Breathing for Recovery: Simple Techniques to Downshift After Training

The most useful breathing exercise for recovery is the simplest: lie down after training, breathe in gently through your nose, and make each breath out slower than the breath in, for three to five minutes. Slow, relaxed breathing with a long exhale helps most people feel calmer and brings their heart rate down more comfortably after hard work. It will not repair muscle or replace sleep and food, but it is a quick way to move from “training mode” into the rest of your day or evening. Below are three techniques, how to do them, and when each is worth using.

What breathing can and cannot do

It helps to be clear about this, because breathing gets oversold.

What it can reasonably do: help you feel calmer, slow your breathing and heart rate back towards normal in a controlled way, make it easier to switch off after an evening session, and give you a short ritual that marks the end of training. The NHS recommends slow breathing as a simple technique for managing stress (NHS breathing exercise for stress).

What it does not do: speed up muscle repair, flush out lactic acid, cancel out a bad night’s sleep, or replace eating enough protein. Recovery is built from the basics. Breathing is a small, useful extra on top of them. For the bigger picture, our post on how stress affects training covers the factors that matter more.

Why bother after training?

Hard training, particularly intervals or heavy compound lifts, leaves you wound up for a while afterwards. That is normal. For a lot of busy people, though, the session is followed straight away by a commute, a meeting or a family evening, and they never really come down. Five minutes of deliberate breathing is a cheap way to make that transition on purpose rather than carrying the adrenaline into the next thing. Evening trainers in particular often find it helps them settle before bed.

Technique 1: the long exhale

This is the one to start with. It needs no counting system beyond “out longer than in”.

1. Lie on your back with knees bent, or with your calves resting on a bench or box.
2. Put one hand on your lower ribs and one on your belly.
3. Breathe in gently through your nose for about four seconds. Let your ribs widen to the sides, not just your chest lift.
4. Breathe out slowly, through your nose or pursed lips, for about six to eight seconds.
5. Repeat for three to five minutes. Let it get slower if it wants to.

The breaths should be quiet. If you are gulping air or feel lightheaded, you are breathing too deeply. Take smaller breaths.

Technique 2: box breathing

Popular with people who like structure, and easy to do sitting at a desk or on the Tube home.

1. Breathe in through your nose for four seconds.
2. Hold, gently, for four seconds.
3. Breathe out for four seconds.
4. Hold for four seconds.
5. Repeat for two to four minutes.

If four seconds feels like a strain straight after training, use three. If the holds make you anxious, drop them and just keep the in and out even. Box breathing is better for steadying yourself than for winding right down, so I tend to suggest it before a meeting rather than before bed.

Technique 3: 90/90 breathing

This one comes from rehab and strength coaching, and it combines a relaxed position with a focus on the ribs and trunk. It is useful for people who spend all day braced and slightly hunched at a desk.

1. Lie on your back with your feet on a wall or your calves on a bench, so your hips and knees are at roughly 90 degrees.
2. Let your lower back rest gently towards the floor without forcing it flat.
3. Breathe in through your nose, feeling your back and sides expand against the floor.
4. Breathe out fully and slowly, as if steaming up a mirror, and feel your ribs drop down and in.
5. Pause for a second before the next breath. Repeat for five or six breaths, rest, then do another round or two.

It also teaches the rib position that makes bracing your core under load easier to learn.

Which one to use: a quick guide

Situation	Best choice	Time
End of an evening session	Long exhale, lying down	3 to 5 minutes
Straight back to work after a morning session	Box breathing, seated	2 to 3 minutes
Stiff, desk-bound, ribs flared	90/90 breathing	3 rounds of 5 breaths
Between hard interval rounds	Slow, steady nasal breathing as you recover	The rest period
Lying awake after a late session	Long exhale, in bed	As long as it takes

Common mistakes

• Breathing too big. Slow does not mean huge. Over-breathing leaves people dizzy and tingly. Smaller, slower, quieter.
• Forcing the belly out. The aim is relaxed expansion around the lower ribs, front, sides and back, not pushing the stomach forward.
• Doing it while scrolling. If your phone is in your hand, you are not downshifting. Put it out of reach for five minutes.
• Treating it as a cure. If you are chronically tired, sore or not sleeping, the answer lies in your training load, sleep and food. See active recovery days for how to plan the rest of the week.
• Holding your breath through discomfort. Breath holds should never feel like a test. Stop if they do.

How we use it in the studio

At the end of most sessions in my private training studio on Archway Road, clients spend the last few minutes on the floor, legs up on a bench, doing slow breathing before they head off. It takes no equipment and very little time, and it means people leave calmer rather than rushing straight back into email. It is also a good moment to talk through how the session felt, which helps me plan the next one. If you train with me, it becomes part of the routine. If you train alone, it is easy to copy.

If you have asthma, COPD, a heart condition or a history of panic attacks, check with your GP first before practising breath holds, and stop any technique that makes you dizzy, breathless or anxious.

Questions we get asked

How long should I do breathing exercises after a workout?

Three to five minutes is enough for most people. Longer is fine if you enjoy it, but the benefit is mostly in doing it consistently.

Should I breathe through my nose or mouth?

For recovery breathing, nose in is usually calmer and easier to keep slow. Breathing out through the nose or gently through pursed lips both work.

Can breathing exercises help me sleep after evening training?

Many people find a few minutes of long, slow exhales in bed helps them settle. It is worth trying alongside the basics of a regular bedtime and a calmer end to the session.

Is this the same as breathing during lifts?

No. Under heavy load you brace and often hold your breath briefly. Recovery breathing is the opposite: relaxed and slow. We coach both as part of 1-1 personal training in Highgate.

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