Readiness for the next sprint is decided in the break after the last one. During that break the muscle rebuilds phosphocreatine, and that process depends on oxygen availability. Breathing is one of the factors a player can influence. In Romer et al. (2002, PMID 12165887), inspiratory muscle training improved recovery time in a repeated-sprint test by 6.2% compared with placebo.
Key takeaways
- The break is shorter than the muscle needs. After a 30-second sprint, muscle phosphocreatine fell to 16.9% of its resting value and was back to 78.7% after almost 4 minutes (Bogdanis 1996).
- Rebuilding needs oxygen. With less oxygen in the inspired air, phosphocreatine recovered more slowly, and with more oxygen it recovered faster (Haseler 1999).
- The nervous system is slow to settle after repeated sprints. HRV indices stayed depressed for 10 minutes after a set of sprints (Buchheit 2007), and in young footballers they had still not returned to baseline after 2 hours (Abad 2019).
- Recovery posture did not change power in the next effort. Hands on knees, hands on head and walking gave similar results (Charry 2023).
- Breathing can be trained for repeated sprints. Inspiratory muscle training (Romer 2002) and sprint training with restricted breathing (Précart 2025) both show effects, although the studies are small.
What is readiness after a sprint and why does it decide matches?
Readiness after a sprint is the ability to repeat the next sprint at a similar speed after a short break. Sport science calls it repeated-sprint ability (RSA). Girard et al. (2011) describe team-sport sprints as usually lasting under 10 seconds, with breaks of under 60 seconds between them.
What does that look like in a match? Carling et al. (2012) analysed 80 Ligue 1 matches and 20 players from one team:
- most consecutive high-intensity actions were separated by at least 61 seconds, mostly spent walking,
- bouts of at least three actions with an average recovery of 20 seconds or less were less common, 1.1 per match on average,
- players with the smallest performance drop in a repeated-sprint test performed more high-intensity actions after short recoveries in matches.
The takeaway for players: whether you make the next action depends on what your body does in the few dozen seconds between sprints.
What recovers in your muscles between sprints?
The main fuel for the first seconds of a sprint is phosphocreatine. Between sprints the muscle has to rebuild it, and it needs oxygen to do so.
Bogdanis et al. (1996) studied this in 8 men using muscle biopsies:
- after a 30-second cycle sprint, phosphocreatine fell to 16.9% of its resting value,
- after 3.8 minutes of rest it was back to 78.7%,
- the degree of phosphocreatine recovery was strongly linked to the power regained in the first 10 seconds of the second sprint (r = 0.84),
- in the second sprint, aerobic metabolism supplied about 49% of the energy.
A 30-second sprint is longer than a typical match sprint, so we do not transfer these numbers directly to the pitch. The mechanism is the same, though: the more fully the muscle restores its stores during the break, the stronger the next burst.
Haseler et al. (1999) showed the role of oxygen. In 6 trained men, the phosphocreatine recovery time constant after calf exercise was:
| Inspired air | Phosphocreatine recovery time constant |
|---|---|
| 10% oxygen (less than normal) | 33.5 s |
| 21% oxygen (normal air) | 25.0 s |
| 100% oxygen | 20.0 s |
The less oxygen reaches the muscle, the slower it gets ready again. This study used moderate exercise rather than sprints, but it shows that recovery between actions is an oxygen-dependent process. How much oxygen the blood actually releases to the muscles also depends on CO₂. We cover this in CO₂ tolerance in football.
Why is the nervous system slower to recover after repeated sprints?
Because a set of sprints strongly activates the body, and the parasympathetic system, the rest mode, switches back on with a delay.
Buchheit et al. (2007) compared three sessions of similar energy cost in 15 trained athletes. After a set of 18 sprints, the HRV index RMSSD stayed depressed for the whole 10-minute rest period, whereas after steady, continuous exercise it rose. The authors link this mainly to the contribution of anaerobic processes.
In 24 young footballers (mean age 18.4), HRV after a repeated-sprint test was severely depressed and had still not returned to resting level after 2 hours of passive rest (Abad 2019).
That is why the ability to settle down after an action matters. How nasal breathing and slow breathing support calming down after exercise is covered in nasal breathing after exercise.
Does the way you breathe between sprints matter?
It may, but direct research is limited and there is none on footballers on the pitch.
Most is known about deliberately speeding up breathing during the break. Sakamoto et al. (2014) asked 13 athletes to breathe very fast in the last 30 seconds of each one-minute break between 10 cycle sprints. Mean power did not change, but the drop in power in the final sprints was smaller. In a follow-up by the same authors (Sakamoto 2018, 17 athletes), shorter and longer versions of the technique had no effect. The authors note that this kind of breathing reduces the aerobic contribution and is uncomfortable.
This is a lab technique on a bike with fixed breaks, not a match strategy. It does show that breathing during the break affects acid-base balance, and with it how the muscle copes with fatigue.
The second line of evidence is returning to nasal breathing after the action. In Lévénez et al. (2025), muscle reoxygenated faster after a sprint with nasal breathing. We discuss that study in detail in nasal breathing after exercise. It used a single sprint, so we do not yet know how this plays out across a series of sprints.
Hands on knees or hands on head: does posture after a sprint matter?
For power in the next effort, probably not. Charry et al. (2023) tested four postures in 16 young adults during breaks between 20-second cycle sprints: hands on head, hands on knees, walking with hands on hips and lying on the back.
- power in the following sprints did not differ between postures,
- ventilation was similar in all postures,
- heart rate fell fastest when lying down, but on the pitch that is rarely an option.
Body posture matters less than how the player breathes and how quickly they settle down.
Does respiratory muscle training speed up readiness?
Research suggests that it does. Romer et al. (2002) randomly assigned 24 repeated-sprint athletes to inspiratory muscle training or placebo. After 6 weeks, total recovery time in a repeated-sprint test improved by 6.2% more than in the placebo group. During submaximal exercise the players also had lower blood lactate and a lower sense of effort.
A review by Kowalski et al. (2025) concludes that respiratory muscle training can improve intermittent exercise performance in team sports, because regular sport training does not give the respiratory muscles enough stimulus. Most effective interventions lasted 6 to 8 weeks. We cover inspiratory muscle training in football in more depth in inspiratory muscle training in football.
Does training with restricted breathing improve repeated sprints?
The first studies are promising. Lörinczi et al. (2025) compared 6 weeks of sprint training with breath holds after exhalation against the same training with normal breathing in 20 semi-professional footballers. The number of sprints to exhaustion in the test increased only in the breath-hold group: from 7.7 to 13.5.
A meta-analysis of 10 studies (199 trained participants) found a moderate effect of this type of training on a smaller performance drop across sprints, with no effect on best or mean sprint time (Précart 2025). The authors stress that the mechanism is not yet clear.
In this training, blood oxygen saturation dropped to 78.5% on average. It is a method for supervised work, not something to test on your own on the pitch. How to measure your CO₂ tolerance baseline is covered in Control Pause (BOLT score): how to measure it, and CO₂ more broadly in CO₂ tolerance and athletic performance.
At AirFlow Performance we treat breathing as part of preparing for repeated sprints: we measure it, train it and carry it over from the gym to the pitch. That is how our three-stage breathing training programme works. What we measured in a 7-week pilot at Lech Poznań is on our results page. More on the physiology of breathing in our breathing science section.
Where does the evidence end?
Most studies use small groups, lab settings and bikes rather than pitches. The mechanisms of recovery between sprints are well described, but there are no studies yet testing a specific breathing strategy in the breaks between sprints during a football match. That is why we say breathing supports readiness, not that it guarantees more sprints.
FAQ
How long does recovery between sprints take? It depends on the length of the sprint and the break. After a 30-second sprint, phosphocreatine was back to 78.7% of its resting value after almost 4 minutes (Bogdanis 1996). Match breaks are usually shorter, so the next sprints start with incomplete stores. That is why the quality of each short break matters.
Does breathing affect recovery between sprints? Indirectly, yes. Phosphocreatine recovery depends on oxygen availability (Haseler 1999), and inspiratory muscle training improved recovery time in a repeated-sprint test by 6.2% compared with placebo (Romer 2002). Both findings come from small studies.
Is it better to put your hands on your knees or on your head after a sprint? In a study of 16 participants, posture during the break did not change power in the following sprints, and ventilation was similar (Charry 2023). How quickly you settle your breathing matters more than how you stand.
Does fast breathing during the break help the next sprint? The evidence is mixed. In one cycling study it reduced the drop in power in the final sprints, and in a follow-up it had no effect (Sakamoto 2014, Sakamoto 2018). It is a lab technique, not a match strategy.
Does breathing training replace repeated-sprint training? No. Breathing training complements physical preparation. In the studies, improvements appeared on top of regular training, not instead of it. At AirFlow Performance we work on breathing alongside the work a player already does on the pitch and in the gym.
About AirFlow Performance
AirFlow Performance runs breathing training for footballers. We ran a 7-week breathing training pilot at Lech Poznań, and today we also work one-to-one with individual players.
Published: 19 October 2026
Want to check how quickly you get ready between sprints? Get in touch with AirFlow Performance
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Sources
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