— BREATHWORK FOR ATHLETES · MELBOURNE IN PERSON· ONLINE WORLDWIDE

You've optimised everything. Except your breathing.

HYROX, marathon, ultra-running, cycling, swimming, triathlon. If training, nutrition and recovery are already dialled in and you're still leaving performance on the table, breathing efficiency is usually the lever nobody's trained.

HYROX

MARATHON

ULTRA

CYCLING

SWIMMING

TRIATHLON

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Why BOLT isn't in your training plan yet

VO₂ max Responds to base training

FTP / threshold pace Responds to interval work

BOLT score Not targeted → not improving

BOLT doesn't automatically improve as fitness does. It responds to targeted training in weeks, not seasons — and it directly affects your performance ceiling under load.

Fitness doesn't guarantee efficient breathing

— THE GAP

Your BOLT score reflects breathing efficiency and CO₂ tolerance — how well you handle the build-up of carbon dioxide that drives the urge to breathe under load.

It's a different metric to VO₂ max, FTP or pace, and it doesn't automatically improve as those do. A 2023 Stanford study found structured daily breathwork practice produces measurable improvements in five minutes a day.

Weeks, not seasons.

    
      BOLT score benchmarks
    
      Body Oxygen Level Test
    
      Many elite athletes (starting point)
    
      9–10s
    
      General population average
    
      ~20s
    
      One coaching client · week 4
    
      36s
    
      Target · strong aerobic efficiency
    
      40s+

Step 01

Baseline

We take your BOLT score and look at how you're actually breathing under load — nasal or mouth, chest or diaphragm, what happens when effort spikes. If you have race data or threshold tests, we pull those in too.

Step 02

Targeted training

Nasal breathing at easy pace, CO₂ tolerance work, and breath patterns matched to your sport — transitions in HYROX, climbs on the trail, position changes on the bike, bilateral breathing for swimmers.

Step 03

Re-measure

We re-test your BOLT score and set it alongside your training data — threshold pace, FTP, station splits, race times, HRV. You see what moved and by how much.

Trained and tracked like everything else in your program

— THE PROCESS

SAFETY NOTE

BOLT testing and CO₂ tolerance work should only ever be practised at rest, seated or lying down, in a safe environment. Never practise breath-holding while driving, cycling on the road, or during any activity where losing focus would be dangerous.

Swimmers: breath-hold practice combined with swimming carries a real risk of shallow-water blackout. Any in-water breathing work happens in a supervised squad setting — never solo.