Safety and about
Never train in or near water, while driving, or standing. Sit or lie down.
Staying safe
- Never train in or near water, while driving, or standing. Sit or lie down for tables and max tests. Blackouts can happen without warning.
- Never hyperventilate before a hold. Breathe calmly and normally; big breaths beforehand make a hold more dangerous, not easier.
- Walking holds are for flat ground, away from roads, stairs and water. Stop at moderate air hunger, never maximal.
- Reduced breathing is done seated, or during very easy walking or cycling. If it becomes stressful or your breathing turns ragged, breathe normally.
- Stop any hold the moment it stops feeling controlled. A max test is a test, not a fight.
- If you're pregnant, or have a heart, lung or blood pressure condition, check with a doctor first.
- O2 holds are capped at 80% of your tested max. There's no override.
The sessions
CO2 table
What it's for
Trains you to stay calm as carbon dioxide builds up. The hold stays the same each round while the rests between holds get shorter, so each hold starts with more CO2 in your body than the last.
It's the urge to breathe you're training, not your oxygen. Over time the urge tends to arrive later and feel less pressing, which is why the first contraction is the number to watch.
How to do it
Hold on a relaxed full breath in, not packed. Breathe calmly and normally beforehand: never hyperventilate.
Sit or lie down and stay relaxed. Tap Contraction at your first diaphragm contraction, and Breathe if a hold stops feeling controlled.
Contractions
A contraction is an involuntary jerk or pulse of your diaphragm, felt in your belly or chest. It can feel like a hiccup or an urge to swallow. It's a normal sign of rising CO2, not an emergency, and many people keep holding calmly through the first few.
Tap Contraction the first time you feel one: it records how far into the hold it came, and a later first contraction over time shows your tolerance improving. It's optional, and skipping it never affects your progression.
O2 table
What it's for
Trains you to cope with lower oxygen. The rests stay the same while the holds get longer, rising from 40% of your max to the level's final hold, never more than 80% of your max.
It's the more demanding table, so it's used less often, with at least two clear days between O2 tables and max tests.
How to do it
Hold on a relaxed full breath in, not packed. Breathe calmly and normally beforehand: never hyperventilate.
Sit or lie down and stay relaxed. Tap Breathe if a hold stops feeling controlled.
Contractions
A contraction is an involuntary jerk or pulse of your diaphragm, felt in your belly or chest. It can feel like a hiccup or an urge to swallow. It's a normal sign of rising CO2, not an emergency, and many people keep holding calmly through the first few.
Tap Contraction the first time you feel one: it records how far into the hold it came, and a later first contraction over time shows your tolerance improving. It's optional, and skipping it never affects your progression.
Walking holds
What it's for
Adds gentle movement, which builds CO2 faster, so you practise staying relaxed while your body is working. The holds are short and stop at moderate air hunger, so they train tolerance without strain.
How to do it
Walk at an easy pace on flat ground. After a normal breath out (not forced), pinch your nose and keep walking.
Tap Breathe at moderate air hunger, then breathe through your nose and keep walking for at least 1:00, until your breathing feels normal.
Reduced breathing
What it's for
Breathing a little less than you'd like, for a few minutes at a time, raises CO2 gently and steadily. It trains you to sit comfortably with mild air hunger, with no breath holds at all.
How to do it
Seated, or during very easy walking or cycling. Breathe through your nose, slower and softer than you'd like, keeping a light but steady air hunger.
If it becomes stressful or your breathing turns ragged, breathe normally.
Max test
What it's for
Measures your longest relaxed breath hold. Every table is built as a percentage of it, so retesting every few weeks keeps your tables matched to you.
How to do it
2:00 of calm breathing, two easy warm-up holds with rests between, then the max attempt.
Hold on a relaxed full breath in, not packed. Breathe calmly and normally beforehand: never hyperventilate.
Stop when staying relaxed becomes a struggle: it's a test, not a fight.
Contractions
A contraction is an involuntary jerk or pulse of your diaphragm, felt in your belly or chest. It can feel like a hiccup or an urge to swallow. It's a normal sign of rising CO2, not an emergency, and many people keep holding calmly through the first few.
Tap Contraction the first time you feel one: it records how far into the hold it came, and a later first contraction over time shows your tolerance improving. It's optional, and skipping it never affects your progression.
BOLT
What it's for
The Body Oxygen Level Test: how long you can comfortably hold after a normal breath out, until the first definite urge to breathe. It's a quick check of your everyday breathing. A rising trend over weeks suggests calmer breathing; a low score on a given day can mean an easier session is wiser.
How to do it
Ideally first thing on waking. Breathe normally, take a normal breath out, pinch your nose and start the timer.
Stop at the first definite urge to breathe, not when you can't hold any longer.
The Systema breath walk
Systema is a Russian martial art developed and taught by Mikhail Ryabko and Vladimir Vasiliev. Breathing sits at its centre: practitioners learn to keep the breath smooth and continuous through effort, stress and discomfort, on the basis that a calm breath keeps the body relaxed and the mind clear.
The breath walks link each breath to your steps. The breath ladder starts with one step in and one step out, adds a step each time, then comes back down. Triangle ladders add a hold of the same length: a full triangle holds after the inhale, an empty triangle holds after the exhale. The square ladder holds after both. Step holds are a soft exhale followed by a walking breath hold, building up to a best relaxed effort. These sessions follow a guided Systema breath walk by Matt Hill.
Holding after an exhale brings on air hunger sooner than holding after an inhale, for a few reasons: there's less oxygen in the lungs to draw on, less room for CO2, so it builds up faster, and fewer "you're fine" signals, because the stretch receptors that help hold off the urge to breathe in full lungs don't get that help. That makes the empty triangle, square ladder and step holds more focused CO2-tolerance drills, and why they deserve a bit more respect.
Practitioners describe these walks as building calm under exertion, better breath control and a steadier rhythm in movement, which is why they pair well with conditioning work. These benefits are reported by practitioners rather than established by research.
On the ladders, reaching 10 steps is a good benchmark, and 12 or 15 is better. But relaxation matters more than the number: come down sooner rather than strain.
About the programme
Warrior Breathing plans dry breath-hold training in six-week blocks, using CO2 and O2 tables, walking holds and reduced breathing, adjusted after each session by how hard you found it.
Its numbers follow common freediving and breath-training conventions, not research-backed prescriptions. Treat them as a starting point and listen to your body.
Support
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