Masks and Exercise – What you need to know

There’s no doubt wearing a mask during exercise can be uncomfortable and take some getting used to, but there are ways to adapt. Our Fitness World experts assembled these helpful insights, tips, and reminders to help you optimize your experience during your next workout.

1. Develop proper breathing technique. 

Use your diaphragm to breathe instead of your chest: Think of breathing through your back while expanding your ribs. Prone breathing, box breathing, and nasal breathing techniques can all help:

Prone Breathing:

• Step 1: Sit in a comfortable position or lie flat on the floor, your bed, or another comfortable, flat surface.
• Step 2: Relax your shoulders.
• Step 3: Put a hand on your chest and a hand on your stomach.
• Step 4: Breathe in through your nose for about two seconds. You should experience the air moving through your nostrils into your abdomen, making your stomach expand. During this type of breathing, make sure your stomach is moving outward while your chest remains relatively still.
• Step 5: Purse your lips (as if you’re about to drink through a straw), press gently on your stomach, and exhale slowly for about two seconds.
• Step 6: Repeat these steps for several rounds.

Box Breathing: Inhale for four seconds, pause and hold your breath for four seconds, then exhale for four seconds. Gradually work up to a box breath of 8 seconds/8 seconds/8 seconds.

• Step 1: Sitting upright, slowly exhale through your mouth, letting all the oxygen out of your lungs. Focus on this intention and be conscious of what you’re doing.
• Step 2: Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose to the count of four. In this step, count to four very slowly in your head. Feel the air fill your lungs, one section at a time, until your lungs are completely full and the air moves into your abdomen.
• Step 3: Hold your breath for another slow count of four.
• Step 4: Exhale through your mouth for the same slow count of four, expelling the air from your lungs and abdomen. Be conscious of the feeling of the air leaving your lungs.

Nasal Breathing: With your mouth closed, spend five minutes breathing only through your nose. Try this while performing lower intensity cardio.

2. Improve your ability to exhale to build CO₂ tolerance.  

When you start wearing a mask during your workouts, you may need to reduce the intensity of sessions, especially cardio. You can also increase rest periods while strength training.

Continue to focus on breathing through your nose and aim for your exhales to be as least as long as your inhales, as that is how CO₂ is expelled. Inadequate exhalation of CO₂ is the main reason it may accumulate in the bloodstream when wearing a mask.

Pay close attention to your midsection — that is what should expand and contract as you breathe. If your shoulders and chest raise during inhale, you’re probably doing too much chest breathing.

3. Use the power of positive self-talk. 

Our thoughts affect not only our minds, but our bodies, too. Consciously and regularly checking in on how you feel as well as using intentional language — “I can” vs. “I can’t” — can help you physically and mentally relax during activity.

Optimize Nutrition for Optimal Oxygen Use  

As you train your body to better use your diaphragm for breath work and improved oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange, also consider strategies to amplify the delivery of oxygen to tissues — this can help drive performance.

• Vitamin B12, found in seafood, beef, and chicken. Make sure any supplements contain the most active forms of vitamin B12 — methylcobalamin or acetylcobalamin versus cyanocobalamin.
• Folate, found in leafy greens, citrus, and beans. The best form of folate in supplements is not folic acid. Instead, look for 5-methyltetrahydrafolic acid or 5-methyltetrahydrofolate which can be better metabolized and absorbed compared to synthetic folic acid.
• Iron, found in grass-fed red meat and dark-meat poultry. Cooking in cast iron can also support iron levels. To enhance absorption, pair high-iron foods with a source of vitamin C, such as broccoli, bell peppers, or citrus.
• Creatine monohydrate, a safe, well-researched and effective supplement, can also support your body’s ability to produce energy without oxygen during the first several seconds of any activity. Doses of 3 to 5 grams daily, post-workout, is often a good starting point.

It may also be a good time to experiment with lower-carbohydrate dietary patterns, too, especially if your workout intensities are lower than usual. Higher intakes of carbohydrates correlate with higher amounts of CO₂ produced, so moderating carbs (not eliminating them altogether) may also help you better adjust to wearing a mask during workouts.

For an inside-out approach, periodic, comprehensive InBody testing — which we suggest getting done every 8 weeks — can help you identify potential barriers to healthy aerobic and cellular health.

Practical Tips 

At the end of the day, the transition to mask-wearing might take some time — and we’re here to help you adjust as efficiently as possible.

How to pick a mask: 

• Choose a version that you’re comfortable wearing while exercising. Both single and multi-layer options are available and offer varying levels of protection. Your choice is based upon the desire for more layers, which may offer greater protection from respiratory droplets, or a single layer, which may improve breathing during exertion. Of course, wearing any mask in general will reduce the spread of respiratory particulates.
• For homemade masks, recent evidence suggests that combining a layer of high thread count cotton with a layer of silk may offer protection that’s on par with medical-grade masks. Research also shows that vacuum cleaner bag material may offer good protection against the spread of droplets as well. The CDC has instructions for making your own face coverings here.
• Ensure a proper fit — over the nose, not too loose, not too tight. If there are gaps along the edges of the mask where air can escape, the effectiveness decreases substantially.
• Make sure it’s washable. The CDC recommends washing your mask between each use and drying either flat in direct sunlight or on the highest temperature. Follow the care instructions on your mask to maintain its efficacy when you’re wearing it.

Here are some of the best options to wear while working out that would allow you to have a safe and effective workout!