Hi @Mytchell That is so very kind of you to say! Thank you so much for that feedback. I'm glad you are getting something out of my videos. And how cool that you are a fellow practitioner. Thanks so much for taking the time to connect. I love interacting with my fellow coaches.💖Ok, so Mytchell, your experience makes total sense. You are accustomed to living at high altitude. You're at an extreme advantage for having greater oxygen carrying capacity and for being adapted to a low-oxygen environment. That's why historically athletes will go train at altitude before a major competition, so that they can get the exact response in their RBCs, that you get just from living your daily life. Go to altitude, naturally "dope" to get greater oxygen-carrying capacity, come back to sea level and kick ass! 😂This is a well-known recipe for improving performance. Because you are so adapted to a low-oxygen environment, it only makes sense that you also do not experience much air hunger. So that when you come down to sea level - where there is so much MORE oxygen - of course your BOLT is going to increase and even double. Makes total sense. You're accustomed to having a high BOLT even in "extreme" conditions. So when conditions balance out, of course your BOLT is going to sky-rocket. Right on! 🙌🙌To be clear, it is quite normal for advanced breath-holders (think free divers) to have their SpO2 drop even into the 50s. Sounds terrifying, but again, it is simply an adaptation they have managed to create through practice, consistency, and perhaps a natural inclination toward breath-holding in the first place. People who do WHM and blow off all their CO2 in order to hold their breath for multiple minutes ALSO often find their SpO2 dropping into the 50s and even 40s. The trick here is the INTERMITTENT nature of the practice, in order to create a positive adaptation and make you more resilient in general. You would never want your SpO2 to remain that low, but small doses or bursts can be quite beneficial for optimizing overall performance and ease of breathing. It sounds like you know what you're doing, and as long as your SpO2 always recovers back to normal within a few breaths after your breath holds, I would not be concerned. If your SpO2 is NOT recovering quickly, then it's time for a deeper conversation about what's happening and perhaps a need to alter your current practice. But to me, you sound like an absolute champ! Nothing you've shared with me sounds unusual or alarming. I WILL be curious to hear how you feel when you finally return to altitude! I'm wondering if you will require some time to re-adapt. You'll have to keep me posted!🙏💖I hope this helps, Mytchell. Please do not hesitate to reach out with further questions or to simply continue the conversation. And thanks again so much for supporting my channel. I really appreciate that. Have a great day!

@@BELightTT Thank you so much for this quick and thorough response. I of course try everything before I refer it to a client, so I'll continue to to try and expand my range. By the way, I refer all my clients to your site and regularly prescribe one or several of your patterned breathing videos. On another subject, but still related to the BOLT, I have found that when I am training frequently, (I ride mountain bikes) my HRV plummets (a huge issue with triathletes and other endurance athletes as well - and one they don't seem to have cracked the code of). When my HRV gets low, I bump up my breathhold practice(s) and also include diaphragm pumping to "massage" the heart or diaphragm lifting to keep pressure on the heart, signaling it slow. Usually within a day, my HRV will once again be in the "balanced" range -- as per Garmin. However, while in Hawaii, I have had zero training and my HRV is through the roof. The info I have found on HRV is that too low is not good and often associated with high stress and/or overtraining. But no info HRV being too high, other than high HRV is associated with low stress.

@@Mytchell Aw, that's so sweet of you! I really appreciate those referrals. Thank you so much.🙏💖I am not a super expert in HRV, only because I am not huge into wearables. However, I did just get an OXA breathing wearable which comes complete with a really solid breath-coaching app. It measures HR, Breathing Depth, HRV and Respiratory Rate in real time, which is super cool. I plan to make a video series on it soon, for those of you who really get value out of seeing the data with your own eyes. www.oxalife.com/?sca_ref=5943759.qUAYdbR0ol In the meantime, yea HRV definitely goes low in relationship to too much stress and/or overtraining. In terms of "through the roof", I didn't even really know that was a thing. How high are we talking?! Honestly, Mytchell, I tend to be much more reliant on interoception (especially in well-trained individuals who have already been exposed to using wearables and know the "feelings"), and I like to teach people to be able to self-regulate away from their technology. I know people with things like chronic fatigue or other autoimmune issues can show very strange and inconsistent data on most wearables. Or rather, data that requires deeper interpretation - one that often points to a dysregulated nervous system. It doesn't sound like that's the case for you at all! You seem like you're very consistent with your training and super well-trained, as well as objectively fit and healthy. I don't think you should discount the drastic change in environment, and how that might impact your physiology. I would say not to worry about it too much, but I know that's not what you're looking for. You want an answer to the issue of very high HRV. You might like to check out Dr. Jay Wiles, who is really an expert in HRV: www.drjaywiles.com/ Maybe you'll find some answers. Thanks again for the conversation. Talk more soon.

@Jackie Mcnairn that's amazing! I am so thrilled to hear that you have found this combination of mouth taping and breathing exercises to be so life-changing. That's excellent. Keep up the great work!

@beverleybrangman2191 That's great! Not bad at all. Thank you so much for sharing. And thank you for taking the time to watch and support the channel. I'm glad it was helpful. Have a wonderful day!

@jammin6816 I'm so glad you liked it. Thanks so much for watching and for commenting.😊

Thank YOU @Dr. Balananda Happy to have you here. I hope you got some value from the video. Thanks so much for watching and for commenting.😊

Thanks @Guy Buysse 🙏😊

@Roberto Vidal Excellent! I'm so glad to hear you are learning a ton and feeling inspired. Thank you again for your support. Appreciate you watching.

Ok @Marie noneofyourbitness that's ok! 16 is as good a starting point as any. It just means there is room to start making improvements to your breathing and your CO2 tolerance. Happy to have you as part of the community. Please reach out any time with questions. Have a great night.

So where are you now?

@purosano2056 Nice! Room for improvement, but a great starting score! 🙌

@Guy Buysse if I have to be totally honest with you, I do try to save just a little bit for my paid programs that I offer😉🤷‍♀️. In the 4-Week Breath Boot Camp I teach, we spend 4 weeks talking about and practicing functional breathing. HOWEVER, I will give you some tips. Nasal breathing at all times (even during sleep and moderate exercise). Slow breathing (slower than you think). Deep breathing (meaning get your ribs to expand slightly with each inhale). Quiet breathing (breath should be light). If you want a written guide with bullet points, you can download my FREE PDF that talks a bit about functional breathing here: www.belighttt.com/10kgift (Just scroll down to the section titled "Breath Offerings"). I'll keep making more videos on all these aspects of breathing as well over the next several months. It just takes me a bit of time, as I only release about 1 video per week, but I promise to keep sharing more and more. Thanks for watching, Guy!

@Daniele Davino you're welcome! Thanks for watching and commenting.

@corangel98 No, the BOLT is more of an assessment/evaluation technique. If you are suffering with chronic sinusitis, I would instead check out these two videos and see if they have any impact. 1. Nose-Unblocking Exercise: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/r7uXmd2UybbNlKM.htmlsi=Wz90rodKjkeNDlcJ 2. Nasal Turbinate Hypertrophy: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/i5dnf9yQlbfFhoU.htmlsi=TaNCZybodLcH7G58 I hope one of those 2 videos will help. Thank you so much for stopping by the channel. Have a great day!

@Simon Santander Thanks for stopping by the channel and for leaving this comment. 1. Simon, do not be discouraged. a BOLT of 25-30 is good. Very reasonable. Nothing to be discouraged about. Is there room to optimize and be more efficient with your breathing? Definitely. But that's pretty much across the board for all of us. You're doing great! 2. So many factors impact your BOLT. What you eat and drink, how well you slept, your current emotional state, the time of day you measure it, if you're recovered or not, how many stressors you're managing in life. It's a helpful number, but it is NOT the end all and be all. The more important thing is to pay attention to your "symptoms" and how you FEEL in your own body. 3. You're a fighter? Awesome! My bf is a judoka, so I get fighters!🤩So, here's another thing. You chose one of the hardest sports out there! It's so taxing on your body and mind. It requires pristine energy management to survive. So, I hear your frustration, but again, know that you are not alone. It really comes down to simple functional breathing training. Most importantly, how functional is your breathing when you're NOT fighting? The choices you make away from the mat are going to hugely impact your stamina on the mat. How's your sleep? Are you actually taking time to recover? etc. And then, of course, there are things you can practice to keep your breathing more functional and efficient, during your sport. But that's like a whole training protocol, which I can't really teach you in a singular chat! LOL😂 Hang in there. There are answers.

Awesome @Libra LibraMD ! That's a great score. Please let me know how your progress goes. Thanks for watching and for commenting.

Hi @Aymal Khan in general, the greater your CO2 tolerance (meaning your ability to handle elevated levels of CO2 in your blood without going into a stress response), the higher your BOLT score. It is highly correlated. Although there are always outliers for everything, and some people have very "sticky" BOLT scores that do not budge significantly.

Hi @Jeremy Livingstone!! You hit 41:27 while holding your breath AFTER an exhale? Great job! Well, you've been working with your breath control for a while now, so it makes total sense. Amazing! Not everyone is so practiced in this way. And some of us are working with different baseline equipment (meaning nose, nasal cavity, lungs, etc.)😉. And oh yes, I am a big proponent of mouth-taping. I will make a video on that some time later this year. In the meantime, I recommend 2 types of mouth-tape in my Affiliate Store. You can check out my recommendations there: www.belighttt.com/store But, Jerry, honestly, it does NOT sound like you are in need of mouth-tape. That is more for people suffering with sleep-disordered breathing. You ability to hold your breath tells me that your sleep quality must be pretty good. In terms of NYC, it's been my home since I was 18 years old. I was a dancer and involved in the performing arts, so from a kid, it was always my dream to live there. And I did! For 23 years! But in 2020, I had to completely shut down my business. No salary. No income. Building a new business online from scratch. Plus, everything shut down in NYC. All my hobbies disappeared. Much of my community moved elsewhere. I just needed a break and a financial reprieve, so I'm back home with my mom. It's a nice change of pace and it's really helping me to create a solid business foundation without the added stress of massive financial strains. I believe EVERYONE should live in NYC for at least 1 year. I fully support you in your dream. New York City changes your perspective on life and what it means to coexist compassionately with each other.😊

@@BELightTT Thnxks a Bundle for your Generous reply I to had to Reinvent myself here in Australia the Upside being that I found time to Discover great Links such as yourself ... I am surprised that you haven't hundreds of thousands followers Your Presentation is second To none. Best Jerry🐞

@@jeremylivingstone4110 you are the sweetest! I appreciate that so much. And "reinvention" seems to be a major theme of the year, for individuals and the planet. I hope that your reinvention process is leaving you feeling fulfilled and satisfied with life. Thanks, as always, Jerry, for your support and lovely comments.

@Roopa Rao WOAH! Awesome! Did you measure it first thing in the morning? Or at some other time of day? That's an amazing BOLT score. Do you feel in general that your breathing is very good? Any symptoms of dysfunctional breathing? Keep up the great work. And thanks so much for sharing your score!

@relaxwithbogo5579 That's great! Super solid BOLT. Thanks for trying it out and for sharing your results. Appreciate that.

Holy smokes @Lauren Faith! Amazing! 3mins14secs is your BOLT or your max breath hold? You do a lot of under-water training? Thank you so much for sharing! You've set a new bar for us all to work toward. 😉

@@BELightTT Yes I do lots and lots of underwater training, static and dynamic apnea with my personal trainer. That's my bolt, my max breath hold is 6min52s

@@laurenfaith1257 Awesome!🤩 Where do you train? And mostly in pools or in the ocean as well? How many years have you been training underwater? I admire you. I wish I had a trainer close by.

@@BELightTT For underwater training it's only the pool, i've never trained in the ocean before. That's more for freedivers or surfers. But most of the training (like 90%) is done outside of the pool since can only get limited sessions at the pool with covid. It's basically a lot of cardio with my mouth taped and a nose clip on my nose lol

@@laurenfaith1257 That's very cool! I love watching underwater training sessions. I find them online and on social media. I would love to be involved with that community. And totally, I can get behind the taping your mouth closed during cardio! I get it. We do a little something like that in the Oxygen Advantage as well. 🙌 Can I ask you one more thing? Is your 3-minute BOLT on full lungs? Or after an exhale? Also, thanks so much for sharing. I love talking to people who have been training breath holds intensively.

@Aymal Khan yes, I would say again IN GENERAL, breath holding techniques will be useful for helping to improve your BOLT. As will reduced breathing techniques. In terms of duration, there are a lot of different ways to hold your breath, and duration will be highly individual. I do not teach hypoxic training on KZfaq for safety reasons. I only teach it in my online programs where I can keep an eye on my students. Have a good day, Aymal.

@@BELightTT Buteyko breath holding techniques are not hypoxic???

@@aymalkhan5781 What type of breath holds do you mean? The mini-breath holds? The 5-second breath holds I teach on KZfaq are actually very gentle, and overwhelmingly safe for the bulk of people. Breathe Light? I would not describe that as hypoxic. I would describe if as hypercapnic, however. My videos talking about breath holds are for people already practicing them. I don't teach those strong hypoxic techniques here.🤷‍♀ Or maybe you are referring to something else? Let me know, Aymal.

@@BELightTT yes same

@OHiMark at what time of day is it 29? This is very common, actually. I even see this in myself sometimes where the BOLT is much higher in the evening. I think this has to do with your hormone levels and your natural daily rhythm. I want to emphasize that your morning measurement will be the most accurate. You always want to try to take your BOLT before all the stimuli of your day begin to assault you. If it's below 10 in the morning, that can be a very good indicator of the quality of your sleep. Perhaps you are not getting into deep, restorative sleep. Do you know if you have any sleep issues? Do you snore? Do you sleep with your mouth hanging open? Those 6-9 hours of unconsciousness can have a massive impact on your level of functional breathing. I would highly recommend mouth-taping during sleep for a few weeks and see if your morning BOLT doesn't dramatically change. I will make a video about this soon, but you can find lots of info about mouth-taping on the internet these days as well. Thanks so much for watching and for commenting. Please let me know if you have any questions.

@@BELightTT I snore and have my mouth open during sleep. I have tried the tape thing but i always find it undone in the mornings. I think i unconsciously take it off during sleep lol.

@@ohimark9810 Yes, well that explains the very low BOLT first thing in the morning. You have depleted all of your CO2 stores and are coming off of several hours of dysfunctional breathing.😪 I am glad you are able to recover by the end of the day, but long-term, we really have to correct your sleep issues. What type of tape have you tried? I'm not trying to sell you anything, but I do want to share about MyoTape with you. My teacher created it. It's basically kinesiotape that goes AROUND your lips, instead of over them. It gently encourages the muscles of your face to keep your lips closed. It is not as "scary", since your lips are not covered, but the adhesive is a bit stronger, so it is harder to pull off in the nighttime. You may want to give it a try. I have a link to it in my Affiliate Store, but of course you can find it elsewhere on the internet as well: www.belighttt.com/store I'll try to make a video about this soon as well. In any case @OHiMark thanks for sharing about your experience and I wish you nights of beautiful, deep sleep. with nasal breathing. 👃😴

@@BELightTT Thanks for the insight! I might want to add that i've got quite a bit of facial hair which doesn't help. I use sports tape. I've tried looking for tape for beards or maybe some other method for guys with facial hair but haven't found anything. Any ideas?

@@ohimark9810 That's so funny! I was going to ask you about facial hair. It is a big problem, actually, in the mouth-taping community, LOL. I have just asked in my community of fellow breath coaches and am awaiting a response. As soon as I get some helpful tips for you, I promise to share them.😉

@user-sb6uf1pk9t Tim, that is so interesting. I love these N = 1 experiences. Thank you so much for sharing this. So, to clarify, your BOLT is not a perfect score - because it's based on your subjective experience - so it's already a tad flawed, but it does provide some information....especially when someone has truly dysfunctional breathing. Also, what you will find is that your BOLT will change dramatically even throughout the course of a single day! It is very susceptible to how well you slept, your stress levels, your emotional state, what you're eating, how you're exercising, your hormones, etc. It will change always. That's why to really be able to utilize it effectively, you really have to take it at the same time, and in the same way, every day for an extended period of time. I'd say it's more informative when you can look at the pattern over time, rather than the simple day to day. I find it's very similar to HRV readings in this way. But this is so super cool that it improved so much from the 3-day fast. Did you do those readings at the same time of day? Thanks again for sharing.

Hi again, Time. No. The BOLT is not the equivalent of your resting breath cycle. Although, having said that, I would absolutely expect someone with a BOLT of 35-40 to have a naturally lower resting respiratory rate, and to be much more efficient with their breathing during exercise as well. That's why we do specific training to try to improve the BOLT. More specifically, the improved BOLT score is not the goal, but rather the improved performance and diminishment of negative symptoms that come from making that improvement. Just because someone can easily breathe 1-2 breaths per minute, doesn't mean their body will default to that at rest. Even the most trained breathers will normally breathe 4-6 breaths at rest. I hope this helps.