3:2 running rhythm

How to do it

1. Sit tall with your feet flat, or lie on your back with your knees bent. Rest one hand on your belly.
2. Start the guide and listen to a few rounds. The inhale lasts 1.1 seconds and the exhale 0.7: three steps and two steps at about 170 steps a minute.
3. Breathe in through your nose for 1.1 seconds, in one continuous breath, counting one, two, three. Your belly rises under your hand.
4. Breathe out through your mouth for 0.7 seconds, counting four, five. Your belly falls. Don't blow hard.
5. Once the count runs by itself, mark it with your feet or fingers: three taps in, two taps out. Notice that the exhale starts on the left foot one time and on the right the next.
6. Keep the breaths small and continuous, with no pauses at the top or bottom. At rest you don't need the air a jog takes.
7. Keep going for 2 minutes, which is about 67 breaths. If you get tangled, listen to the guide again and come back in on one.
8. To finish, drop the count and breathe normally. The next step is to take it on a walk, and then on an easy jog.

What the 3:2 rhythm is

It's a pattern of five steps per breath: three on the inhale and two on the exhale. The inhale is the long part, the reverse of nearly every breathing on this site, where the exhale lasts longer. With the guide's timing it comes to about 33 breaths a minute.

What separates it from the 2:2 rhythm is that the count is odd. In a four-step rhythm the exhale always starts on the same foot. In a five-step rhythm it starts on the left one time and on the right the next. It's also more relaxed: it moves less air per minute, which is why Coates uses it at easy and moderate paces.

Where it comes from

It was popularized by Budd Coates, an American coach and marathoner, in the book Runner's World Running on Air, written with Claire Kowalchik and published by Rodale in 2013. Coates says that early on he gave no thought to how he breathed while running. After repeated injuries, mostly to his left hip flexor, he worked out a pattern meant to spread the effort across both sides of his body. His marathon best is 2:13:02.

His method uses the name rhythmic breathing for two patterns: the five-count 3:2 for easy and moderate paces, and a three-count 2:1 for when the effort rises, as on a hill. He teaches them in stages: on the floor with knees bent, then tapping your feet, then walking, and finally running.

Coates rests his idea on the work of the biologists Dennis Bramble and David Carrier of the University of Utah, who described in Science in 1983 how running mammals couple their steps to their breathing.

What people use it for

Runners use it on long, easy runs to give their breathing a calm meter and their mind something simple to do.

Others try it because they've read that it prevents injuries or side stitches. That's a hypothesis, as explained below. As a rhythm for organizing your breathing, you can try it without expecting anything more.

What the research says

Coates's idea goes like this: impact would be greatest when your foot lands right as an exhale begins, because the diaphragm and trunk relax at that moment. With an even rhythm, that moment would always fall on the same side. With an odd one, it would be shared. It's a reasonable explanation, but it's a hypothesis: we found no study comparing injuries between people who run with even and odd rhythms. It is not established that 3:2 prevents injuries.

A 2022 review of breathing strategies for running mentions exhaling on alternate steps only as something some experts recommend against side stitch, with the word "potentially," and notes that its synthesis mixes experimental and theoretical evidence.

What has been observed is that the pattern exists without anyone teaching it. In 2013, Daley, Bramble and Carrier measured 14 adults on a treadmill: some switched among several ratios, including two and a half strides per breath, which is five steps, the 3:2 count. And a 1993 study of 34 untrained people saw that, in some of them, breathing alternated by itself between right and left foot contacts.

What it feels like and what to notice

At first the odd count feels lopsided, like a bar of five in a song you expected in four. It usually settles within a couple of sessions. At rest the rhythm is fast for your body, so the breaths have to be short.

If dizziness, tingling or lightheadedness show up, you're moving too much air. Drop the pattern, breathe normally through your nose, and pick it up again with less air or on a walk. On a run, if keeping count means forcing your breathing, let the count go.

Variations

• Walking, without the guide (your-pace variation): three steps in and two steps out at whatever speed you walk. It's the stage Coates suggests before running.
• For hard efforts (2:1 variation): two steps in and one step out. The count is still odd.
• The Coates way: he asks for air to move in and out through the nose and mouth at the same time. The guide separates nose and mouth because it's a rehearsal at rest.

Common mistakes

• Splitting the inhale into three sips. It's one breath in that lasts three steps, not three sniffs.
• Breathing deeply at rest. At 33 breaths a minute, each one carries very little air.
• Clinging to 3:2 on a hill. When effort rises, your body wants to breathe more often. Switch patterns or stop counting.
• Expecting it to protect you from injury. That hasn't been shown. Training load, rest and shoes aren't fixed by a count.

How often and how long

Two minutes a day for a week is usually enough for the five-count to stop feeling strange. After that, try it on a walk for a few minutes, then on short stretches of an easy jog.

You don't have to hold it for a whole run. If you have pain or injuries from running, the right person to see is your care provider, not a breathing pattern.

Before you start

• This is a fast rhythm for a body at rest. Practice it seated, lying down or walking, with small breaths. If you feel dizzy or tingly, stop and breathe normally.
• Never practice it while driving or in water.
• If you have asthma or a heart or lung condition, are pregnant, or have a history of fainting or panic attacks, check with your care provider first.
• It doesn't replace care for an injury. Chest pain or breathlessness that doesn't ease on a run is a reason to stop and get care.