Acute Effects of the Wim Hof Breathing Method on Repeated Sprint Ability: A Pilot Study

Abstract

The Wim Hof breathing method (WHBM) combines periods of hyperventilation (HV) followed by voluntary breath-holds (BH) at low lung volume. It has been increasingly adopted by coaches and their athletes to improve performance, but there was no published research on its effects. We determined the feasibility of implementing a single WHBM session before repeated sprinting performance and evaluated any acute ergogenic effects. Fifteen amateur runners performed a single WHBM session prior to a Repeated Ability Sprint Test (RAST) in comparison to voluntary HV or spontaneous breathing (SB) (control) in a randomized cross-over design. Gas exchange, heart rate, and finger pulse oxygen saturation (SpO2) were monitored. Despite large physiological effects in the SpO2 and expired carbon dioxide (VCO2) levels of both HV and WHBM, no significant positive or negative condition effects were found on RAST peak power, average power, or fatigue index. Finger SpO2 dropped to 60 ± 12% at the end of the BHs. Upon the last HV in the WHBM and HV conditions, end-tidal CO2 partial pressure (PETCO2) values were 19 ± 3 and 17 ± 3 mmHg, indicative of respiratory alkalosis with estimated arterial pH increases of +0.171 and of +0.181, respectively. Upon completion of RAST, 8 min cumulated expired carbon dioxide volumes in the WHBM and HV were greater than in SB, suggesting lingering carbon dioxide stores depletion. These findings indicate that despite large physiological effects, a single WHBM session does not improve anaerobic performance in repeated sprinting exercise.

Does the Wim Hof Method have a beneficial impact on physiological and psychological outcomes in healthy and non-healthy participants? A systematic review

“…Of the nine papers included, there were eight individual trials. Four of the trials performed the full WHM [ 7 , 10 , 12 , 15 ] and four did only WHBM [ 6 , 8 , 11 , 15 ]. The application of WHBM differed between studies as some studies had one breathing exercise [ 6 , 8 , 11 , 12 ] while others had two breathing exercises [ 7 , 10 , 13 , 15 , 16 ].…”

“…described it as a form of focusing to obtain self-awareness and will-power. Out of the nine papers, five conducted a randomised controlled trial (RCT) design [ 10 , 11 , 13 , 15 , 16 ], three conducted a crossover RCT design [ 6 – 8 ], and one conducted a prospective cohort design [ 12 ].…”

“…For the RCT studies, the RoB 2.0 overall risk of bias judgement was ‘high concerns’ for all studies except one study which was judged as ‘some concerns’ [ 8 ] ( Table 2 ). Most of the articles were judged as high concern due to the difficulty in blinding the participants and researchers to the intervention.…”

Warm-Up With Added Respiratory Dead Space Volume Mask Improves the Performance of the Cycling Sprint Interval Exercise: Cross-Over Study

“…In our earlier study ( Danek et al, 2020a ), we also observed performing more work during the sprint interval exercise using ARDSv in the main part. In their study, Citherlet et al (2021) used the Wim Hof breathing method, a combination of hyperventilation followed by voluntary breath-holding at low pulmonary volume, before repeated sprints (the RAST test). However, despite large physiological effects (reduction of blood saturation to approximately 60%, onset of respiratory alkalosis), a single WHBM session did not improve anaerobic performance in repeated sprint exercise (no change in peak and mean power and FI).…”

Conscious connected breathing with breath retention intervention in adults with chronic low back pain: protocol for a randomized controlled pilot study

“…These aspects limit accessibility to the intervention and also complicate conclusions that can be drawn regarding the efficacy and mechanisms of the intervention due to the many potential specific and non-specific treatment effects [ 51 – 56 ]. Nevertheless, studies suggest that the breathing and retention practice alone can reduce stress [ 57 ] and induce profound physiological changes, including safe respiratory alkalosis (i.e., rise in pH levels), intermittent hypoxia, immediate changes in metabolic and hormonal activity (e.g., increased gluconeogenesis, human growth hormone), and increases in plasma epinephrine levels associated with sympathetic nervous system activation [ 47 – 49 , 56 , 58 – 60 ]. CCBR also seems to have significant effects on the immune system, demonstrated by an increase in anti-inflammatory and decrease in pro-inflammatory cytokines following the administration of an endotoxin [ 48 , 56 ].…”