The Oxygen Advantage: Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Techniques to Help You Become Healthier, Slimmer, Faster, and Fitter

by Patrick McKeown

Overview

Improve your body’s oxygen use and increase your health, weight loss, and sports performance—whether you’re a recovering couch potato or an Ironman triathlon champion.

One of the biggest obstacles to better health and fitness is a rarely identified problem: chronic over-breathing. We often take many more breaths than we need—without realizing it—contributing to poor health and fitness, including a host of disorders, from anxiety and asthma to insomnia and heart problems.

In The Oxygen Advantage, the man who has trained over 5,000 people—including Olympic and professional athletes—in reduced breathing exercises now shares his scientifically validated techniques to help you breathe more efficiently. Patrick McKeown teaches you the fundamental relationship between oxygen and the body, then gets you started with a Body Oxygen Level Test (BOLT) to determine how efficiently your body uses oxygen. He then shows you how to increase your BOLT score by using light breathing exercises and learning how to simulate high altitude training, a technique used by Navy SEALs and professional athletes to help increase endurance, weight loss, and vital red blood cells to dramatically improve cardio-fitness.

Following his program, even the most out-of-shape person (including those with chronic respiratory conditions such as asthma) can climb stairs, run for a bus, or play soccer without gasping for air, and everyone can achieve:

• Easy weight loss and weight maintenance
• Improved sleep and energy
• Increased concentration
• Reduced breathlessness during exercise
• Heightened athletic performance
• Improved cardiovascular health
• Elimination of asthmatic symptoms, and more.

With The Oxygen Advantage, you can look better, feel better, and do more—it’s as easy as breathing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062349477
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/29/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	95,166
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Patrick McKeown has helped thousands of people to substantially improve their sports performance and overall health by incorporating simple, medically proven principles and exercises into their lives. In 1997, after graduating from Trinity College in Dublin, McKeown applied the work of Dr. Konstantin Buteyko to address his lifelong asthma, soaring stress levels, and sleep-disordered breathing. The Oxygen Advantage is an extension of this work, combining simulation of high-altitude training and specifically formulated exercises not only for significantly improving anyone's health, but also to empower athletes to improve their sports performance safely, legally, and at no cost. In addition to running workshops throughout his native Ireland, each year he gives workshops in North America, Europe, and Australia on maximizing one's life’s potential through breath.

Table of Contents

Foreword Dr. Joseph Mercola xiii

Introduction: Do More with Less 1

Part I The Secret of Breath 15

1 The Oxygen Paradox 17

2 How Fit Are You Really? The Body Oxygen Level Test (BOLT) 32

3 Noses Are for Breathing, Mouths Are for Eating 51

4 Breathe Light to Breathe Right 67

5 Secrets of Ancient Tribes 79

Part II The Secret of Fitness 93

6 Gaining the Edge-Naturally 95

7 Bring the Mountain to You 121

8 Finding the Zone 140

Part III The Secret of Health 171

9 Rapid Weight Loss Without Dieting 173

10 Reduce Physical Injury and Fatigue 186

11 Improve Oxygenation of Your Heart 193

12 Eliminate Exercise-Induced Asthma 209

13 Athletic Endeavor-Nature or Nurture? 221

14 Exercise as if Your Life Depends on It 231

Part IV Your Oxygen Advantage Program 237

Summary and General Program Based on BOLT Score and Health 239

Quick Reference Summary of the Oxygen Advantage Program 240

Oxygen Advantage Exercise Summary 242

Breathe Light to Breathe Right (Advanced Method) 255

General Program Based on BOLT and Health 267

Program for BOLT Score of Less Than 10 Seconds (or an Unhealthy or Older Person) 268

Program for BOLT Score of 10 to 20 Seconds 271

Program for BOLT Score of 20 to 30 Seconds 274

Program for BOLT Score of 30 Seconds Plus 277

Program for Weight Loss or Obesity (suitable for all BOLT scores) 282

Program for Children and Teenagers 286

Appendix: Upper Limits and Safety of Breath Holding 290

Notes 295

Acknowledgments 333

About the Author 335

About OxygenAdvantage.com 337

Index 339

Editorial Reviews

McKeown introduces readers to the “Oxygen Advantage,” an innovative but complex breathing technique that purportedly improves overall health… McKeown’s confident attitude should help his book appeal to a wide audience.” — Publishers Weekly

“I’m an NFL wide receiver and my Bolt Score was 13. Three weeks later it’s 30 and improving; running has gotten so much easier. I’m in better shape for another opportunity because I’m so much better at the simple act of breathing. It really does add up!” — Jay Wisner, NFL Free Agent

“Patrick McKeown, breathing trainer and author of The Oxygen Advantage, recommends breathing through your nose…It’ll feel weird, but within a few weeks, you’ll notice you can exercise longer and don’t tire as quickly.” — Dr. Oz The Good Life

From the Publisher

I’m an NFL wide receiver and my Bolt Score was 13. Three weeks later it’s 30 and improving; running has gotten so much easier. I’m in better shape for another opportunity because I’m so much better at the simple act of breathing. It really does add up!

Jay Wisner

Patrick McKeown, breathing trainer and author of The Oxygen Advantage, recommends breathing through your nose…It’ll feel weird, but within a few weeks, you’ll notice you can exercise longer and don’t tire as quickly.

Dr. Oz The Good Life

08/03/2015
McKeown introduces readers to the “Oxygen Advantage,” an innovative but complex breathing technique that purportedly improves overall health, increases athletic performance, promotes rapid weight loss, and alleviates asthma. McKeown developed the program after training with a renowned Russian physician with experience in the Soviet space program; over the past 13 years he has successfully trained over 5000 people to stop “chronic overbreathing.” McKeown explains how to use the body oxygen level test to assess breathing levels, then covers exercises and programs that include high-altitude training simulations. Some of the practices may strike readers as potentially unsafe, since they promote oxygen-deprived states, but McKeown is adamant that his life “was transformed completely by three simple (meditative) techniques.” Success stories feature Olympic athletes, the formerly obese, and a patient who, like McKeown, alleviated chronic asthma. The book features a helpful “Quick Reference Summary,” custom breathing exercises, and simple fill-in-the-blank progress charts. McKeown’s confident attitude should help his book appeal to a wide audience. Agent: Doug Abrams, Idea Architects. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly