How to Increase Lung Capacity for Running - Our Essential Tips

When you take up running, one of the big changes you'll notice in your body is that the more you exercise, the longer it takes to get out of breath. This is because your lungs are becoming more efficient at processing oxygen (among other factors).

Now, if you want to improve your running, it makes sense to improve your efficiency in this area - many runners think of this as ‘improving their lung capacity’. So what exactly is lung capacity for running, and do you need to increase it?

What is lung capacity?

Lung capacity simply refers to the maximum volume of air that can be taken into your lungs in a single breath. The average adult has a maximum volume of about six litres (this changes over time, declining from a peak in your twenties). For most healthy people, their natural maximum is basically fixed, and there's not a huge amount you can do to increase your lung volume. It is possible to increase lung capacity by doing breathing exercises (see below), but the increase is relatively nominal.

So, when we talk about lung capacity in running, we are not talking about somehow increasing the amount of air you can fit in your lungs. Instead, we're talking about the efficiency at which you can process oxygen when you breathe.

Each time you breathe, you are inhaling oxygen (among other gases) into your lungs. This oxygen then passes through microscopic air sacs called alveoli into your bloodstream. At the same time, carbon dioxide is transferred from your bloodstream into your lungs and then out of the body as you exhale. If you exercise regularly, your body will become much more efficient at doing this transfer of oxygen - which is known as aerobic capacity.

So, when we talk about increasing lung capacity for running, we're really talking about improving aerobic capacity.

What is the importance of lung capacity in running?

As noted above, your lung capacity is relatively fixed by your age, sex, and genetics. What you can change, however, is your aerobic capacity.

Improving your aerobic capacity provides several key benefits for runners, including:

• You can take deeper, fuller and more efficient breaths when running
• With regular training, your lungs will grow more capillaries, and this means you can transfer oxygen from your lungs to your bloodstream faster
• The number of alveoli will also increase as you train more, which means they will take in more oxygen and deliver it to your bloodstream faster

Tips to improve lung capacity for running

Here are a few different ways to increase your aerobic capacity:

• Altitude training: If you live in a relatively low lying area close to sea level, then your body is used to running in an environment that has a relatively high saturation of oxygen. However, at higher altitudes, there is less oxygen in the air. So, doing high altitude training forces you to become more efficient at using oxygen when you breathe. Many professional runners train in high altitude environments to improve their aerobic efficiency.
• High intensity interval training (HIIT): This is a very popular form of exercise, which forces you to perform bouts of explosive exercise with brief breaks between sets. As you do more HIIT, your body will adapt by improving its efficiency.
• General running: All kinds of running - be that long slow training jogs, threshold runs, fartlek or any other type of training - can all improve your aerobic capacity.

Breathing exercises to increase lung capacity

Runners don’t necessarily need to carry out breathing exercises to increase their lung capacity. All the same, you might choose to add some exercises into your warm up sessions to get prepared for the more intense breathing you will be doing during a race. Make sure, however, that you don’t hyperventilate.

If you have asthma, emphysema or any other breathing conditions, consult with your doctor first before doing any new breathing exercises.

Here are three breathing exercises to increase lung capacity as part of a warmup.

1. Diaphragmatic breathing

This breathing exercise is about breathing deeply into your diaphragm (a muscle at the bottom of your chest). When you breathe normally, your lungs don’t entirely fill, so diaphragmatic breathing flexes the diaphragm and pushes oxygen deeper into your lungs.

• Sit down or lie on your back with one hand on your stomach and the other on your chest
• Inhale deeply through your nose for two seconds, and feel the air expand into your lungs – your stomach will also rise
• Next, breathe out through pursed lips for two seconds, pressing on your stomach as you do
• Repeat this exercise for one minute

2. Pursed lip breathing

The goal of pursed lip breathing is to keep your airways open longer than usual, which makes it easier for your lungs to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide with your bloodstream.

• Sit down and inhale through your nostrils for two seconds
• Next, gradually breathe out between pursed lips for five seconds.
• Repeat this pattern for one minute

3. Rhythmic breathing while running

Rhythmic breathing is believed to help with recovery. Pull on your running shoes, and follow this pattern.

• Begin running at a comfortable pace
• Breathe in through your nose and inhale into your stomach – rather than your chest
• As you are running, inhale for three steps then exhale on the next two steps
• Repeat this for at least one minute

Increasing lung capacity for running

As a runner, it might seem intuitive to want to increase your lung capacity, yet for most healthy adults your natural lung capacity is fairly fixed and doesn't really need to change. Instead, the ultimate goal is to improve your aerobic capacity. 

But, you can still use breathing exercises to increase lung capacity as part of your warm up, as well as for other benefits such as helping you focus.