Today’s podcast guest is Kristina Centenari. Kristina is a New York City–based running and performance coach, former Division I tennis player, endurance athlete, and former Tonal coach. She blends strength, running, breathwork, and mental performance and is currently pursuing graduate study at Columbia University focused on physical capacity and psychological resilience.
On today’s show Kristina Centenari explores the connection between breathing, nervous-system literacy, and athletic performance. We discuss her journey from Division I tennis to endurance sport, managing pressure and frustration, building awareness of physiological stress, and using breath training to improve composure. Kristina also breaks down breathing “gears” for runners, the relationship between relaxation and high performance, and why learning when to release tension may be just as important as learning to produce it.
Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength.
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The Just Fly Performance Podcast is dedicated to all aspects of athletic performance training, with an emphasis on speed and power development. Featured on the show are coaches and experts in the spectrum of sport performance, ranging from strength and conditioning, to track and field, to sport psychology. Hosted by Joel Smith, the Just Fly Performance Podcast brings you some of the best information on modern athletic performance available.
In this show, Kristina Centenari explores the connection between breathing, nervous-system literacy, and athletic performance.
We discuss her journey from Division I tennis to endurance sport, managing pressure and frustration, building awareness of physiological stress, and using breath training to improve composure.
Kristina also breaks down breathing “gears” for runners, the relationship between relaxation and high performance, and why learning when to release tension may be just as important as learning to produce it.
Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength
View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/)
Topics
0:00 – Tennis to Endurance
3:52 – Finding Joy in Sport
9:30 – Learning to Relax
11:13 – Nervous System Literacy
14:47 – Responding to Frustration
18:45 – Emotion, Physiology, and Performance
30:09 – Breath as a Performance Tool
35:45 – CO2, Breath, and Composure
45:55 – Breath Training Buy-In
54:48 – Sneaking Breath Into Movement
58:17 – The Four-Gear Breathing System
1:05:06 – Breathing Shapes Performance
1:09:49 – Breathing in Sport
1:14:57 – Making Performance Easier
1:19:37 – Relaxing Under Pressure
1:28:17 – Kristina’s Upcoming Work
Kristina Centenari Quotes
“I do think that, you know, managing different elements of the sport, like joy and, you know, where is the passion really coming from and why, those are just conversations that I never had.”
“You can say relax and hit the ball as much as you want to a kid. But if they don’t learn the skill, because it’s a skill, then it’s going to be tough.”
“Understanding how your body changes in relation to your environment and then how that has an effect on the way you think about your experience, it’s foundational; it should be taught first.”
“I never learned how to understand what was going on in my body before addressing my thoughts and your body is way, way smarter than your thoughts.”
“Practicing reacting to your physiology rather than reacting to your psychology is an extremely valuable skill.”
“Everybody has emotions; everybody reacts to a missed point. It’s not about not reacting; it’s about how long you’re staying in that emotion for.”
“It’s curiosity over judgment. And, again, I think once you can just start to get really good at understanding your physiology, you slowly just shift the narrative in your head.”
“I don’t necessarily have to start a race or a match or go to, like, a big board meeting feeling a hundred percent calm, but I do have tools and the know-how to kind of lower the intensity dial a little bit.”
“Your breath is the direct line of communication to your nervous system.”
“It’s a pattern disrupt, right? They interrupt like this feedback loop of respiratory rate goes up, nervous system detects threat. That presents itself as I’m not good enough, I’m not fast enough, I’m failing at this workout, and so on and so on.”
“Oftentimes, I don’t say breath work, I say breath training, right? We’re doing this with intention to go from point A to point B.”
“The problem, it’s not that one is better than the other, but the problem is that most people go from gear one to gear four and they don’t have any, they don’t have anything in between.”
“The psychophysiological aspect of breathing translates to everyone, whether you are a runner whether you are another kind of athlete, whether you don’t consider yourself an athlete, like this is just the human body.”
“Tension in the body is information to the brain that you’re in danger and you’re sort of like inherently setting this limit for yourself.”
“It’s not a new concept, and I think that you generally hear in sport like ‘relax, relax,’ but like I said in the very beginning, it’s really a matter of, it’s a skill, and it’s figuring out how to do that when you’re pushing really hard.”
About Kristina Centenari
Kristina Centenari is a New York City–based running and performance coach whose work sits at the intersection of physical training, psychology, and nervous-system regulation. A former Division I tennis player and competitive endurance athlete, Kristina has completed numerous marathons and Ironman events and has worked with athletes ranging from recreational runners to professionals.
Formerly a coach with Tonal and currently a Nike Running Coach, Kristina is also a certified strength, mobility, running, and breathwork coach. Her approach integrates traditional performance training with breathwork, mental conditioning, and greater awareness of an athlete’s internal state. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree at Columbia University, focusing on the relationship between physical capacity and psychological resilience.
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