In many of my harder workouts, it is my aerobic system that fails before muscular fatigue sets in.  I train my muscles a lot and hard workouts help me aerobically, but is there more I can do?  I previously tried a breathing program from the book called ‘The Oxygen Advantage’, but gave up after a few days.  It is time to try again.

The premise of the breathing program is that you can absorb more oxygen into your body, by becoming more tolerant of carbon dioxide.  The Oxygen Advantage book makes a compelling argument about this, and cites a very large number of research papers to back up the claims. The theory is the reason why nose breathing is so advantageous.

To measure tolerance to carbon dioxide, the book recommends a simple test called a BOLT test (body oxygen level test).  This involves holding your breath until your body urges you to breath again.  The longer this takes, the better you are able to tolerate a build up of carbon dioxide. 

I measured my BOLT score this morning and got 18 seconds.  This is quite a low score, especially for someone as active as myself.  Elite athletes, with good carbon dioxide tolerance, haves scores of over 40 seconds.

I truly believe that there is some low hanging fruit here.  If I can increase my BOLT score to over 30 seconds, I should see some significant benefits when working out and racing.  I failed trying to do this program a year ago; this time I am determined to succeed.