This week on the podcast, we sit down with human performance and breathing expert Brian MacKenzie. Brian is the founder & CEO of Shift, and the President and co-founder of The Health & Human Performance Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to researching how breath can help optimize health and performance. He is also an Ironman athlete, and has completed the legendary Western States 100-mile road race. By combining respiratory, strength, and endurance-based training approaches, Brian helps athletes, executives, and more tap into their best performance.
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3:29 – Brian’s background in high performance
6:37 – What hypoxia is and why it matters
10:42 – The downstream effects of improper breathing
15:30 – Characteristics of optimal breathing
20:24 – The physiological impact of mouth breathing
28:13 – Benefits of nasal breathing
32:14 – What these protocols look like
35:27 – Elevating awareness and achieving an optimal breath practice
35:59 – How to think about your breath in gears
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