become more and more convinced that performing (three) sets until fatigue or failure with low repetitions (in the 6-ish range) is key for gaining muscle mass and strength. But I never really considered any different ways in which one could reach exhaustion while keeping repetitions to a minimum. My only thoughts (and conventional wisdom) were to use weights to increase the opposing load. Throw more plates on the barbell your maximum number of repetitions will naturally be decreased.

An alternative to this is increasing tension. For example, wide-grip chin-ups are much more difficult to perform than standard shoulder-width chin-ups. No extra weight has been added (the load is still the same), but the angle between the grip points and your dangling body is greater, thus requiring more work to pull your body upward.

See this PDF for a simple mathematical explanation. Let’s say you weigh 75 kg (about 165 lbs). By placing your chin-up grip at shoulder width, a 0° (or 180°) angle between your hands and shoulders, each arm is bearing a tension of 367.5 N. Slide your grip out 15° and the tension on each arm becomes 380.5 N. At 30°, the force becomes 424.4 N, and at 45° it escalates to 519.7 N. As you can see, the tension quickly increases as you widen your group.

At a 45° angle, this would be the equivalent of doing a standard shoulder-width chin-up with 31 kg or 68.3 lbs of weight strapped to you. And the beautiful thing is as you gain mass, the difficulty will naturally increase as well.

This same theory can be applied for push-ups and dips as well. Push-up tension can be controlled by planting your hands varying distances apart, or with elevated feet. Dip tension can be controlled using two moveable sawhorses as anchors rather than dip bars which are usually unadjustable.

A final way to increase the intensity of a movement is to perform it slowly. It’s much more difficult to perform 1 pull-up for 1 minute than to perform 1 pull-up for 1 second. Try it if you are skeptical, or watch this video. The load is being more evenly applied to all moments of the movement, rather than predominantly at the top and bottom.

With these two realization in hand, that increasing tension and controlling movement are tools that essentially mimic the intensity of heavier loads, yet can be performed with more reckless abandon and less risk of injury, I theorized a new workout plan.

The Plan

Before I delve into the nitty-gritty, I think it’s important to mention that a commonality you may notice throughout this plan is that I prefer to do the most challenging movements first, then transition into the easier ones. My rationale behind this goes back to the idea that heavy lifts lead to the biggest gains. My goal here is to build strength and put on muscle, hence I want to be able to perform each movement, especially the difficult ones, as intensely as possible.

Another thing to note is that I only target one section of my body each time I exercise. I have tried doing all-around body workouts but have found it more effective to focus on one muscle group at a time, and I will only do each workout about once a week with rare days of successive resistance training.

(Cardio on the other hand I’ll throw in whenever I feel like it. Fatigued muscles need time to recover though.)

In the name of HIT, all movements are performed slowly unless otherwise noted.

Upper Body Workout

I perform these three exercises in succession about once a week (whenever I feel I have sufficiently absorbed the previous session).

1. Towel Pull-Ups

I begin with towel pull-ups which I picked up from this guy. It’s taken a couple months of practice to get my grip strength where it needs to be, but I’m glad I’ve stuck with it. Towel pull-ups work your grip, wrists, and forearms much more than normal pull-ups or chin-ups, which improves the efficiency of the movement (in my opinion). More muscles are worked and all are worked more intensely (the instability of the towel adds a degree of difficulty).

I use a set of monkey bars and first position two towels as far apart to the point where I can at least hang for a few seconds (but I am incapable of doing a pull-up). I’m mainly trying to start engaging and burning out my arms. I then drop once I can hang no longer, catch my breath, maybe take a sip of water or slurp of honey, move one of the towels inward one rung, then start again, this time going for as many controlled pull-ups as possible (which might only be like two or three). Once again, I hang as long as possible (after I become too fatigued to perform another repetition), then drop.

I repeat this, moving the towels closer and closer together until I am left gripping 1 towel with both hands. When on 1 towel, I alternate sticking my head to the left and right of the bar on ascension.

That whole progression is done once, then I am on to the next movement: dips.

Note: If you are a newbie, I’d practice doing regular chin-ups or pull-ups first, then work your way to the towel. When beginning with the towel, it’s probably smart to just grab and hold on as long as possible. Don’t even worry about doing the pull-up motion; you need to improve your grip strength first.

2. Dips

I’m still experimenting with dips to find the right chain of difficulty (the towel pull-up sequence has felt quite effective thus far), but here is what I will likely try the next time I work my upper body.

Similarly to the towel pull-ups, I’ll position two sawhorses as far apart but to the point where I can safely do controlled dips, hold as long as possible once I hit the bottom of the movement and am too fatigued to force myself back up, then drop. Catch my breath, move the sawhorses slightly closer together, and repeat.

On the last go, when the sawhorses can no longer be moved closer together, I will let my feet touch the ground to bear some of my weight, allowing myself to do a few bonus reps.

Previously I had tried a series of ring dips to bar dips to bar dips with my feet touching the ground, and also a weird progression of sawhorse dips where I had them spread apart and worked each arm separately, but I wasn’t all that happy with either of those experiments.

The only issue is that the sawhorses I have aren’t that tall, so I have to be careful to keep my feet from touching the ground, which takes away my concentration from the important parts of the movement. I have parallel bars at my disposal which are higher off the ground and remove the problem of height, but they can’t be adjusted further apart (which I am doing to increase tension).

Weighted dips would be another option (and might be safer than the widened dips).

3. Push-Ups

I conclude my upper body workout with the old standby, push-ups. I actually refrained from performing push-ups for a number of years due to an elbow injury. I can do them safely for the most part now, but do need to be careful with my positioning.

Anyway, I start by elevating my feet on a bench and performing as many slow, controlled push-ups as I can (which is only a few after doing the pull-ups and dips). I hold at the bottom of the push-up once I cannot go up again, then collapse.

I catch my breath, position my feet ground-level this time, and repeat. Finally, I then do a set with my knees on the ground (i.e. non-male push-ups), duplicating the same aforementioned technique.

This has been a challenging movement to perform at the end of the workout and has always given me a good burn. Still, I may experiment with hand positioning in the future (as I have been keeping my hands in a fixed position).

Lower Body Workout

To be honest, I’m still tinkering with the following movements to see what works best for me. I haven’t yet found a combination of exercises and techniques that I feel are all safe and sufficiently challenge my leg muscles.

I target my legs on average every 7 days.

1. Hill Sprints

I find a steep hill (preferably grass and about a tenth of a mile long), sprint up, and walk down. I repeat the up and down part until I’m too exhausted.

This is one of my favorite exercises because it’s safe and challenging. There really isn’t much more to say about hill sprints; just be sure to walk down!

2. Wall Sits

This movement was recently added to my repertoire after reading MAS’s low risk alternatives to the squat. I’ve only done it a few times now, and though it has yielded a strong burn mid-exercise, I haven’t felt much soreness post-exercise (which I associate with muscle growth) and coincidentally have experienced some knee pain in the days afterwards. I am not sure if the discomfort can be attributed to this or another movement performed during those same workout routines.

Anyway, what I have been doing is sitting with my back flat against a wall and my knees at a 90° angle while holding a pair of dumbbells by my side. I try to keep the weight toward my heels and hold the position as long as I can.

Once I burn out, I catch my breath, then switch to a pair of dumbbells that are about half the weight of the previous ones. Again, I hold until failure. Finally, I repeat with no dumbbells.

The first time I attempted wall sits I used no added weight and it took forever to feel anything in my legs. It got to the point where it become tortuous to wait so long to feel anything, so that’s why I added weights. I want all my sets to be fairly quick.

What I will likely try next time is sitting at different angles and sticking with the heavier dumbbells the entire time. Instead of sitting at 90° the whole time, I’ll start off at 60°, then initialize at 75°, then 90°, 105°, and finally 120°.

(Can someone send me a protractor?)

3. Goblet Squats

I’ve experimented with these in similar manner to the wall sits (by starting off holding a dumbbell and transitioning to no dumbbell by the third set), but results have been iffy. I have been performing them under a very controlled and deliberate manner, as described here.

I will say there have been times when I have felt some real tension in my legs, but it is hard to pinpoint the moments when I feel the burn. Much of the movement feels wasted to me. What I may do is try limiting the range of motion. A wider stance and heavier dumbbells (throughout) might help as well.

Abdominal Workout

I specifically target my abs in efforts of maintaining a six-pack. Many sources will tell you that getting visible abs is all about maintaining a low body fat percentage, but I feel it’s also important to pump up your abdominal muscles as well if you want them to show with any gusto.

Like the other two workouts, I target my abs about once per week.

1. Hanging Leg Raises

I’ve been doing a variation of these for several months now that has been pretty good to me. I hang from a bar, grab a dumbbell with my feet, then raise my knees up towards my chest, touch my left knee to my right elbow, lower my legs, then raise them again and touch my right knee to my left elbow. Repeat ad nauseam, dropping the weight as needed mid-set, for three sets.

This worked pretty well doing herky-jerky movements, but I’ve noticed an issue trying to slow down the movement: my arms tire out before my abs.

I’m not sure if there is a fix to this other than keeping at it and seeing if my arms get used to hanging that long. Also, I can try to schedule my ab workouts midway between my upper body workouts so my arms are fresher and don’t fatigue so quickly.

Otherwise I may skip the HIT protocol for these. I think hanging leg raises are great and I want to keep doing them.

2. L-Sits

Typically I hold myself up with either rings or parallel bars and again secure a dumbbell with my feet to provide extra resistance. I try to maintain an L (or some semblance of one) for as long as possible, three times (with breaks in-between).

This has worked to some success, though I need to experiment with pulling my knees to my chest and freezing them there. Essentially I am looking for static abdominal holds.

Other than those two exercises, that’s all I do ab-wise. I used to do rollouts with an EZ curl bar (and then an ab wheel once I bought one), but I feel rollout devices are kind of dangerous as the movement can put a lot of strain on your body. Variations of hanging leg raises are where it’s at in my opinion. I don’t like crunches because they are too easy (it’s like comparing light jogging to sprinting).

Supplementary Exercises

My primary goal right now is to put on muscle, which requires special attention as an ectomorph. However, I do other activities such as jumping rope, biking, running, playing tennis, and trampolining when I feel like it.

Stretching is also important to me; after a strenuous workout (especially one that involves cardio) I make sure to do a full body stretch, which takes about 20 minutes. Pre-workout I only do warmup movements (no static stretches), but afterwards I feel stretching is great to increase flexibility and prevent future injuries.

Conclusion

I have no idea how long I will continue with this regiment or whether it will even be effective, but the logic behind it all excites me and I will definitely give it a fair shake. As long as I listen to my body and make tweaks to the blueprint along the way, the experiment should be successful.

If this article inspired you to try any of the exercises I listed, please be careful and alert for signs of pain. If you’re hurting, aside from muscle soreness, you’re doing something wrong.

And finally, remember: what works for me might not work for you.