Why Every Hybrid Athlete Needs to Train Their Breath

Breathing: the overlooked third pillar of performance.

Strength and cardio: the double demand

Hybrid athletes train for two masters. One day it’s a heavy lifting session, the next it’s intervals on the track or an endurance grind.

The challenge? Your cardiovascular and muscular systems are being pushed to their limits in very different ways.

That’s why breath training has become non-negotiable. When you control your breathing, you control performance across both ends of the spectrum.

The science: breath as the “third pillar” of performance

We’re taught to focus on training and nutrition, but breathing is the third pillar of performance, and too often ignored.

Here’s why it matters for hybrid athletes:

• Oxygen efficiency → Nasal breathing produces nitric oxide in the sinuses, which dilates blood vessels and improves oxygen uptake in working muscles. Research led by Lundberg et al. (1994) showed nitric oxide generated in the nasal cavity enhances oxygen delivery by up to 18%. James Nestor, in Breath, highlights this as a core reason why nasal breathing transforms endurance and recovery.
  
  

• CO₂ tolerance → The urge to gasp isn’t from lack of oxygen, it’s your body’s sensitivity to rising CO₂. Patrick McKeown (The Oxygen Advantage) has shown that training CO₂ tolerance is one of the fastest ways to build endurance capacity and resilience under load.
  
  

• Autonomic control → Nasal breathing activates the parasympathetic system, helping regulate heart rate and stress. Neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman explains that nasal breathing increases nitric oxide and vagal tone, keeping athletes calmer under high stress.
  
  

As performance coach Brian MacKenzie (Shift Adapt, Art of Breath) puts it: “Breath is the ultimate limiter test.” For hybrid athletes, it’s the bridge between strength and endurance.

My shift as a hybrid athlete

When I first switched to nasal breathing, it felt like I’d hit a wall. Running with my mouth closed or conditioning circuits felt suffocating. That wasn’t oxygen shortage, it was low CO₂ tolerance.

But after weeks of consistent practice, supported by nasal strips in training and mouth tape at night, things changed:

• My heart rate was lower at the same paces.
  

• Heavy sets felt smoother, without panic breathing.
  

• Recovery sharpened; less DOMS, less brain fog.
  

The science became real when my performance metrics matched how I felt.

Practical breath training for hybrid athletes

You don’t need to overhaul your plan. Layer breath training into what you’re already doing:

• Warm up with nasal breathing → Begin with 5–10 minutes of nasal-only cardio (bike, jog, row). This primes oxygen delivery and sets rhythm. (McKeown recommends this as the fastest way to retrain breathing patterns.)
  
  

• Use nasal strips in mixed sessions → BREEV Nasal Strips keep airways open when intensity spikes, so you maintain composure in transitions from lifts to cardio.
  
  

• Recover with control → Between sets, practice box breathing (4-4-4-4). Studies (Laborde et al., 2017) show slow, structured breathing improves HRV and speeds recovery.
  
  

• Sleep with your mouth closed → Nighttime is adaptation time. BREEV Mouth Tape ensures nasal dominance through the night, boosting sleep quality and next-day readiness. (Nestor famously experimented with mouth taping, reporting dramatic improvements in blood pressure and sleep metrics.)
  
  

Why this matters for hybrid athletes

Hybrid athletes have limited time. You don’t want gimmicks,  you want tools that deliver. Breath training:

• Improves crossover performance → oxygen efficiency benefits both strength and endurance.
  

• Reduces stress load → lower heart rates mean faster recovery and consistent training.
  

• Fits seamlessly into routines → minimal time, maximum physiological return.
  

The BREEV Advantage

Most athletes know breath matters. Few actually train it. BREEV makes it practical and premium:

• BREEV Nasal Strips → discreet dilators engineered for sport and sleep.
  

• BREEV Mouth Tape → restoring nasal dominance overnight so adaptation happens while you recover.
  

These are science-backed tools that turn research into results.

Final word

Strength and cardio demand more from your body than most athletes will ever experience. If you don’t train your breath, you’re leaving performance on the table.

From my own training, I’ve felt the shift: calmer under the bar, smoother on runs, sharper in recovery. And the science backs it, from Nestor’s insights, to McKeown’s protocols, to Huberman’s neuroscience, to MacKenzie’s athlete coaching, all point to the same truth:

Nasal breathing and CO₂ tolerance are true performance multipliers.

For hybrid athletes chasing marginal gains, breath training isn’t optional anymore.
It’s the missing link between your training and your potential.