Shadowing Practice: DO THIS DAILY If You Struggle to Breathe While Running - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Are you struggling to control your breathing while running?

You're not alone.

And the exciting thing is health professionals who specialise in breathing say

that non -elite athletes can benefit immensely from breathing exercises

and can expect to see results in two weeks by doing these exercises five minutes per day.

So let's dive into ways to help because if you can learn how to breathe while running and supercharge your lungs,

not only can you build upon your running performance, but it can also be more enjoyable.

Let's start by assessing if your breathlessness is a result of lung function or other training factors.

We can easily do this by performing the BALT test, which is short for the Body Oxygen Level Test.

And once we know your score, we can provide some helpful tips.

Okay, what you need to do is take a normal breath in and out.

Again, a normal breath in and out.

Once you've comfortably emptied your lungs, you then pinch your nose and hold your breath.

We want to see how many seconds it takes for that first urge to breathe.

Let's go through this now with a clock so we can measure your amount of seconds.

Okay, are you ready?

Take a normal breath in and out.

Again, normal breath in and out.

Empty your lungs, pinch your nose, and I'll start the clock.

Now remember this isn't how long you can hold your breath.

That's not what this test is about.

It's about seeing how long it takes your body to build up enough carbon dioxide to produce your first urge to breathe.

In fact if after doing this if you hold your breath

and immediately after your breath rate increases

and you struggle to get your breath back under control

that means you're taking too long and you've actually held your breath for too long.

Make note of the number of seconds until your first urge to breathe

and i'll wait a few more seconds just for everyone to

finish gives me a good opportunity to tell my favorite joke

of all time why couldn't the bicycle stand up by itself

because it was too tired thank you thank you okay let's wait a few more seconds

and let's finish there so let's bring up some results

if you got above 40 seconds this is a very good place and this is actually desired for most serious athletes.

If you are between 30 seconds

and 40 seconds that's pretty typical for a recreational runner so good job if you've got within this bracket.

If your score is between 20

and 30 seconds there might be some room for improvement but

if you're a beginner with baseline level of fitness I wouldn't worry too much if you fall within this bracket.

However if the score is below 20 seconds you've probably experienced a lot of excessive breathlessness during your exercise

and you can benefit immensely from these next tips.

In fact, no matter what your score, no matter what the Bolt score was,

you can still improve your breathing and improve your lung capacity with the tips I'm about to show you.

The first thing I want to mention is if your breathlessness is really disruptive to your running, you're probably running too fast.

I see this happen a lot and it's very, very common with new runners and a lot of the experienced runners I even see.

But if you're struggling to get your breath rate under control

and you're not sure if you are running too fast keep watching this video

because i have the solution the next thing you need to know is

that the shape of your lungs is like a teardrop this means

that the very bottom of the lungs contains the most air sacs

and breathing into these areas will help deliver the oxygen in a more efficient

and faster way the problem is a lot of us breathe with the tops of our chest

so practicing deep breaths and expand the lower rib cage and expand the stomach can help deliver a better breathing pattern.

Practice this in a seated position

and then once you get comfortable with this breathing pattern you can then move and transition it into your running.

Another way to help with your running is to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.

This technique has been said to help the oxygen reach those lower lobes of the lungs

so it might be helpful for you.

The other thing that you need to know is

that the respiratory muscles they're subject to fatigue just like any other skeletal muscle of the body.

So your respiratory muscles include your diaphragm and various muscles in and between the rib cage.

These muscles help expand the rib cage and draw oxygen in.

But research shows that when the respiratory muscles get fatigued, say after running a marathon or doing some moderate intensity exercise,

the fatigue causes you to take shallow breaths and you can't take in as much oxygen because those muscles,

they're really fatigued and can't do their job as well as they had when they were fresh.

So keep in mind if you're new to exercise,

recognize that it might take some time for these respiratory muscles to build up the necessary strength and endurance.

But more on ways we can deliberately strengthen our respiratory muscles later.

because i also want to mention that

if you're brand new to running keep in mind that

if the exercise itself is quite unfamiliar

you'll naturally have a higher effort level until your body starts to recognize the movement pattern

and then calm itself down both physically

and mentally i'm going to share an example

when i first started swimming for triathlons i was physically fit from all the running

and cycling that i was doing but i hadn't swam in decades

and as a result I got in the pool I went for a swim

and I was gasping for air just after completing one length of the pool

but it only took me two weeks before

I was swimming comfortably did I get fitter in this time

no did my lung capacity improve in this short period of time probably not

but I was more relaxed in the water and was more comfortable with

that swimming motion and so my breathing was well under control.

So what we've learned so far is that breathing deep into your lungs will help lung efficiency.

And if you're a beginner,

patients may need to be required to strengthen your respiratory muscles and to become more comfortable and familiar with the activity itself.

Next, let's discuss some practical exercises if you want to take that action step to improve your lung capacity and function.

After all, research shows that inspiratory muscle training can help improve athletic performance.

Aside from learning the belly breathing, another exercise you can do without equipment is called the pump method.

This helps strengthen your diaphragm and requires a passive exhale followed by a strong, sharp, short inhale with all the movement coming from your stomach.

Repeat this 10 to 15 times and do this twice a day.

If you're looking for something more serious,

you can also strengthen your respiratory muscles by breathing in and out through a special device that offers different levels of resistance.

But I always recommend following the other tips like the belly breathing and the pump method before progressing to something like this.

Now remember earlier when I mentioned most beginner runners are out of breath because they're running too fast?

Well I've created a whole other video to see exactly what speed you should be running,

not only to help your breathlessness but also to help increase your overall performance in the safest way possible.

So I'll see you there.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “DO THIS DAILY If You Struggle to Breathe While Running”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: breath, running, lung, breathing, muscle. This video has 36 sentences and 1311 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:12. The speaker talks fast, about 182 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
breathe verb	/bɹiːð/	To draw air into (inhale), and expel air from (exhale), the lungs in order to extract oxygen and excrete waste gases.
muscle noun	/ˈmʌs.əl/	A contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement.
lung noun	/ˈlʌŋ/	A biological organ of vertebrates that controls breathing and oxygenates the blood.
respiratory adjective	/ɹɪˈspɪ.ɹət.ə.ɹi/	Relating to respiration or the organs of respiration; breathing.
oxygen noun	/ˈɑksɪd͡ʒən/	The chemical element (symbol O) with an atomic number of 8 and relative atomic mass of 15.9994. It is a colorless and odorless gas. Sometimes called elemental…
swim verb	/swɪm/	To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means.
strengthen verb	/ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/	To make strong or stronger; to add strength to; to increase the strength of; to fortify.
fatigue noun	/fəˈtiːɡ/	A weariness caused by exertion; exhaustion.
expand verb	/ɪkˈspænd/	To change (something) from a smaller form or size to a larger one; to spread out or lay open.
urge verb	/ɜːd͡ʒ/	To press; to push; to drive; to impel; to force onward.
beginner noun	/bəˈɡɪnɚ/	Someone who is just starting at something, or has only recently started.
clock noun	/klɑk/	A chronometer, an instrument that measures time, particularly the time of day.
helpful adjective	/ˈhɛlp.fl̩/	Furnishing help; giving aid; useful.
stomach noun	/ˈstʌmək/	An organ in animals that stores food in the process of digestion.
physically adverb	/ˈfɪz.ɪ.kli/	In a physical manner.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
build up verb	To erect; to construct.
bring up verb	To mention.
go through verb	To travel from one end of something to the other.
stand up verb	To rise from a lying or sitting position.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	you've comfortably emptied · you've actually held · you've probably experienced
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is actually desired · has been said · be required

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 31 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, you've, I'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: breathe /bɹiːð/, strengthen /ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/, athlete /ˈæθ.liːt/, marathon /ˈmæɹəθən/, athletic /æθˈlɛt.ɪk/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: sharp /ʃɑɹp/, transition /tɹænˈzɪʃ.ən/, efficient /ɪˈfɪʃənt/, efficiency /ɪˈfɪʃ.ən.si/, shallow /ˈʃæloʊ/
Long words — get the stress right: respiratory /ɹɪˈspɪ.ɹət.ə.ɹi/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, efficiency /ɪˈfɪʃ.ən.si/, intensity /ɪnˈtɛnsɪti/, deliberately /dɪˈlɪb.(ə.)ɹət.li/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like breathe, muscle, lung.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: DO THIS DAILY If You Struggle to Breathe While Running - Learn English Speaking with Video

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