Ok, people. Let’s breach the topic of mental toughness, shall we??
I trust you’re already well-acquainted with the fact reaching a big summit is not just about your physical preparedness. Even if you put in the strength training work, logged the running miles, done the hill repeats, and bought your gear, etc…. it’s never just about the thousands of miles logged on your two legs.
It’s very much about the six inches between your ears.
The real climb happens at 2 AM, when it’s cold and dark, when your body is tired, the oxygen is thin, and a small, panicked voice in your head starts asking, “Why in the world am I doing this?” “Is the hot spot I feel in my foot going to become a major problem??” “Am I sweating through and soaking my first layer and going to freeze at the top with the wind!?” “What was my SpO2 the last time I checked? Oh gosh, I don’t know if it’s high enough.”
Sound familiar?
This is called the “summit wall,” and it’s not a physical barrier. It’s 100% a mental one. It’s the moment your primal stress response overrides your rational mind.
The good news? You can train for this. It’s mental resilience training.
And the toolkit you develop isn’t a book or a mantra. It’s a direct, physiological lever: your breath. This isn’t “woo”; it’s a technique for gaining manual control over your own nervous system.
Part 1: The Panic Button in Your Brain
To understand why breathwork is so critical, you first need to understand what’s happening in your brain when you “hit the wall.”
Your body is governed by your autonomous nervous system (ANS), which has two main settings:
- Sympathetic Nervous System: This is your “fight-or-flight” response. It’s your gas pedal. When it’s active, your heart rate increases, your breathing becomes shallow and fast, and your body floods with stress hormones like cortisol. It’s designed to save you from a tiger (sometimes the non-real ones in your head).
- Parasympathetic Nervous System: This is your “rest and digest” system. It’s your brake pedal. It slows your heart rate, deepens your breathing, and signals to your body that you are safe.
On a summit push (or any high-stress situation), your body is bombarded with triggers: the cold, the altitude (low oxygen), the ladder crossing over a crevasse, and the mental pressure of your own ambition.
Your ANS processes all of this as life-threatening stress. Your amygdala—the brain’s primitive alarm system—hits the panic button, flooring the “fight-or-flight” gas pedal.
Suddenly, you’re in a vicious cycle:
- Your mind panics.
- Your breathing becomes shallow and chaotic.
- This inefficient breathing delivers less oxygen, making the panic worse.
- Your rational mind (your prefrontal cortex) goes offline, and the panic takes over.
You can’t think your way out of this. You can’t reason with a panicked amygdala. You have to use a physiological tool to apply the brakes. That tool is your breath.
Part 2: Breathwork as the Manual Override
Breathwork is the only conscious, voluntary way to take control of your autonomic nervous system. You can’t tell your heart to slow down, but you can tell your body to breathe in a way that makes your heart slow down.
This is the mental edge.
When you consciously slow down your breathing—especially by making your exhales longer than your inhales—you are sending a direct, physical signal to your brain via the vagus nerve. This signal tells your panicked amygdala, “There is no tiger. We are safe. You can stand down.”
This activates your parasympathetic “rest and digest” system, and the physiological results are immediate: your heart rate slows, your blood pressure drops, and your rational mind comes back online.
Does breathwork rewire your brain?
Yes. This is the most crucial part of your training. When you practice breathwork consistently, you aren’t just learning a “hack”—you are literally rewiring your brain.
This is neuroplasticity.
- What happens to your brain if you meditate every day? Consistent practice (like breath meditation) strengthens the neural pathways between your prefrontal cortex (your rational mind) and your amygdala (your panic button).
- How long does it take for mindfulness to change the brain? Like physical training, it takes consistency. But studies show that measurable changes in brain structure can occur in as little as eight weeks.
- How to rebuild grey matter in the brain? Research on mindfulness and meditation (which are forms of breathwork) shows that this practice can increase grey matter density in areas of the brain associated with emotional regulation, focus, and self-control.
You are, in effect, building a bigger “brake pedal” and teaching your “gas pedal” to be less sensitive. You are training your mind to be less reactive and more resilient.
What exercises reset the stress response?
It’s less about a single “reset” and more about an ongoing training relationship.
Part 3: The “Hacks” vs. The “Training”
The world of breathwork is full of “rules” and techniques. It’s helpful to divide them into two categories: “Brakes” (for in-the-moment calming) and “Training” (for building long-term resilience).
The “Brakes”: In-the-Moment Calming Techniques
These are your emergency tools. When you feel stress or anxiety rising on the mountain (or in a board meeting), you can use one of these. What is the One-Breath Brake?
All these “hacks” work. But they are reactive. They are tools you use after the panic has already started. Mental training for the summit isn’t just about having good brakes; it’s about building a better engine that doesn’t overheat in the first place.
The “Training”: Building Long-Term Resilience
This is the core of the Recal philosophy. This is how you retrain your brain to breathe correctly under stress.
This training focuses on systematically and safely exposing your body to stress (like rising CO2) in a controlled environment. This is no different from lifting weights to make your muscles stronger.
- Functional Breathing: This involves training yourself to breathe through your nose at all times, especially during exercise and sleep. Nasal breathing is more efficient, delivers more oxygen, and forces you to maintain a state of calm. Try it on your next run – maintaining nasal breathing as long as you can.
- CO2 Tolerance Training: As we’ve discussed in other posts, a low tolerance to CO2 is a primary driver of panic and “air hunger.” By practicing specific breath-hold exercises (like those in the Oxygen Advantage® method), you train your brain’s chemoreceptors to be less panicky.
- Deliberate Cold Exposure Training: by entering ice-cold water, your body will immediately trigger its stress response. Try to slow down your breathing.
- Think: exhale 2x the length of your inhale. This will begin to develop muscle memory for your body to counteract stress with a calming breathing pattern.
When you improve your CO2 tolerance or deliberate cold exposure, you are literally training your brain to stay calm in the presence of a major stress signal. This has a direct carryover to mental resilience. When the pressure is on (on the summit or on a steep hill), your brain no longer defaults to the panic button.
This is the ultimate mental edge.
Part 4: C.A.L.M – Your Climbing Breath Cue
(A mental moniker for people to use mid-ascent)
- Control the exhale – meaning either slow it down (to help relax any uncontrollable hyperventilation) or apply pressure (for pressure breathing – which increases oxygen levels in the blood)
- Activate the diaphragm – take full, deep breaths that start with the diaphragm
- Lower your rate – simply put: don’t hyperventilate. But when at rest, counterintuitively, a controlled, slower breathing rate oxygenates your body more. Don’t get too crazy, though; you still need to breathe full and deep to help your body acclimatize. No slower than 6 full, deep breaths per minute at rest. But breathe more while moving uphill.
- Move mindfully – allow your breath to be your anchor into the present moment, which can help keep you safe as you move on the mountain.
Conclusion: The Summit is Won in the Mind
Your physical training will get you to basecamp. Your gear will keep you warm (hopefully).
But what gets you over the “summit wall” is your mind.
This isn’t an innate talent. It is a skill. And like any other skill, it is built through consistent, dedicated training.
Breathwork is the link that makes it happen. It’s the physiological tool to train your mind, build resilience, and gain a tangible mental edge. It’s the most important, and most overlooked, piece of gear you have.
Time to deliberately train your mind.
Let’s get to work.
Find out how good your breathing really is: Click Here