Breathwork: Learn How & Why to Breathe Better for Performance & Longevity with Airofit #podcast

Welcome to another episode of the Longevity and Lifestyle Podcast. I'm your host Claudia von Boeselager, here to uncover groundbreaking strategies, tools, and practices from the world's pioneering experts to help you live at your best and reach your highest potential. If you haven't done so already, make sure to grab my 10 Hacks to Improve Your Life and Longevity Playbook by going to longevity-and- lifestyle.com/10hacks. My guest today is Mike Bennett from breath training company Aerofit. Originally from New Zealand, a classic Kiwi kid with a strong passion for sport in the outdoors coupled with a strong interest in science led Mike to become fascinated by the human body and what it is capable of. After majoring and graduating in sport and exercise science, he set off playing rugby in Europe, while learning. Through injury, Mike discovered the power of breath and is passionate about bringing Aerofit to the world to help people improve their lives through breath. Welcome to the Longevity and Lifestyle Podcast, Mike. It's a pleasure to have you on today.

Thank you. And thank you very much for having me. I look forward to discussing this with you.

Yeah, I'm really excited as well, because it's also a personal topic to me that I, and I think a lot of women, which is pretty much half the world's population, tend not to breathe as well. We don't use our lungs properly. So we're going to look at all things breath and obviously the Airofit device as well. But I'd love to start with the science behind breathing properly. Why is it so important? Can you talk a little bit about that just for my audience?

Yeah, so breathing is such a fundamental thing. It's something we do from as soon as we're born until we die, with the occasional breath hold in there. So when we're swimming or something. But the underlying factor is we're just trying to get oxygen in and carbon dioxide out. As simple as that. But when you're doing it poorly, you lead to all kinds of trouble. And whether you're breathing through your nose or mouth, completely different things. But the underlying factor is we lose the ability to breathe properly as we age. So metabolic responses to breathing— so oxygen is the main fuel source for every single metabolic process within the body. Carbon dioxide is the byproduct. So what finishes the product, finishes these processes? Bringing in the good stuff, pushing out the bad stuff. As simple as that.

I'd also just be interested to hear, but is it just bad habits that people develop that they start breathing badly, if you will? Because I think the typical way is if you see a baby and you look at their belly and it's really expanding and they're breathing really nicely. Whereas I think there was a stage where my shoulders were up and I was literally upper respiratory breathing and not breathing properly as well. Why does that actually happen? Is it just habit, What would you say?

That's a multi-level question. So one thing that, this is just a simple hypothesis from my own behalf, is when we're kids, we run around screaming, using our full diaphragm as a singer would. We're properly screaming, accessing our full capacity of our lungs. But as we're aged, we're taught to breathe very shallow, sit quietly in a classroom, and not activate that full lung capacity. And then over time, with leading a more stressful life, we change our breathing patterns. We tend to breathe in our shoulders, as you just mentioned, which then alters the carbon dioxide in the blood. So I was reading a really interesting study the other day, and best estimations state that over 70% of the population breathes incorrectly.

Wow.

This is a major majority. So not just the woman, as you mentioned, but everyone around the world is breathing incorrectly. And it's as simple as learning to access that diaphragm way bit more, just taking a 10-minute conscious break to understand how you're breathing, you have massive benefits.

And then there's obviously cool devices like Airofit as well, which we'll, we'll dive into.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. Why would you say Airofit was originally developed? And can you talk a little bit about what the Airofit device can do? And for those people watching, so I have, I've been able to, I've had the pleasure of testing it. And honestly, after even just a few sessions, I noticed a huge difference. If I went for a run, it was almost effortless, whereas before I'd have breathing issues. And I've actually retrained the ability from my belly, if you will, to actually move while I breathe instead of my lovely upper shoulders movements that weren't very effective before. So yeah, can you share a little bit for us?

Yeah, gladly. So our device was actually founded by a Danish company called Ambu, which is a health tech company, and they developed it to help with COPD and asthma and other pulmonary issues. But our CEO Christian, he actually found this device and wanted to practice it. I use it to help practice singing. So he was a classical singer, filling audiences and filling the whole halls with his voice.

Wow.

And he wants to pursue this a wee bit more and more air coming in, bigger lung capacity, you can sing notes bigger, longer. Wow. And the device itself was very big and it required Christian to be there while training them. So not a very practical device. And alongside this, his sons were very competitive swimmers and went to the Nordic swimming championships. And the eldest actually went with the hope of qualifying for one final. And after training with Airofit for just 3 months, not Airofit as we know and love today, but the original device, he came back with 7 gold medals.

Wow.

And on the back end of that, actually obtained a scholarship to a university in America. So full ride scholarship just from breathing through what was in the original Aerofit. And Christian, being the ambitious man he is, started investing all of his money, all of his friends' money, and developing the device smaller. But one thing he noticed is he still had to be there to explain how to use the device. Hence, we now have an application which will actually guide you through all of these exercises. So it went from a small idea and just grew in his head and yeah, being ambitious and wanting to change the world, he actually set off on that adventure and I believe he has done so.

Completely. What an ROI, I think, for all parents out there listening and ambitions, sport ambitions for their children. And I think the beauty of it is that you're not adding any chemicals. You're not doing anything unnatural. You're just training what's naturally there and just improving it and improving the oxygenation and exhaling of carbon dioxide as well. So really phenomenal. Are there some misconceptions around the AeroFit? Maybe you can talk about them.

Yeah, so I like to say that we're educating an unknown or broken area. Breathwork has become such a hot commodity over the last 5 years given certain circumstances, and everyone is looking for a way to improve their breathing without doing much, whether that is using a device or something else. So that makes us quite hard because people are skeptical about AeroFit. They say that we look like a James Bond diving device or something from Star Wars.

Good for pocket underwater diving.

I think that just adds to the charm of the device that we look cool enough to be in a James Bond film. Like, I know Aston Martin's super happy to be part of James Bond, so maybe we should be too.

Exactly. That's true.

Yeah, for sure. And then a lot of people think that we've got an excessive price point. We are on the higher end, but we do have the application which then has so many hours of breathwork within it. One hour with some of the breath coaches who developed our breathing techniques and our app was up to $500 per hour. So you're paying less than that for the device, which is a lifetime purchase. We have users who have been using our devices for 3 years with no issues. That's $100 a year. Which is phenomenal. And then the biggest misconception is to use the device while exercising, which you've used the device yourself. How would you find it if you're running with it?

I heard a talk with Ben Greenfield, and I know he does his walks with it, which I would think is pretty challenging. You'd need a pretty strong muscle apparatus going on into there because depending on the exercise that you're doing, but you do need to concentrate and make sure you're doing it right. I don't know if maybe more advanced level users would be able to go go for a walk with it. I don't know, but I definitely think it's something— if you're doing it properly and really focusing on it, I guess it's quality over quantity, I would think.

Yeah, exactly. And we see that with all of our users, the ones who train under 15 minutes, a better outcome, rather than those who overtrain. It's just like any other muscle. Yeah, if you overtrain in the gym, you can't do anything for 2 or 3 days. If you overtrain with Aerofit, you're going to have a sore diaphragm. But then also there's that whole altitude mask issue that— so years ago, you remember that big mask people wore while running?

Yeah.

Yeah. The main issue with this was people were wearing this while running, so they were training their respiratory muscles while exercising. But then this was a trade-off. Their locomotive muscles, their legs, arms, whatever they were training, weren't getting enough oxygen. It was a useless exercise for these muscles. So essentially they were putting their joints, muscles through useless strain with no return. So it was diminishing returns. And that's the great thing about Aerofit. Just sit on the couch, take 5 to 10 minutes outta your day and just actually hyperfocus. Use a dumbbell for your diaphragm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Which I think is really cool. Can you talk about some of the use cases? We obviously talked about athletes as well, but even within that, maybe you can talk a bit about it, but then non-Olympians and things like that. Yeah. Who else is this for?

Yeah, of course we have our elite cyclists, so we work with like Lourdes Adel, who's a Tour de France team, and they see the marginal gains. So they see the half a percent to percent increase, like sort of the decrease in heart rate when they are in that red zone. So instead of a 180 heart rate, there might be 177, 178, which just makes them slightly more efficient. They shift their metabolic reflux. This is the process of your circulatory system thinking, I'm pushing too hard now. My lungs need the oxygenated blood, not my legs. You hit the wall, you're really struggling. Aside from this, I have a very interesting user case from an 86-year-old novice swimmer. So we've just released a blog post on this, so you can read more about her at Aerofit. But she's a phenomenal lady. So she's a mother of 7. Her daughter was murdered 30 years ago, which led her to run or exercise to counteract the pain in her heart. And when she was just before her 50th birthday, she obtained her PhD. Where she actually taught herself to swim as well. And then about 2 years ago, she was at a specialist for the pulmonary system and she found her lung volume was at 0.8 liters, which is extremely low for an 86-year-old. It's not too surprising, but she wants to pursue swimming and she got told, if you want to do this, try Airofit. Then 5 months later, she had an accessible lung capacity of 3.5 liters. Wow, that really bounced up. And that was down to increasing the compliance of her lung tissue itself, so becoming stronger breathing, but then opening the lungs up even more. And now she swims novice level but competitive at 86 years old. That is absolutely mind-blowing, phenomenal.

Is there something to aim for? I love that story. That, that's really Incredible. Yeah.

And when I was speaking to her and then another doctor who's done a bit of research for us, we were talking about how AeroFit is a gateway into a healthier life. You may not be able to do everything just yet. Sit on the couch, train with AeroFit. You slowly build up your tolerance to exercise. Then after one week of AeroFit, you might be ready to walk to the shop instead of drive, and you can progress over time that way. And that could be the difference between playing with your kids or your grandkids or sitting back and enjoying it. We might call that gateway.

Yeah, I like that concept as well. So for people who might even struggle with walking or post-surgery or just general health, yeah, that's a really good training mechanism to just build that confidence. I think it's that breathlessness, or people are intimidated by staircases sometimes, so that could be a good way to get back into it.

Exactly. And that covers everyone from someone with a pulmonary issue to obesity to just a detrained individual who's nervous about going to the gym or going out for a walk. They can do it comfort of their own home and develop that confidence to pursue a more active lifestyle, which is excellent as well.

And for— have you seen or have you done research around people with COPD or asthmatics as well?

We have got a lot of research around inspiratory muscle training, which is one of the underlying factors of Aerofit. So we train inspiratory and expiratory muscle training, but there's so much research showing that inspiratory volume, how strong you are breathing in, is connected with things such as longevity of life, athletic performance, and just overall healthiness. So if you're able to pull your lungs open more, you increase your volume, the different nervous systems, and just live a better, healthier life.

So for all my longevity friends listening, this is an excellent way to start with. And people take breath, I think, so for granted, but for the biohackers listening as well, you really control your nervous system and there's so many different things around it as well. And this is just such a fundamental way because if we rebuild that strength and I noticed the difference myself, like I actually can easily, I should say, without having to overfocus, take nice, slow, deep breaths now, thanks to the training that I've done. And it's fun. There's a little, little graph that you'd follow, like breathe in, hold it, breathe out, and you do different things. I even had my 6-year-old on it with me. She thought this is a really fun game. So for all the family, which I think is quite cool.

I've heard a lot of people say Airofit has gamified pulmonary health.

Great way. That's a slogan. Yeah, no, that's brilliant.

Yeah, for sure.

Mike, I'd love to discuss for people that are not super aware, cuz this is a really important point and you touched on it before, mouth versus nasal breathing. So can you explain for people, cuz some people are like, oh, breath is breath. You're getting it into your body. Right. But there's so many different factors happening. So can you talk a little bit about that?

For sure. So nasal breathing has endless benefits. It helps moisten the air, it helps filter it a bit, increases the nitric oxide, and increases airflow to your arteries, your veins, your nervous system, and all your circulation. And it also actually helps ensure that you're using your diaphragm properly, which sounds amazing, and we truly believe it is here at Aerofit as well. But Mouth breathing. There's a lot of fearmongering around mouth breathing. Everyone focuses on nasal breathing these days, and that is something that we lead to a kind of a big misconception here at Aerofit, as well as something we need to educate people on, because mouth breathing is okay in certain situations. Like when you're running 100 meters, you're going to breathe out of your mouth. When we're talking, you breathe out of your mouth. When you eat, mouth breathing again. Just with all of this as well, that is where Aerofit actually helps support nasal breathing. So with the bigger pipe, or your mouth, you're able to overload the respiratory muscles. So you can actually allow your diaphragm, internal, external, intercostal muscles, and all the other supporting musculature to actually work harder. So then when you breathe through your nose, you're going to be a lot more efficient, and it's going to be easier. And I always tell people about my own experience with this. So I'm quite a big guy. So I'm like 100 kgs, like 220 pounds. When I run, I was always a mouth breather. And now I can comfortably run a 5K with my mouth closed. And the only difference is training with Aerofit. So I get the benefits of nasal breathing that my respiratory muscle training—

and that makes sense as well because the muscular system you're saying as well is just so strong that you can get that depth of breath that you need for, say, running so much easier as well. Yeah.

Exactly.

Yeah.

It's like people go to the gym to squat, to become more efficient walking or running, or they go to the gym to train their biceps to make their everyday life easier. So people train with Aerofit to make these things easier and more efficient as well.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah.

So we were talking before about the use cases, but literally it's for everybody and all ages as well. And it helps better breath, which in turn obviously will help concentration and sport performance and just everyday life. So, I mean, it's your market is the world, right?

Exactly. And we always say here that we're trying to bring better breathing to the world. So it's really nice.

Amazing. So let's talk about respiratory rate and longevity and how the respiratory rate or rate of breathing, how does it affect us long-term and how, what is the link there with longevity?

Yeah. So we'll just start off by a brief overview of what respiratory rate is for the listeners to really reiterate what it is. And that is literally just the amount of breaths you take every minute. You breathe in, breathe out, that's one breath. Why this is super important is because pulmonary function is actually a long-term predictor of mortality in the general population. So one of the longest studies over a long period of time was actually from a university in America where they looked at your respiratory rate versus the how long you lived. So longevity of your life. This actually came down to many different factors, such as the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the rest and digest. Versus the fight or flight, because we do live in a world that is addicted to stress. Everyone loves their stressful job. Everyone loves worrying about money, about everything, fast-paced life. And this plays a massive toll on your respiratory rate and your longevity. If you take a wee bit of time to breathe in deeper, open your lungs up, slow your breathing down, then you have massive benefits such as the ability to handle CO2. You're not as stressed. You can work better under stressful situations through altering your HRV or heart rate variability. So it's a one thing affects the whole system. So deeper breathing actually changes your life.

And also for longevity, increasing your healthspan as well, which I think is really key. And also what you were saying of getting out of that fight or flight sympathetic response to the parasympathetic. So really, really helpful. Yeah.

And with what you mentioned with the longevity as well, or having a healthier life for longer, actually seen a lot of our users, as you age, your lung compliance decreases quite significantly. But if you're starting at a higher starting point, that diminishes actually prolonged. You can be in your 50s, but have kind of the compliance in your lung tissue of your 20s. So your lungs can keep up with your body.

Oh, amazing.

So not only is it increasing the longevity, it's also increasing the quality of life in those later years, which I for one would love an extra 10 years of activeness with my kids, my grandkids, great-grandkids, who knows how longevity was going to work in 30 years.

Exactly. Yeah, exactly. And for people wondering, what is the cadence? What is the frequency you recommend for using it depending on what I guess the use case is, right? But is this like a daily device or is it a few times a week? What would you typically recommend? Recommend?

And we generally recommend to begin with every day, so it's only a 5 to 10 minute exercise. So that's the really cool thing about our device, it actually gives you your daily recommendation. So within the app, it'll tell you what you're doing, 5 to 10 minutes a day. And then after a 6-week period, you kind of plateau. We know either you can increase the duration or you can just decrease the frequency. So I, for one, I train at the moment, I've become a wee bit slack and I only train about 5 days a week, but I've been my level. And then when I do my lung test, if I notice a decrease, I just jump back onto 7 days. So our recommendation is 7 days a week, but it's only 5 to 10 minutes. Yeah. And then with that, another cool use case. So I keep getting these ideas in my head about you. Go ahead. Yeah, there was a lady I was talking to in London and she uses it every day watching Coronation Street. So in the ad break, we just use the Aerofit instead of going to go make a cup of tea or instead of going to go reach for more cookies. She does something for her health, and she was adamant that Coronation Street saved her life, but I think it may have been us.

But that's a great idea as well. Exactly. Some— or even people watching, uh, Netflix or something like that. Great time. Exactly. Just sitting there.

Yeah.

I'm gonna ask you some rapid-fire questions before we move on.

Sounds good.

Thinking of the word successful, who is the first person who comes to mind and why?

Probably LeBron James.

And why?

Being a massive sports fan, he's not only achieved so much on the court, but it's what he does for his community and stuff like that, and inspiring a whole generation that they can achieve more than they should. So that holistic health approach as well as sports prowess and then inspiration is just phenomenal to me.

I agree. Do you have a favorite quote or piece of advice received that was a real game changer for you?

Wayne Gretzky said, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take, and that's led me all around the world. So it's something I hold quite near and dear to me.

I love that. Yeah, it's so important. And I think life is for living and rather make mistakes than not do it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. What's the biggest challenge you faced in the last, say, 5 years and how did you overcome this?

That's very personal because of Corona, being on the other side of the world, not being able to see my family for the last 5 years, and technology has helped me overcome it. So I've become a lot more efficient at using technology to communicate with my family, and it's only brought us closer. So when I actually go home in December, it's going to make it all the more special.

Oh, you must be really excited for that as well. Yeah, because I think New Zealand, they really closed the borders and everything during COVID right?

They just shut up shop, and I just— and I keep prolonging it. So I go home every second year, but then Corona happened and it just, I'll wait. So whole of December and New Year.

Oh, exciting.

Yeah.

Mike, what are some of your daily or weekly routines? Obviously using Aerofit is one of them and practices that have helped you perform at such a high level.

Routine. So just having a routine actually really helped me. So the idea that work, gym, that actually allowed me to stop procrastinating and just do what I need to do. So then I actually have more quality of time. With my loved ones and stuff like that. So actually setting a routine, sticking to it, and just doing it.

And do you have any particular routine parts that really were a game changer in terms of upleveling how you could perform each day, particular morning routine or certain things that you do?

Morning routine is I don't look at my phone until I'm on the train. So I check the time and turn off my alarm and then that's it. And then that kind of allowed me to wake up before before I started work. I really just zone out in the morning, focus on what I'm eating, just mentally be present for the day and just visualize how my day is going to look. Then I know what I'm doing and then it's done.

Amazing.

Yeah.

So moving on, what are some of the bad recommendations you hear around breath?

This is a super loaded question. I actually discuss this with a lot of people in the office and One that came up very often was only nasal breathing. The stigma around that at the moment. But the other one is when you're told to relax, you're told to take a deep breath. What this does is actually draws in carbon dioxide. You're not pushing out as much oxygen. So then you increase that carbon dioxide. You're going to shift to the sympathetic nervous system or the fight or flight. Really, it should be push out a deep breath and you're going to clear that carbon dioxide and actually relax. It's inverted. And to me, that's quite amusing.

Yeah, no, that's really good because obviously you hear take a deep breath, but it's actually, you know, breathe out and then take a deep breath. So yeah.

Yeah. So clear the bad stuff, pull in the good stuff. As yogic as that sounds.

No, but it's logical. It just, it's the first time I've heard it in my life. So yeah. Thank you.

You don't think about that. When you think about it, you're like, actually, yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah, exactly. Totally. What are some of the learnings or insights that the Aerofit clients that you work with have found the most valuable?

That they can change their breathing no matter how old they are. In 5 to 10 minutes, they actually see massive benefits. And no matter your starting point, you can always increase something. So whether that is the inhalation or exhalation strength or the accessible lung capacity, the ability to open your lungs. Everybody can get something out of training their breathwork because everybody breathes. So if I can better at it. Yeah.

So that's really helpful. Yeah. And let's talk about the respiratory muscle training, right? So you were saying that it's beneficial, not only for athletes. How long would you say it takes also to start noticing, would you, a difference basically for breathing?

As you mentioned with your own training, you have seen results very rapidly. Yeah. We had a study from a university in England that used a 6-week intervention with the Airofit and they found on an average, a 30% increase in the thickness of their diaphragm. So their main— 30%. And that is just because it is such an undertrained muscle. You wouldn't see the— so if you train for another 8 weeks or 6 weeks, you wouldn't see that 30% increase, but if You can train your biceps or quads and get 30% bigger in 6 weeks. That's phenomenal.

And this is men and women. It's the same. Okay. Wow.

Yeah. And one thing that was very surprising to me is actually just how undertrained the diaphragm is then, because the people with the lowest level of training actually saw the biggest increase. So it actually shows that that if you are in a poor position to start with, you will see results very fast. But also, if you're at the top end, haven't trained your diaphragm as specifically as you would with airway, so you're going to see amazing results. And then on top of that as well, we can't directly say that this is a nice relation, but we hypothesize that due to this increase in thickness, there was actually an increase in inhalation and exhalation strength by 25% and 40% respectively. Huge benefit after just 6 weeks of training. Yeah. And at the moment we're diving deeper into the numbers to see if there was a sudden spike and then a plateau, or it was just a gradual incline, but it's very interesting. So circling back, people see results very fast. And that's the great thing about having an app that will actually give you immediate feedback.

Yeah. And track it for you as well. So you can see where your baseline used to be and where you are now, which I think is quite rewarding as well.

Yeah, exactly.

And so Mike, you guys have just brought out the AeroFit 2.0. Who is this for? And can you walk through like your suggested protocol? Let's talk about the new 2.0 and what you're looking to do with that.

Yeah. So from the offset, the 2.0 looks very similar. So it's the only main difference visually is the color. The new device is white and black as you showed earlier, and our old device was red and black. So I have a box here. So as you can see, visually very similar, but it's what is actually in the device that's the main difference. We took all of our users' experience and actually used that to drive what we want to change. So just on the hardware itself, we have changed the charging system. You'll notice your one has a magnetic charge.

Yeah.

The original had a plug-in, so you actually plugged it in. And while this may seem like a step back, because it's less— it's slower charging and stuff. It actually meant that it was a closed-off unit, so there was no saliva getting in there. Some people are very saliva-heavy when they use it. But also, this means with a damp towel, you can actually wipe down the device, making it a cleaner device, more sanitary. You're not going to breathe in all the toxins you're breathing out and stuff like that. So that's one of the main changes. And we included an O-ring in the actual resistance wheels, close the device off so it's a lot more accurate. And then we've changed a few things on the app which are going to progress over time, and you'll find out soon. But we're going to change the lung test to make it a lot more accurate. So we're going to break that down eventually into a 3-stage lung test where you do your volume inhalation, exhalation separately, which will then take out the bias of, I want a bigger lung volume, so I'm going to breathe slightly slower So that's something that we found very prominent in all of our user data. So we have a lot of data. We're actually the world's biggest breathing data bank, which is super cool.

That's really cool.

So yeah, so who is the 2.0 for? The 2.0 is for the person who wants a more sturdy device, which is going to allow a more accurate, consistent reading. Essentially, so not too different. Like, the 1.0 is still a phenomenal device. The 2.0 is just a redefined masterpiece.

I love that. That's a nice way to put it.

Yes. And the suggested protocol— this is very different for every user. It's based on the same thing, but different. When you signed into the app, you would have noticed that you had your metrics, your age, height, weight, and your training goal. What training goal did you go for?

The training goal, if I remember correctly, it was it like for athletes, right?

Yeah. So, and general wellbeing.

Yeah, exactly. It was, I think I tried two different ones just to see if they were different. So I think at the beginning I was like general wellbeing and then I tried the for athletic performance. Yeah. As well. So I think at the moment I have it on the athletic performance one as well. And it's, the usability is excellent in the app, I have to say. It's, I really like that as well. Yeah.

Yeah. So the main differences are the demands of the sport. So for example, CrossFit, you have a bit more of the strength orientated stuff, then endurance cycling, you're going to be more efficient and using your lungs under a higher stress. And then the wellbeing, you're going to come back and really activate the parasympathetic nervous system. So like sleep is perfect to do before bed. Yeah, I'm tippy-toeing around the protocol, but the protocol is you sign up for your metrics and then using data, we actually do a lung test for you. So this, or do you want to talk us through your experience with the lung test?

Yeah, no, I'm happy for you to talk it through as well. So I think with the lung test, it was, I love the way it was set up. I liked the way you have little videos beforehand also explaining like what to expect and things like that as well. And I think it was just to establish that baseline, which I love as well. And then when you do the training, then you can go back again and you can see how it goes. What I was doing was also playing around. So you have the inspiratory foundation, circle, mindfulness pyramid, diamond, square, like literally was trying a little bit of the different things as well as I went along, which I guess is okay. Right. I don't know. You, was I supposed to follow one after the other, but I just thought it was fun that my daughter was doing some of them as well. So maybe they were a bit concerned my lung capacity had decreased exponentially. Just, I think it's fun as well. It's done nicely and it doesn't take long, I think too.

But yeah, the lung test itself at the moment is an emptying of your lungs. You empty it completely and breathe in as powerful and for as long as you can. Yeah, you're going to get the inhalation strength. So how much pressure you can pull in, you fill your lungs as much as possible and then you expire as hard as possible. You're lungs completely, that will give you your expiratory pressure as well as your capacity. And as you said, this is a baseline. So like any other training recommendations that you get from a personal trainer, a doctor, a physio, we use that data to then have your relative strengths. You're never going to overtrain yourself. So that's one of the really key points is I like to explain it through the American College of Sports Medicine's FIT principle, which is frequency, intensity, time, and time. And that actually justifies a lot of what we do on that app. So then you're not going to overtrain, you're not going to be sore the next day, and you're not going to be in that risk of injury.

Really good point as well, just to mention, is there a risk of injury? Is there any danger with the device?

If you use the device as intended and follow the guidance on the app, then no, there is not. And there's one of the unique things about our device as well is breathwork can be quite scary. Breath holds and stuff are actually quite traumatizing at times. And with the AeroFit, you actually have a physical device you can take out of your mouth so you can step away from it. So if you are panicked at all, just take it out of your mouth, have 5 minutes and just relax. So it's a physical barrier that you can overcome to then calm down, and then just try again.

Yeah, that's actually a really good point as well. Yeah, because that's some of the things is like hold your breath, but yeah, and then you can psychologically take it away.

Exactly. So if you're just doing ordinary breathwork, you don't have that physical put down, step away. You just have that, oh no, I got to breathe, and then that panic sets in.

Yeah, I've done a few crazy breathwork workshops myself.

Yeah, exactly.

Extraordinary. Let's do a few more rapid fire questions, Mike. They're good fun. What has been your most exciting purchase in the last 6 months? And we all love specifics, so models, brands, etc.

My most exciting purchase is actually a car. So it's exciting. Me and my partner just bought our first car together, but it's actually the first car that we've owned in the 5, 4 years I've lived in Denmark. So it's just opened up this whole experience of I can explore Denmark where the trains don't go. So it's kind of been life-changing and I hate the fact that it's a car because I'm all about environmental friendly stuff, but it's opened up Denmark like never before. So every day is a new adventure.

Yeah, exactly. It's not electric, I take it, but hybrid. That's exciting. What is a book that you have most gifted?

Maybe The Alchemist. Just because it's a short book, but the message is so nice. Like, what you're looking for is actually inside you all along and follow your own journey. And I see myself as a bit of a traveler by living in England and Denmark and just taking the opportunities as they come. So it really resonates with me quite deeply. And then it is a very readable book. So I give it out quite often.

It's a great book. Yeah, I recommend it too. If you could metaphorically speaking, get a message out to a billion people, so you could skyrocket across the world. What would it say and why?

It would probably be start now, regret nothing. Because like, it's so cliché, but the graveyard is the graveyard of good ideas. Too many people have good ideas or they want to do something and they never do it. And they just get stuck on with life. If you want to do something that is going to benefit your life, do it. We've got one chance, so why not do it when we're young enough? You're never going to be as young as you are right now. Do it.

Yeah. Love it. Exactly. Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, as they say.

Exactly. That's—

what's one of the best or most worthwhile investments you've ever made? It could be an investment in money, of money or time or energy.

Possibly. Best investment is my own health. Yeah, so like, obviously from a rugby background, I was physically active, but I didn't focus so much on not only the mental health, but also the physical health. I was essentially just building myself to break myself down every weekend through rugby, injuries and stuff. And now I take a holistic approach and focus on what I eat. And it makes every day just so much nicer having the energy to do stuff and the body to follow through. And that comes through with Aerofit as well. So perfect place for me.

So what would be your key training things? So you have obviously the Aerofit nutrition and then just the sports training. Those are your 3 main areas of focus.

Yes. So like, I'm a very active person in the way that like, the gym is kind of meditation for me. The gym is where I can just turn off my phone and just go through the processes of what I need to do and clear my head. So it's like a meditation session for me.

Yeah.

I am a big believer in meditation. And if I can do that while focusing on my body as well as killing two birds with one stone, but it's something I've always loved and I'll always continue to love. And it's going to allow me to do things in my hopefully 80s, 90s, and who knows. That's the way longevity is looking these days. It might be into my 150s.

Exactly. That's my plan at least as well. Yeah. See you then.

Exactly.

Mike, what advice would you give to a smart, driven, either 18-year-old or college student about to enter the real world? And what advice should they ignore?

The one thing they should ignore is college is the best time of your life. We hear that time and time again, and I think it's very sad. Does that mean it's downhill from now? No, you should live every part of your life as a new adventure, and that is going to be what is best for you now. So college is amazing. Everyone has a good time, but it's not the best time of your life. It's just the time before you get a job. Then you're discovering yourself through a new job, then you have family and stuff like that. So every stage of your life is a unique experience. And then the advice I would give someone just graduating like an 18-year-old graduating high school is follow your passions. So really do what brings you joy, whether that is playing sport or kind of science or whatever, just really bring joy into your life and enjoy the journey.

I love that. Yeah. Joseph Campbell's follow your bliss. I think that's a really good way of putting it as well. The hero's journey. Yeah. We're so bogged down with what other people think we should be doing, but yeah, I And it's, it takes a lot of courage to just follow your bliss and not listen to everybody else.

For sure.

So Mike, where can people learn more about Aerofit? What are your social media handles, websites? What would you like to share with people? And I can link all of these in the show notes.

Yeah. So aerofit_sport is our predominant Instagram. So you can find out the going on in the company. aerofit.com is our website where you can find blog posts from our users. You can find a bit more science. And then coming up in the next few months, we're launching a more educational platform on YouTube where you can understand the benefits of respiratory muscle training or just breathwork in general. So we're very excited for that to come into fruition very soon. And then of course you can find some of the like great books like Oxygen Advantage is one of them that you probably know very well that understands breathwork very well. Then of course, next step is Aerofit with the respiratory muscle training. So just visit our website and then we can really intrigue you, and we're always happy to answer questions. We have probably the best customer support team in the world who will really answer any question you have, send you more reading than you'd ever care for.

Mike, do you have a final ask, a recommendation, or any parting thoughts or message for my audience?

Final ask is, are you ready to take your breathing to the next level? Are you ready to, as we say, stay a breath ahead and actually do something that's quite a small part of your life, but will make a massive difference.

And if so, then check out Aerofit.

Exactly.

Yeah. Mike, thank you so much for coming on today and discussing all things breath and what you guys are doing at Aerofit. I, I really appreciate that.

Perfect. Thank you very much for having me.

My pleasure. Thanks. Hi everyone. This is Claudia von Boeselager again. Before you take off, would you like to get a short email from me with some short but sweet fun tips, tricks, and updates on all things longevity and lifestyle? This could be cool products that I've discovered, interesting posts or articles I've read, and other fun and helpful things around longevity and lifestyle I've found for you. It's a very short piece of inspiration for you a few times a month. So if you want to receive it, check it out by going to longevity-and-lifestyle.com. That's longevity-and-lifestyle.com, and leave your email to sign up for the next one.