Patrick McKeown treats breathing as a trainable skill. Here's how coaches use nasal breathing and the BOLT score - in scope.
Most people breathe more air than they need, through the mouth, on autopilot. Patrick McKeown, founder of the Oxygen Advantage method, treats breathing as a skill you can measure and improve: nose by default, lighter not bigger, tracked with a simple test. This breakdown covers the method in our own words, adds our take for coaching it online, and stays clear about where coaching stops and a doctor starts.
By Markus Evers · September 2026 · a Coachway video breakdown
the short version
McKeown's functional-breathing method is: make nasal breathing the default (day, night and in easy training), breathe light rather than over-breathe, and use the BOLT score - a comfortable breath-hold-after-exhale - as a trainable measure of breathing efficiency. The one thing a coach should do about it: teach nasal breathing as a tracked daily habit and introduce it into easy sessions, using the BOLT trend as feedback - while keeping breath-hold work and any respiratory, cardiac, anxiety or pregnancy case with a medical professional. The habit is the coaching; the clinical picture is the doctor's.
Oxygen Advantage - Nasal Breathing and Breathing Economy
Source: Oxygen Advantage on YouTube (Patrick McKeown). Watch on YouTube. We embed the public video and summarise it in our own words; the video and channel belong to Oxygen Advantage / Patrick McKeown, and nothing here implies their endorsement of Coachway.
Who is Patrick McKeown, and why coaches watch
Patrick McKeown is a breathing educator and author, and the founder of the Oxygen Advantage method - a system built around functional breathing for health and performance. He has written widely on the subject (including The Oxygen Advantage and The Breathing Cure) and trained under the Buteyko tradition, and his work has brought nasal breathing, breathing economy and the BOLT score to a broad audience of athletes and coaches. Coaches watch him because breathing is one of the most under-coached inputs into performance, sleep and stress, and he gives it a clear, teachable structure. This look at nasal breathing and breathing economy is a representative example, which is the lens this page is written for.
What McKeown actually teaches (our summary)
This is our summary of the ideas in the video and the Oxygen Advantage method, in our own words - not a transcript. Watch the original for the exact framing and demonstrations.
- 1
Nose by default. Nasal breathing - day, night and in easy training - filters, warms and slows the breath; habitual mouth breathing over-ventilates.
- 2
Lighter, not bigger. Most people chronically over-breathe; the goal is light, slow breathing and better CO2 tolerance, not gulping more air.
- 3
The BOLT score makes it measurable. A comfortable breath-hold after a normal exhale is a simple, repeatable proxy for breathing efficiency you can track over time.
- 4
Nasal breathing in easy training. Keeping easy sessions nose-only builds breathing economy; introduce it gradually and let intensity, not habit, decide when the mouth opens.
- 5
It's a trainable skill. Simple, consistent practice shifts the breathing pattern over weeks - it's a habit to build, not a one-off fix.
a note on scope
Breathing is health-adjacent, so stay in your lane. Coaching the general habit of nasal breathing and light breathing is fine; diagnosing or treating a breathing, respiratory or medical condition is not. Breath-hold and strong CO2-tolerance work is not appropriate for everyone - refer clients with asthma or other respiratory conditions, cardiovascular disease or uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes, epilepsy, pregnancy, or an anxiety or panic disorder to their physician before any breath-hold practice, and stick to gentle nasal breathing otherwise. Any breathing problem or respiratory symptom goes to a professional. This page is coaching education, not medical advice.
Coachway's take
We like breathing as a coaching lever because it's cheap, it's under-coached, and for the many clients who mouth-breathe on autopilot, the nasal-breathing habit is a genuine, low-cost win - better nasal airflow at night alone tends to help sleep, which helps everything else. McKeown's core moves - nose by default, breathe lighter, make it measurable - are sensible and teachable, and the BOLT score gives a client something concrete to watch instead of a vague "breathe better."
The honesty we'd add is about the claims. A single anecdote of a "PB by accident" is a hook, not evidence - treat breathing work as one input that supports training, sleep and stress management, not a shortcut that replaces them. The BOLT score is a useful self-tracking proxy, but it's a proxy: individual response varies, it isn't a medical measurement, and a coach should read the trend, not obsess over a number. Under-selling it slightly keeps the client's expectations - and yours - honest.
The scope line matters more here than for most training topics, because breathing shades into health. A coach can absolutely teach and encourage nasal breathing and light breathing as a habit. A coach cannot diagnose or treat a breathing or respiratory condition, and breath-hold work isn't for everyone - so the moment a client's picture involves a relevant condition or a breathing symptom, that goes to a professional. Coach the habit, refer the clinical picture.
So our version of the method is: teach nasal breathing as a default daily habit, have the client self-track their BOLT under consistent conditions, introduce nasal breathing into easy sessions gradually, review the trend at check-in - and keep breath-holds and any medical case with the right professional.
Assign the habit, track the BOLT trend
Breathing coaches well online because it's a habit plus a simple metric, both of which live in check-ins and progress tracking. You assign nasal breathing as a daily habit and have the client log their morning BOLT score under consistent conditions, so you can watch the trend over weeks and use it as feedback rather than a guess. The nasal-breathing cue for easy sessions goes into the plan in the workout builder, introduced gradually so intensity stays low enough to hold the pattern. The method is McKeown's; the platform is how you assign, track and review it for a client you're not training in person - while keeping any breathing or medical concern with a professional.
Breathing pairs naturally with recovery and endurance: the companion breakdowns on Nick Littlehales on sleep and recovery and Stephen Seiler on easy endurance work sit alongside nasal-breathing habits.
The functional-breathing starter (assign it)
A simple starter you can assign to a general client: the habit, the metric, and the easy-training cue. Keep it gentle, track the trend, and refer any medical case out.
Functional-breathing starter
| Element | What it is | How to assign it |
|---|---|---|
| Nose by default | Nasal breathing, day and night | Daily habit; notice and correct mouth breathing |
| Breathe light | Slow, gentle, low-volume breathing | A few minutes of calm nasal breathing daily |
| BOLT score | Comfortable hold after a normal exhale | Measure each morning, same conditions; log the trend |
| Nasal in easy sessions | Nose-only during low-intensity work | Introduce gradually; drop intensity to hold it |
| Scope guardrail | Where coaching stops | Refer respiratory/cardiac/anxiety/pregnancy cases out |
How to use it: assign nasal breathing as a habit, add a few minutes of light breathing daily, track the morning BOLT trend, and bring nasal breathing into easy sessions gradually. Read the trend as feedback, not a diagnosis. Breath-holds and CO2 work are not for everyone - refer clients with asthma or other respiratory conditions, cardiovascular disease, uncontrolled hypertension, diabetes, epilepsy, pregnancy, or anxiety/panic disorders to their physician first. Coaching education, not medical advice.
FUNCTIONAL-BREATHING STARTER (via Coachway) - breathing is a trainable skill: nose by default, lighter not bigger, made measurable - NOSE BY DEFAULT | nasal breathing, day and night | daily habit; notice and correct mouth breathing - BREATHE LIGHT | slow, gentle, low-volume breathing | a few minutes of calm nasal breathing daily - BOLT SCORE | comfortable hold after a NORMAL exhale | measure each morning, same conditions; log the trend - NASAL IN EASY SESSIONS | nose-only during low-intensity work | introduce gradually; drop intensity to hold it - SCOPE GUARDRAIL | where coaching stops | refer respiratory/cardiac/anxiety/pregnancy cases out HOW TO USE: Assign nasal breathing as a habit, add a few minutes of light breathing daily, track the MORNING BOLT trend (comfortable urge-to-breathe after a normal exhale - not a forced max hold), and bring nasal breathing into easy sessions gradually. Read the trend as FEEDBACK, not a diagnosis. A single "PB by accident" is a hook, not evidence - breathing supports training/sleep/stress, it doesn't replace them. SCOPE (important): The general nasal-breathing habit is low-risk. Breath-holds and strong CO2-tolerance work are NOT for everyone - refer clients with asthma or other respiratory conditions, cardiovascular disease, uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes, epilepsy, pregnancy, or an anxiety/panic disorder to their physician before breath-hold work. A coach teaches the habit; a coach does NOT diagnose or treat a breathing/respiratory/medical condition. Any breathing problem or symptom -> refer to a professional. Coaching education, not medical advice.
Functional breathing - FAQ
Is nasal breathing actually better than mouth breathing?
For most people, at rest and during easy-to-moderate exercise, yes - and the mechanism is straightforward. The nose filters, warms and humidifies air, adds resistance that slows the breath, and releases nitric oxide that helps the airways and blood vessels. Habitual mouth breathing tends to mean faster, shallower, higher-volume breathing that's less efficient and is linked to poorer sleep when it happens at night. McKeown's point isn't that mouth breathing is never appropriate - at very high intensities the body will open the mouth to move enough air - it's that nasal breathing should be the default a client returns to, day and night and in easy training, rather than mouth-breathing by habit.
What is the BOLT score and how do you use it?
BOLT stands for Body Oxygen Level Test: after a normal exhale, the client times how long until they feel the first definite urge to breathe (not how long they can force a hold). It's used as a simple, repeatable proxy for breathing efficiency and sensitivity to carbon dioxide - a lower comfortable time tends to track with over-breathing, a higher one with a calmer, more efficient pattern. Coaches use it as a self-tracked metric: measure it under consistent conditions (e.g. first thing in the morning), watch the trend over weeks as the client practises, and use it as feedback rather than a diagnosis. It's a proxy, not a medical test - treat it as one input, and refer anything that looks like a breathing or health problem to a professional.
Is breathing training safe for everyone?
The general habit of nasal breathing is low-risk for most people, but breathing techniques - especially breath-holds and any strong CO2-tolerance work - are not appropriate for everyone, and this is where a coach must stay in scope. Refer clients with asthma or other respiratory conditions, cardiovascular disease or uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes, epilepsy, pregnancy, or an anxiety or panic disorder to their physician before doing breath-hold work, and coach only the gentle nasal-breathing habit for the general case. A coach can teach and encourage nasal breathing and light breathing as a habit; a coach cannot diagnose or treat a breathing, respiratory or medical condition. If in doubt, refer out - the habit is the coaching, the clinical picture is the doctor's.
How do you coach breathing for a remote client?
You treat it as a trackable habit plus a light training cue, not a one-off lecture. Assign nasal breathing as a daily habit (day and, where appropriate, taping-free nasal breathing at night), have the client self-measure their BOLT under consistent conditions and log it, and introduce nasal breathing into their easy sessions gradually - keeping intensity low enough that they can hold the nose-breathing pattern. Review the BOLT trend and how the sessions felt at check-in, and adjust. Because none of this needs you in the room, it's well-suited to online coaching - but keep the medical guardrail: the moment a client reports a breathing problem, a respiratory symptom or a relevant condition, that goes to a professional, not into the program.
More recovery and endurance breakdowns
- · Nick Littlehales on programming sleep and recovery - nasal breathing at night pairs with sleep hygiene.
- · Stephen Seiler on polarized endurance training - keeping easy work genuinely easy is where nasal breathing fits.
- · The full library: fitness creator coaching breakdowns.
Coach the inputs that support everything else
all guidesNick Littlehales on Programming Sleep and Recovery (Coach Breakdown)
Nick Littlehales's R90 sleep method, broken down for coaches: reframe sleep from an 8-hour target into programmable recovery - 90-minute cycles, a fixed wake time, planned recovery windows - coached within scope.
Read the guideStephen Seiler on Polarized Endurance Training (Coach Breakdown)
Dr. Stephen Seiler's polarized (80/20) endurance model, broken down for coaches: keep most work genuinely easy, make the hard work truly hard, and audit a client's intensity split instead of just adding volume.
Read the guideAndy Galpin on Reaching Fitness Goals (Coach Breakdown)
Dr. Andy Galpin's physiology-first approach to reaching fitness goals, broken down for coaches: diagnose the real limiter for each client - the lagging muscle, the adherence gap, the schedule - before you add work.
Read the guideFree tools for this: Calorie Deficit Calculator · Macro Calculator · One-Rep-Max Calculator
Assign the habit, watch the trend
Breathing is a habit plus a simple metric - both easy to run online. In Coachway you assign nasal breathing, have the client log their BOLT score, and review the trend at check-in. Start your 14-day free trial and coach the inputs that support everything else.
