Resisted Breathing for Fighters and Grapplers: What It Actually Does

Jun 05, 2023

Resisted breathing means making it harder to get air in and out on purpose, then training anyway. A restrictive mask, a snorkel, a narrow tube, or just breathing through your nose only. The load is on the muscles that move your ribs.

It has been oversold as a way to fake altitude, which it is not. What it actually does is more useful to a grappler than altitude ever was.

What It Does and Does Not Do

Claim	Verdict
Simulates training at altitude	No. It restricts airflow, it does not lower oxygen availability in your blood the way altitude does.
Trains your breathing muscles	Yes. Your diaphragm and the muscles between your ribs get loaded, and like any muscle they adapt.
Makes your gas tank bigger	Indirectly. Breathing muscles that fatigue less mean less of your effort goes to just moving air.
Teaches you to stay calm when air is short	Yes, and this is the real prize for a grappler.

The value is not in the lungs. It is in the wiring. You are practicing not panicking when breathing gets hard — which is exactly what happens when somebody is crushing your chest from side control.

Why Grapplers Specifically

Nobody restricts a boxer breathing the way a grappler gets restricted. In jiu-jitsu, somebody is on your chest. Your ribs cannot move the way they want to. You get smashed, your breathing gets shallow, you start taking small panicked sips of air, and thirty seconds later you are cooked and it is not because your conditioning is bad.

That is a trained response, and it can be untrained. Resisted breathing is one way to rehearse the feeling in a controlled setting where nobody is passing your guard while you figure it out.

How to Actually Train It

Nose-only rounds

Free, and the best place to start. Do your warm-up, your easy conditioning, or light flow rolling breathing through your nose only. The second you have to open your mouth, you were working harder than you thought. Ten to twenty minutes, two or three times a week.

Loaded breathing drills

A dedicated breathing trainer or a restrictive mask. Thirty breaths, as full as you can get them, twice a day. This is strength work for your diaphragm and it is boring in exactly the way strength work is boring.

Positional rounds under pressure

The most sport-specific version, and it needs no equipment. Start under side control or mount with a heavier partner. Your only job for two minutes is to keep breathing normally. Not to escape. Just to breathe. Most people find out fast that they have been holding their breath for years.

What Not To Do

Do not wear a mask for hard rolling. Your technique degrades, your partners suffer, and you learn nothing.
Do not use it as your only conditioning. It is a layer, not the program. See Gassing Out in BJJ: Why Rolling Is Not Enough for the whole picture.
Do not chase lightheadedness. Dizzy is not a training effect, it is a warning.
Do not expect it to replace base work. Nothing replaces base work.

You do not gas out because your lungs are small.

You gas out because you stopped breathing when it got uncomfortable.

Common Questions

Do the masks actually work?

They work for loading your breathing muscles and for practicing calm under restricted airflow. They do not simulate altitude. If you buy one expecting a bigger engine, you will be disappointed. If you buy one to train your diaphragm and your composure, it does that.

Is nose breathing enough on its own?

For most grapplers, yes. It is free, it needs no gear, and it covers the majority of the benefit. Start there and only add equipment if you have run out of progress.

How long before I notice anything?

Two to three weeks for the composure side, which is the part that matters most. The muscular adaptation takes longer and is harder to feel directly.

Can I do this if I have asthma?

Talk to your doctor first. Restricted breathing training and asthma are not automatically incompatible, but that is not a call to make off a blog post.