Matteo Campagna
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A few weeks of breathing exercises improve young archers' respiratory function

1 study · 36 archers measured

ForContextAgainst202420262025, for, n = 362025, context, n = 36
Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

There is one study, from 2025, of 36 beginners aged 14 to 18 split into three groups of 12 (alternate-nostril breathing, imagery and training only) for eight weeks with two sessions a week; the first two groups did 15 minutes of extra work per session. In the breathing group forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in one second rise more than in the other two (between-group comparisons from p = 0.014 to p = 0.032), and peak expiratory flow rises only there. The picture has limits within the same paper, though: peak flow does not separate the groups from one another, vital capacity and expiratory volume also rise with imagery and expiratory volume with training alone, and the paper's discussion states that the between-group difference in vital capacity is not significant, contrary to its own table. Allocation is described as random in the abstract and as sequential in the methods, and the authors acknowledge baseline differences in the respiratory measures that they could not adjust for. The evidence is limited and concerns an intermediate outcome: nobody has yet checked whether greater breathing capacity brings points or a steadier hold.

Also phrased as: "breathing exercises for archers"; "alternate-nostril breathing"; "pranayama and archery"; "improving young archers' lung capacity"

In practice

Young archers are encouraged to work on their breathing, with exercises that lengthen and regulate the out-breath, so they have more air to manage during the hold.

Evidence

  • 2025
    For Archers Published later

    36 beginner archers aged 14-18 in three groups of 12, eight weeks, two sessions a week with 15 extra minutes of alternate-nostril breathing or imagery: forced vital capacity rises in the breathing group (p = 0.004) and separates it from both imagery (p = 0.022) and control (p = 0.032); forced expiratory volume in one second separates it from both with p = 0.014, and peak expiratory flow rises only there (p = 0.025). Allocation described as random in the abstract and sequential in the methods.

    Effects of breathing and imagery exercises on postural sway and shooting performance in Olympic archers · Cansu Keskin, Ayşe Nur Tunali Van Den Berg

  • 2025
    Context Archers Published later

    The ratio of expiratory volume to vital capacity does not change in any group (breathing p = 0.255, imagery p = 0.346, control p = 0.969), which is expected if the two measures rise together; peak flow, which rises within the breathing group, does not separate the three groups from one another (Kruskal-Wallis p = 0.545). The paper's discussion also states that the between-group difference in vital capacity is not significant, while the table reports p = 0.032.

    Effects of breathing and imagery exercises on postural sway and shooting performance in Olympic archers · Cansu Keskin, Ayşe Nur Tunali Van Den Berg

  • 2025
    Context Archers Published later

    Respiratory function moves even without breathing exercises: in the imagery group vital capacity (p = 0.021) and expiratory volume (p = 0.027) rise, and in the group doing ordinary training only expiratory volume rises (p = 0.016) while vital capacity does not (p = 0.084). Part of what is attributed to the breathing exercises could come from the training itself or from eight weeks of growth.

    Effects of breathing and imagery exercises on postural sway and shooting performance in Olympic archers · Cansu Keskin, Ayşe Nur Tunali Van Den Berg

Status history

  1. 2025 Reported A single study, with a control group but an allocation method described in two different ways: thirty-six beginners aged fourteen to eighteen split into alternate-nostril breathing, imagery and training only for eight weeks. In the breathing group vital capacity and expiratory volume rise more than in the other two, but peak flow does not separate the groups, expiratory volume also rises with training alone, and the paper's discussion contradicts its own table on vital capacity. One result in favour, small and with more than one weak point: reported.

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Research lines

Studies describe groups of archers, and your own numbers show how far the finding applies to your shooting.

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Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). A few weeks of breathing exercises improve young archers' respiratory function (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/breathing-exercises-respiratory-function

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_respirazionefunzionerespiratoria,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {A few weeks of breathing exercises improve young archers' respiratory function},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/breathing-exercises-respiratory-function},
  note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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