Podcast 184: Breathing Expert Brian MacKenzie

This week on the WHOOP podcast, our guest, breathing expert Brian MacKenzie, joins us to discuss how breathing can improve performance, enhance sleep quality, reduce stress, and so much more.

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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BRIAN MACKENZIE EPISODE CHAPTERS:

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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