#101 - Looking to boost your running performance with the power of breath? Let's venture on a conversational journey with Mike Bennet, the Scientific and Partnership Manager at Airofit, a man whose unique background in semi-professional rugby sparked a passion for running.
Mike enlightens us on the game-changing role of respiratory muscle training for runners, revealing how this training aids in increasing physiological potential and inspiratory pressure. He opens the book on Airofit's solution and how they are revolutionizing runners' training experiences. And if you've ever struggled with 'hitting the wall' during half marathons, Mike's insights could be your much-needed breakthrough!
Topics Covered:
Transition to nasal breathing with practical tips and training
Benefits of nasal breathing beyond just better performance
How Airofit is revolutionizing this space with their Respiratory Muscle Training solution
Today's Guest Mike Bennet
Mike Bennet, scientific and partnership manager at Airofit, which is a respiratory muscle training company, or they provide solutions for respiratory muscle training
“Inspire to Run Podcast is truly inspiring!” <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people — just like you — move toward the healthy life that they desire. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!
#101 - Looking to boost your running performance with the power of breath? Let's venture on a conversational journey with Mike Bennet, the Scientific and Partnership Manager at Airofit, a man whose unique background in semi-professional rugby sparked a passion for running.
Mike enlightens us on the game-changing role of respiratory muscle training for runners, revealing how this training aids in increasing physiological potential and inspiratory pressure. He opens the book on Airofit's solution and how they are revolutionizing runners' training experiences. And if you've ever struggled with 'hitting the wall' during half marathons, Mike's insights could be your much-needed breakthrough!
Topics Covered:
Transition to nasal breathing with practical tips and training
Benefits of nasal breathing beyond just better performance
How Airofit is revolutionizing this space with their Respiratory Muscle Training solution
Today's Guest Mike Bennet
Mike Bennet, scientific and partnership manager at Airofit, which is a respiratory muscle training company, or they provide solutions for respiratory muscle training
“Inspire to Run Podcast is truly inspiring!” <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people — just like you — move toward the healthy life that they desire. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!
Hi, my friend. Do you find yourself having trouble breathing, especially during physical activity, or feel like you can improve your breathing and performance? Well, today we're going to talk about the importance of respiratory muscle training, how it can help you in your everyday life and running, and the tools available to help you with this type of training. Hope you enjoy.
Speaker 2:
Welcome to Inspire to Run Podcast. Here you will find inspiration, whether you are looking to take control of your health and fitness or you are a seasoned runner looking for community and some extra motivation. You will hear inspiring stories from amazing runners, along with helpful tips from fitness experts. Now here's your host, richard Connor.
Speaker 1:
Hi everyone, welcome to Inspire to Run Podcast. Today I have the pleasure of sitting down with Mike Bennett, who is the Scientific and Partnership Manager at AeroFit, which is a respiratory muscle training company. They provide solutions for respiratory muscle training. This is a real interest of mine because runners and athletes are looking for a variety of ways to improve their performance, whether it's through their training, through nutrition or gear. This is a topic that's near and dear to my heart because this respiratory muscle training is really interesting, just kind of, given my own performance and my run, really excited to spend a few minutes with Mike to learn about him and AeroFit and how they can help the running community. Welcome to the show, mike.
Speaker 3:
Thank you very much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, for sure, Mike. You've got a great background and also love to hear about AeroFit. Let's just kind of get the conversation started and learn a little bit about you, maybe a little bit about professionally as well as personally in your athletic journey.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, for sure we can start back in New Zealand, which is actually where I'm from, currently living in Denmark working for AeroFit. My background is quite a unique one in the perspective of running. I studied exercise, physiology and anatomy at the University of Otago. Upon graduation, just like any New Zealander, I got itchy feet and decided to explore the world. I told my mom that I'll be back in six to 12 months, and that was seven years ago. Sorry, mom. Along the way, I started playing semi-professional rugby in England, which is where I kind of really developed a love for running. Like any university student, I was partying a bit more than I was training. When I got into the kind of higher leagues in England, I really discovered that my fitness was there or thereabouts. But if I was to pursue that higher level I really had to step into the domain of running and step out my fitness. That kind of took a bigger ownership of my life.
Speaker 1:
That's really interesting. It's funny because a number of the guests that come on the show will run, but typically is secondary to some other sport, whether it's rugby or other sports. That's really interesting. It's kind of common there, yeah, and it's great that you're able to move for your career and just in life. That's something I've always wanted to do throughout my career but never took the chance to do it. I don't know if that time has passed for me, but I'll live vicariously through you.
Speaker 3:
There's always opportunity to travel in the modern age.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, for sure. So kind of take us from there. That was kind of introduction to running. Tell us a little bit of running and I know there's a connection there also with how you joined ArrowFit to tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 3:
Yeah. So upon the realization that I was going to stay in the lower leagues of rugby, near of a really correct the full professional, I decided to look for opportunities elsewhere that really fell into kind of the professional domain where I moved to Denmark. So currently living in Denmark and working for ArrowFit. Arrowfit was essentially a gate for me to get more into running. So I was originally fit and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:
But I found limiting factors and, being quite a bigger guy from that rugby background, my lungs are often overworked. So by using ArrowFit daily because I'm working here, I need to use it daily. And then it kind of opened the door for me to be able to pursue longer runs as well as shorter, more in high intensity runs. And this has really like changed my relationship with running. Before I was very I love the word Kinesiophobia, which is that fear of movement. I wasn't in that kind of extreme, but I was really knowing if I'm going to run a 10k my lungs are going to be burning and it's a very uncomfortable feeling. So through using ArrowFit I've really progressed in my running to that longer duration.
Speaker 1:
Hmm, I love that and this is this is what I want to get into. You know, just personally, I've been a runner since high school. Then I took a number of years off and then started running just a few years ago. But really training I'm just the last three or four years and I feel like my body feels good when I'm doing my runs, whether it's a 5k or 10k or maybe a little bit longer than I know half marathon, everything hurts, but you know, below that, you know my body feels pretty good, but my breathing, I feel, is really what challenges me or holds me back.
Speaker 1:
So, you know, I've done a variety of training in terms of, like, hill work and speed work and really kind of mixing it up. But this is an area that I feel like I need to focus on and I'm thinking about for a community, whether they're not running today and, like you said, if they, if they're moving and they feel winded, they're thinking. Well, you know, if I run, that's really gonna hurt. Or even for runners that are looking to improve their performance. This is a really interesting topic.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, for sure. And I'm gonna kind of go back to something you really mentioned that a lot of runners do is hill work. So for a run yourself, you do hill work in order to become more efficient. Running flag around, correct, yeah? So that's not too dissimilar to how I describe error for it as a tool for runners. So if you can overload the respiratory system, you're gonna become so much more efficient when you're under less resistance while running.
Speaker 1:
Got it. Got it. So, like, how does that work? Tell us a little bit about the technology and you know what. What does someone do with this, with your products?
Speaker 3:
Yeah for sure. So here I like to kind of mention as a three step process. The first step is taking a lung test. The lung test consists of your accessible lung capacity, your inspiratory and expiratory pressures or your one remax how strong you actually are and then, based on that, you're gonna track over time your improvements, just like running a 5k. You're gonna see changes in how fast you are.
Speaker 3:
With this, you're gonna see how strong your lungs are. Based upon these measures, as well as your metrics age, height, weight and what else goes into your kind of build up, you are going to be able to then have a unique training style for you. So once you have the kind of foundation or the test, we then take that, your goals, and then we give you a training program. So the training program consists of a unique breathing pattern. We have around 17 of them in the app and this is quite similar to like box breathing, circle breathing and controlled hyperventilation, but what we offer is that against resistance. So, on the device itself, we have six levels of inhalation as well as exhalation, and you're gonna go through breathing patterns and focus on inspiratory, expiratory strength or things such as a epoxy or breath holds, and what this is gonna do is train your respiratory system to be more efficient, and where that really matters is, as you mentioned, in the heart, mouth on. When your lungs are screaming, your body screaming.
Speaker 1:
Okay, okay, so this is a training program that I'm going to do for a certain period of time. Is it something that you know? Is it like your daily vitamins? You just do it every day, like how does that part work?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, so what we've done is we've kind of put each program into a 28 day training block. So a bit of periodization, and the training changes every day. The app guides you through exactly what you need to do and it starts off around three to five minutes a day and that's broken down into two sessions so you can just jump on in the morning, do one year sessions, go about your day than do another one just before bed and you kind of splitting your training into two small cohorts and into 20 into your daily life.
Speaker 1:
And you know, and I love that because you know, one of the things that at least we talk about here is kind of around like those habits, right so, whether it's your habit of doing your workouts and your runs or other habits in your life, so having something that is daily, that you could stick to for a specified period of time, that's definitely, you know, doable for any of us who are just kind of used to getting into those types of routines. And does it matter? So, like right now, I'm training for my half marathon, my next half marathon, which is about six weeks away, so a little bit over a month, so that close to a half marathon. Is this something that I would start now? Or is this something that I would say maybe wait till after the half marathon and do it before my next training block, running block.
Speaker 3:
Well, you can kind of look at it from two perspectives. Just like any type of training, if it's completely new to you You're going to have that kind of delayed onset muscle so you're going to be a wee bit sore. So six week period, I would more than recommend jumping on it now. But if it's kind of that tapering two to three weeks prior to a half, I wouldn't Just because you're in your routine, you're really ready to go, you know your body. But six weeks out I'd more than recommend jumping on it and experimenting a little. So then you had that time to become a little bit more A climatized to the type of training, if you like mm, hmm, mm, hmm.
Speaker 1:
Okay, that's good advice. So you know, tell me what success have you seen, you know, with, with folks that are using this, and you know if you have any success story specifically for runners, because I think this could be used really for anybody, regardless of you know what sport they're doing or what level of activity that they're doing obviously Getting off the couch right, anything more than that but what kind of what kind of success have you seen?
Speaker 3:
I really varies. As you mentioned, it can be used by such a wide range of people. So we see people who are Really beginning. You know the old couch to 5k kind of challenges and stuff like that. Then people really excel in it and that is purely because They've never used these muscles before, so anything is really gonna impact it better. That elite level like in the office we have a Olympic steeple chaser on it in the 3k discipline and the way he mentions it is Allows him to kind of have that trust in his lungs. So he uses a in a four-week block leading up to a bigger race and just having that so kind of subconscious trust in his lungs again allowing it to open up and he sees his, his lung capacity stays about the same because he's accessing his kind of physiological potential or anatomical how big his ribcages but then what he really knows is his inspiratory pressure really rises and this allows him to become more efficient at breathing. So that's where the benefit really comes from at that elite level.
Speaker 1:
Okay, okay, and you know, to kind of to that point, one thing that we haven't talked about yet but we talked about, you know, kind of before the conversation was around, like that VO to max, like that's something that we track as runners. You know, there's, there's tests that we could do just to see where we are, and it varies over time, right, depending on what our age is and, I believe, our fitness level. So you know, how would someone make that correlation between what they see from a VO to max versus, like, the benefits they'll get from from arrow fit?
Speaker 3:
this is a really great area in literature actually, because respiratory muscle training is kind of research on the Whole range of people, from people who are coming off ventilator, suffering from COPD, asthma, and the people in the very impaired situations or the below where they are expected to be. They do send in Christian V2 max, but then on the Extreme upper end you're not gonna see much of an improvement in respiratory and their to max sorry, especially if oxygen isn't the limiting factor. So they're to max is determined through a lot of things such as how efficient the cells are at utilizing, how it diffuses into the muscle, and you can pump as much oxygen in as you want, but if there's another roadblock somewhere, you're really gonna be struggling to see and and increase and via to max just from respiratory muscle training alone.
Speaker 1:
Okay and then. But is that necessary, right? Do I need to see that VO to max increase to see then a corresponding increase in perform, in my own performance?
Speaker 3:
No. So that's quite a big misconception around breath work. Respiratory muscle training is there to max, is the be all, end all of breathing performance. So if you're really increasing, for example, your Interpretorium exporter pressure of how efficient you are pulling Aaron and pushing out, then your respiratory system is actually going to be a lot more utilized. So you're aware of the like phenomenon called the metabolic reflux.
Speaker 1:
I'm not aware of that now.
Speaker 3:
So this is kind of a speculated area where, as you're performing, you have 100% of oxygen utilization right and if your locomotor muscles your legs and arms are taking 50%, and then your respiratory functions, your brain kind of the stuff given in your life is taking 50%, when you start working harder there's more demand on your respiratory system so they start stealing oxygenated blood from your locomotor muscles. So I might go to 60% of your oxygenated blood is in your lungs, keeping you alive, and only 40% in your legs. By being more efficient in the respiratory system you're actually going to be able to balance that out for a more prolonged period of time. So we see a lot in climbers and cycling, so they can kind of excel up their climb a lot more, but also in halves and full marathons. Even to that extent is you don't hit the wall as such Okay, okay.
Speaker 1:
So basically, it's going to make your and we talked about this before, but you gave a really good explanation there so it's going to make your respiratory system more efficient, and not only more efficient in using the oxygen, but leaving more oxygen for the other parts of your body.
Speaker 3:
Yeah for sure, because there is that finite amount of oxygen you can get in, and when your body is running more efficient, it's going to utilize it for performance rather than the areas that are going to keep you alive.
Speaker 1:
Okay, All right, that's interesting. Well, it's funny that you say it that way, because when I'm running the half marathon, I feel like I'm fighting for my life, so I guess it's a very relevant way to describe it Exactly. That's cool, Okay. So thank you for sharing that. That's really helpful. And it's helpful to understand kind of the science behind, or the philosophy behind, respiratory muscle training and the benefits that we get as runners when we can use it right.
Speaker 1:
It's like you said, if it's a couple of weeks before you know big race, probably not the best time to do it, but six weeks, you know, it's probably an okay time for you to kind of get started in this. I love how it's. You know you have those training blocks, so you deliver the training plan to me as a runner and a user of the solution, and then I had that training block where I could use it every day for that specified period of time. So that's really helpful to know. So you know, let's talk a little bit more about you. So you mentioned that you know kind of joining the company and now using the device and now you're running. So you know, tell me a little bit more about your journey, you know, using the device or how your running journey has progressed.
Speaker 3:
Yeah. So I'm just naturally an insanely inquisitive person, like if something comes to my mind, I just want to explore it. And of course, we know the big buzzword around breathing at the moment is nasal breathing. So everyone loves nasal breathing, especially because of James Nestor's Breathe book and Oxygen Advantage and everything else that's coming around, and I wanted to know how Erypha helps with nasal breathing.
Speaker 3:
So a little experiment I did on myself, which, looking back, was horrible. But before I started training with Erypha, I taped my mouth and ran a 5K as fast as I could. That was horrible. Wow, I ran around a 38 minute 5K and it was the worst 38 minutes of my life. But by training with Erypha I actually became a lot more comfortable with breathing through my nose while running at a higher intensity. So I got down to about 28 minutes with my mouth taped and I know that's not a fast 5K but that's a 10 minute improvement. And what this came down to is your nasal passage offers around 10 centimeters of water resistance and Erypha goes up to 250 centimeters of water resistance. So essentially, breathing 25 times harder through Erypha made my nose feel like it was nothing. So that's a very interesting way of looking at it from a kind of personal running perspective.
Speaker 1:
Okay, so tell me about that, because actually that's something that I'm probably terrible. Today I don't do any nasal running, I'm not sure. I think I'd be pretty afraid to take my mouth shut and run. So I'm not sure I would be able to do that. But so what are the benefits of that? So that I mean so. I think the example that you gave just showcases the power of the device and how it can help you. But what would be that benefit of that nasal running?
Speaker 3:
With the nasal breathing you're more likely to go into that diaphragmatic breathing, to breathing deeper, and what this does is it allows you to kind of activate the parasympathetic nervous system or the rest in the chest. And if you're kind of in that hyperventilation, upper coastal breathing to up in your shoulders, you're really going to go into the final flight and that's when you might just make a dumb decision and push the pace a bit too fast because you're overexcited. This actually allows you to calm down and relax into the run a lot more, as well as filtration and stuff like that. So the nasal passage has natural filtering as well as an increase in nitrous oxide production. So you're just going to become a cleaner, more efficient runner and, like you mentioned, a lot of people do struggle with nasal breathing through running.
Speaker 1:
I feel like we need to have a whole episode just dedicated on this topic, because this is something that I should probably know or be doing and, honestly, hadn't given it any thought.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, surprising Breathing is the first thing we do in life and so last thing we do in life, but it is literally the most overlooked thing we do in life.
Speaker 1:
I just want to dive into this topic a little bit more. So is this Is this how someone can start like using using this device and then slowly kind of shifting towards nasal breathing, and is there, are there any other alternatives than you know kind of the stream of taping your mouth shut? Is there something that someone could do kind of along the way to ease them into that?
Speaker 3:
Yeah for sure. So if you're gonna be a strong to breathe, you're gonna be more efficient breathing through the nose, and Then there's a magnitude of other ways you can kind of prepare yourself for this. So I've heard of people holding a wee bit of water in their mouth. So they just run with half a mouthful water. So then if they suddenly need to breathe they can. But it kind of is that Physical barrier to breathing through your nose. Of course, nasal breathing is an optimal. Once you get around 80% of your VO2 max you should start mouth breathing because it's a bigger pipe you can pull more air in. But in the lower kind of intensities nasal breathing is a bit more beneficial.
Speaker 1:
Okay, so if I'm doing you know, long run, zone 2 heart rate, I Pretty much should be able to do nasal breathing for that run.
Speaker 3:
Yeah if you can I think Huberman talks about it a lot is Zone 2 you should be able to talk, and if you can talk you should be able to breathe through your nose. So it's kind of like a causation thing and it's just a really nice kind of conscious way of monitoring how intense you're training.
Speaker 1:
Okay, okay, and then you know, I know we talked about some of the technical terms here that we don't talk about too often on the show. So you know, just in terms of the heart rate we're talking about, the zones is related to heart rate right, and that's personalized for every individual. So there's zones one through five and there's training that's associated with those that you know a running coach or fitness professional can provide to you. So you know, I shared a little bit about my story about a year ago. I did the same half marathon and I do in about six weeks and I PR'd, but I didn't get to where I wanted to be. So I told my coach I will do whatever you tell me to do. You just need to help me get to the time that I want.
Speaker 1:
And the the key change that we made in my training program is we went from, you know, training by distance and time, now by I'm sorry, distance and speed, now to time and heart rate, and the focus has been more on time on my feet, but also making sure that you know, a more diverse in terms of my training right, whether it's, you know, kind of lower heart rate zones, easy pace, versus, you know higher heart rate zones and then you know harder training. So that's the big change that I made. So just you know, for a listener is you know heart rate training is something that I would. That has been good for me. I've definitely seen an improvement in doing that and I don't probably talk about it as much, so probably need to have a Whole conversation around that as well.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, heart rates are in training is phenomenal. That way you can really individualize it as well and Just make everyone these days monitors their heart rate through a garment app or another watch. So it's such an accessible thing, especially compared to 10 years ago, and it's great to hear you're getting really good performances.
Speaker 1:
You know, my heart rate has been improved since I started a year ago. Right, I probably ran I don't know 11, 12 minute miles and I'm already in almost in zone four, and so now I've seen a marked improvement, you know, year over year in that case, and I've also run a few races where I'm starting to also see improvements, where, you know, just not even so much in the time, but also in how I feel, like I don't feel like I'm completely dying, you know, as once I get past mile eight or nine, like it's still hard, but I'm not, you know, fighting for my life, as I was kind of joking around before. So that that's kind of improved.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, that's really cool to hear, and it's gonna be interesting to see how you actually get your time closer.
Speaker 1:
Well, that's, that's one of the reasons why we're having this conversation. Right, I'm looking for ways to improve and this is an area that I feel is a gap for me. So, and I'm sure for our listeners there, there might be others that are thinking that this is kind of one of their limiting factors. Right, maybe they're their legs feel good and it feels strong, but maybe you know around that breathing is where they might need help. So, really excited to to have this conversation with you, and you know I love to learn, you know well. First, I'd like to ask what is the one thing that you would say to our community to inspire them to run and use a respiratory muscle training? You know solution.
Speaker 3:
Well, for me, the thing that's really Benefited me the most from respiratory muscle training into my running is I can hold a conversation while I'm running. I'm a social runner. I'm not going out to compete, so if I can go for a run and have a conversation, it's kind of that kind of all-encompassing health. So I'm getting that social connection. I'm getting the physical benefits, but I'm enjoying it a lot more and it's making me want to run more. So Going for that run, having a conversation, it's just added a unique aspect to my run.
Speaker 1:
I love that. I love that I personally am a solo runner. I am excited to see people at races, but when I do my rides I'm not. I'm normally not having a conversation with someone. I guess, like if I'm on the phone then you know I'll do that sometimes on my long run. But but I could totally see that. I think that's, you know, that's one of the benefits of running is the running community, and it is. It can be a social sport, you know, unlike some others where you're really just competing right and special, those team team sports. So I totally get that and that's great, that this that's great advice for a community, for those that that do run and run groups or friends or accountability partners, that this will help them kind of in their breathing and to have conversations during the runs.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, and then another aspect I feel like we haven't touched on too much with breath work or respiratory muscle training is recovery. So how important would you say recovery is to you in your running journey?
Speaker 1:
Oh, very important, especially as I've ramped up my training right so now I feel like I need more recovery, so it's very important.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, because one really nice aspect of Aerofit itself is the unique training kind of styles of breathing I mentioned earlier. They have like down regulation or ones that are more directed towards sleep and recovery. So what I really like to do with my Aerofit is down regulate before bed so I chuck on a five minute mindfulness, which is prolonged exhalations, which clears that carbon dioxide. One thing I measure is my asterisk floor on my garment and that can go down by about 20 to 30 points and if I actually do that my HRV or heart rate variability actually increases while I do it. So that down regulation kind of sleep hygiene, if you like, really improved with respiratory muscle training as well. So that's a cool aspect you could try in your kind of daily life.
Speaker 1:
Love it, love it. That's really great to know so so many benefits, right? So benefits if you're, no matter what you're doing, right. If you're moving, you'll benefit from respiratory muscle training. If you're a runner, we talked about some of the benefits there and some of the things that you'd be able to do as a result perform better, have conversations with your fellow runners. And then recovery. I think that's really an important point. We've talked about that kind of in different settings just around. You know recovery gear or things you could do to recover, so this is one more solution to add to recovery. That's really great.
Speaker 3:
For sure, and it's kind of one of those ticks of the boxes the performance side as well as the recovery. So you kind of a win-win solution.
Speaker 1:
Love it. Love it, mike, love this conversation. You just shared so much, so much value with our community. You know, I'd love to know, like, what's next for you as a runner and what's next for AeroFit.
Speaker 3:
Well, next is in Copenhagen. Actually, we have a really cool event called the DHL Fund Run and that's where companies have a team of five and everyone does a 5k. So we have that in about three weeks and it's not the place to PR, it's a couple of thousand people running a little 5k, dirt tracks or there's dirt, and that to me is like kind of the optimize. What I love about running is that community which you mentioned. The running community is phenomenal. So that's coming up in a few weeks. We're excited for that and then for AeroFit is just continuing to bring better breathing to the world. So everyone breathes, everyone can improve. So if we can share that message through people such as yourself and really expand the knowledge and allow people to perform optimally, Awesome, awesome, mike, thank you so much.
Speaker 1:
How can our community find and follow AeroFit online?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, so AeroFitcom is just our standard website, and then, of course, we're on Instagram AeroFit, and then across other socials as well.
Speaker 1:
All right. Well, I will include all the information in the show notes to make it easy for our listeners to find you and follow you, and Mike, thanks again for this information. I learned a lot. I know our listeners did as well, and there's a lot of benefits that we can gain from this. So thanks again for coming on the show and have a great day.
Speaker 3:
No worries, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:
That's it for this episode of Inspire to Run Podcast. We hope you are inspired to take control of your health and fitness and take it to the next level. Be sure to click the subscribe button to join our community and also please rate and review. Thanks for listening.