Simple Breathing Tips & Strategies For Uphill Hiking

In this video, we explore some simple ideas around posture, breathing mechanics and pacing to help hikers who get out of breath on steep uphills.

Answering the question:


"Climbing uphill is super challenging breathing wise, does putting your hands on your hips to open your lungs work better? 
Or should I focus on deeper breathing to tackle it better?
Nose breathing is also challenging because my nose runs when I exercise."

Inside we cover:

• 3 simple options for posture for uphill hiking
• A foundational breathing strategy which is the best place to start when exploring breathing mechanics for hiking
• Why I recommend nose breathing for hikers (and a simple alternative if your nose doesn't cooperate)

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Video Transcript:

[0:00] Alright, hello, hello ladies and gentlemen, and in today's video we are talking

[0:04] through some simple breathing tips and strategies for uphill hiking. Now this video is coming through the question, climbing uphill is super challenging breathing wise. Does putting your hands on your hips to open up your lungs work better, or should I focus on deeper breathing to tackle it better? On top of that, nose breathing is a little bit challenging for me because my nose runs when I exercise. And when it comes down to it.

[0:31] Breathing on uphill hiking is one of the most common issues I hear hikers all around the world. And in all honesty, there is no one best way to breathe when going up hills because there are so many individual factors which goes into it in regards to how you like to breathe, how your body is made up, the type of incline you're attacking, if it's stairs, is it hills, how steep it is, whatever may be. And there are so many different factors that goes into it. So, I just want to be really clear from the outset, there's no one perfect way you can go about this, but there are a few ideas which can definitely help. Now, first and foremost, let's touch on the posture side of things. Realistically, when it comes down to this, it doesn't have to be too complicated. Number one, we don't want to be completely slouched over when we're climbing up hills, and we don't want to have our torso completely tipped over, almost horizontal, because this may be a little bit tricky for breathing. It may sort of compress certain things. It may struggle with the airways a little bit. Don't really want that. So you will see some people when they're climbing up hills, they'll be completely almost like, horizontal because they're absolutely knackered, don't really want that. Number two, we probably don't want to be completely upright as well. Because as much as people often say, hey, nice, perfect posture, that's going to be best for your breathing. Well, there's a little bit more to the story than that. And specifically when we're looking at uphill hiking, this is probably going to get in the way of you actually being able to push up hills. So we don't want to be completely upright as well.

[1:58] Basically, we kind of want to find a balance between the two, a little bit of a forward lean, something that's going to help you drive up the hill, help you feel comfortable, but not completely falling over.

[2:09] On top of that, one thing that can be pretty beneficial is having your hands or having your upper body supported in some way, and that can make the breathing a little bit easier. So in this particular question, hands on hips, if that feels comfortable, that can be fine. Another one could be hands on your thighs. So you're slightly bent over, you've got your hands on your thighs and you're kind of climbing up like that. Or number three, trekking poles can really be quite a useful for this particular situation because trekking poles will get the upper body, take a bit of pressure off that, it'll change the angle a little bit, works out pretty well. On top of that, trekking poles can do some things to make a sense just easier in general and help you feel a bit more comfortable, which can probably help with your breathing as well. So general answer, slight forward lean, hands on hips, hands on thighs, hands on trekking poles, or whatever really feels comfortable. I know that's not an exact answer, but that works out pretty well.

[3:01] Now next up, let's touch on breathing mechanics. Now, if you've ever looked into this subject before, it is an absolute rabbit hole. And there are so many people out there that talk about all these different things with breathing. Some of it is good, some of it is bad, some of it's like, I don't know what they're talking about. And it can be really, really difficult to kind of figure out what you should be doing. In all honesty, when we're looking at breathing mechanics for hiking and breathing mechanics for uphill hiking, I personally like to keep things really, really, really simple.

[3:29] The main thing we want to be thinking about when we are thinking about how we actually breathe is sticking with what's called abdominal breathing, also known as diaphragmatic breathing. The idea behind this is our diaphragm. That is our main breathing muscle. The more we can use this, the better when it comes to our breathing. For a lot of people, the diaphragm sometimes doesn't get used quite as much as we want. And instead, we end up using the chest and the shoulders quite a bit more. Now, a little bit of movement and a little bit of use through the chest and shoulders is a natural part of breathing. But if we're kind of predominantly doing what we call chest breathing, where we're big up and down, up and down movements and not really using that diaphragm as much as we could, we can do better. So the idea behind this is what we want to cue for this abdominal breathing or this diaphragmatic breathing is as you are walking, as you are breathing, you want to be thinking about as you're breathing in, you feel your belly expand in and out.

[4:25] As opposed to just the chest and the shoulders doing this. There can be a little bit of movement through the chest and shoulders, but we really want to feel the belly come in and out. So bring that air deep. Now, this can inevitably take a little bit getting used to. So you definitely want to practice this in other situations just to make sure it feels natural. The best place to start is just practicing this at rest. Literally just lie in bed, put your hands across your belly and just spend five minutes concentrating, breathing in and out and feeling that belly come up and down. When you're confident with that, do that when you're sitting in a chair or do that when you're just standing around and just practice in different situations. Once you're happy with that, then start to practice it just on the flats when you're hiking, when you're walking, because putting this into action when you're actually moving compared to rest can be difficult. So walk along on your hikes and just concentrate, belly in, out, belly in and out, feel that coming and expanding. That can go a long way. And then start to practice on the inclines. This will be tricky, especially if you are pushing to a pace where you're getting quite uncomfortable and it can be hard to maintain. But the more you practice it, the more you develop it, the more effective it will get, and the more you can apply this in different situations. So that's number two, the main thing on breathing mechanics, I typically say abdominal breathing. As I said, there's a lot deeper you can go into that, but I think for the most people, that's going to be the main thing we want to think on.

[5:43] And then finally, the next one to cover is pacing. And this comes back to the note where they were sort of mentioning, look, nose breathing is often challenging because my nose breathes when I'm going. Now, if you've followed my stuff for a while, you will probably see that I do like to recommend nose breathing to hikers. And essentially, nose breathing is essentially going at a pace where you can breathe in and out through your nose. Now.

[6:07] To be very, very clear, a lot of people out there, when they talk about nose breathing, they talk about it as this magical thing. They talk about it having these million amazing benefits. And if you're not nose breathing, you're doing things wrong and you're ruining your breathing and all of this. A lot of people go really, really, really hard and deep on the nose breathing. For me, that's not why I recommend it. And that's not why I use it. The main reason that I like nose breathing for hikers is I use it as a good measure of intensity. Now, what this means is if you were to go in at a pace, you're exercising, you're hiking, you're climbing at a pace where you can breathe in and out through your nose, this is a good sign that you are predominantly using your aerobic energy system, which is the main energy system we want to be using while we're hiking. This energy system is designed for long periods of low intensity exercise, exactly what we want when we're hiking, and it is very, very, very energy efficient. Meaning the more we can use this, the more energy efficiency we'll have on the trail, reduce fatigue, that's a good thing.

[7:12] On the flip side, when we're going at an intensity and going at a pace where we are getting out of breath, and we're getting huffed and puffed, and we can't sustain that nose breathing, this is going to be getting more and more anaerobic involvement. We're going to be using our anaerobic energy systems more and more and more, the more out of breath we get. Now, this isn't the end of the world. These anaerobic energy systems are designed to help us with higher intensity exercise. But the tricky thing with this in the hiking context is this isn't quite as energy efficient. This will churn through fuel and your energy reserves quicker. This will have fatigue creep up a little bit quicker if we use it for longer. So ultimately, we want to be really, really, really honing in on the aerobic side of things. And a big portion of what I recommend for people when they're training for uphill hiking, is if they can practice and develop the ability to go at a pace where you can sustain that nose breathing, this can be really, really, really valuable. It can be valuable in the situation and when you're actually hiking to reduce fatigue and help your energy efficiency. And it can also be really valuable for your training, because the more we can actually train this aerobic energy system, the faster and longer we'll be able to sustain this. So it's really, really, really beneficial.

[8:23] However, in this situation, if you're like, hey, actually, that's all well and good, but if my nose is running when I exercise, or I just have a small nose, it's really uncomfortable, or whatever it may be, totally fine. Not the end of the world. All you need to do in this situation is change nose breathing. Anytime you see, read, whatever it may be, change that to what we call conversational pace. And conversational pace is going at a pace where you can carry a conversation as you're climbing, as you're exercising, without getting out of breath, without having to huff and puff in between words. Nose breathing, conversational pace, pretty much the same. Essentially, with this type of thing, if the first few times you try to do this, it will require some patience. Because you'll notice, oh my gosh, if I always get out of breath on hills and I start to do this, you might be like, oh my gosh, I can't sustain this. I can't do this. It's just impossible. So what you need to do is significantly pull back the speed. You may have to go back to almost a dawdle and you're just really, really, really slow climbing up. Totally fine. It's a skill. Practice it and develop it. And week by week by week, you'll be able to go a little bit further, a little bit quicker, and it'll get a little bit better. So one of the most significant skills you can learn to actually sustain this on uphill hiking, which can be great.

[9:38] Now, over time with your training, you can actually use this and combine this with practicing quicker speeds as well. So you don't have to do all your training and all your climbing at this slow pace, but you can actually practice some quicker speeds as well. So you might find if you're doing a hill training or stair training, you might sort of get in a situation where you climb up a hill one time where you're breathing in and out through your nose, or you're doing that conversational pace, practice that. Then the next time you might push the speed up and really, really push it and get really out of breath. So you practice that, you develop the ability to do that and get comfortable there. And then you may pull back the speed for the next one and go back down to that conversational pace and practice going to different speeds and going to different intensities while you're actually on the trail. All of this stuff can be really valuable and really useful.

[10:22] And then beyond all of that, that's our sort of breathing. We talked about posture, mechanics, and pacing. Beyond that, a few other things you just want to consider in your training anyone in this type of situation.

[10:32] Number one, you want to be doing lots and lots and lots of training to help develop your aerobic energy system. What this means is lots of long duration, low intensity training, hiking, walking, hills, stairs, cycling, elliptical, whatever. But the more you can develop that aerobic energy system, the better. On top of that, we probably do want to practice some periods of higher intensity stuff, some type of interval training, maybe you're doing that hill training and you're doing a little bit quicker every once in a while, or maybe getting on a bike and doing some intervals or whatever may be, then getting some exposure to the higher intensity stuff can also be valuable.

[11:05] And then finally, practicing this stair and hill climbing, not just on your hikes, but actually during your week. Find a local hill, find a local set of stairs, get a stair master, get a box or whatever may be, and practice these. Practice the nose breathing, practice the quicker stuff, develop this, train this, progress this, it'll really go a long way. And ultimately, if you can put these three things together, comfortable posture, abdominal breathing, and efficient pacing, and then combine it with your training as well, it really can go a long, long way. So hopefully that gives a few different ideas to help with this. As I said, this is one of the most common issues I hear from hikers all around the world. It is very, very possible to get super, super complex and super, super, super technical and nitty gritty with this type of stuff. But I think what we talked about today is a really really good basic stuff to work on which will give you the majority of the benefits without having to get spending way too much time getting really really technical or anything like that. So if anyone does have any questions of that please let me know but hopefully that helps and hopefully that gets a few people up those hills a little bit more comfortable.

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