Your body needs oxygen for production of energy and for recovery. Therefore you need strong respiratory muscles to take in and process more air per breath. How you breathe is very important during exercise and relaxation.
If you are new to strength training you should learn how to breath properly during exercise from the beginning. You should exhale through the sticking point and inhale during the easier portion of the lift. For example if you are performing biceps curl, you exhale while you are pushing the dumbbell towards your shoulder and inhale while allowing the hand to drop slowly down into the starting position. Although this recommendation to exhale on exertion is widely used, it is not based on research or actual practice – it is just a theory that applies mainly to beginners or people with heart and circulatory system problems. If you exhale during exertion, you are telling the muscles to relax instead of remain under contraction – this in turn will weaken your body and can lead to injury if you are lifting a heavy weight.
The method that is recommended for training with heavy weights is called Valsalva Maneuver – breath holding. It is actually very natural to hold your breath briefly during exertion in all sports. If no one told you how to breathe you would automatically hold your breath when lifting a heavy weight or catching a medicine ball. Holding the breath on exertion generates up to 20% greater force, accuracy and control. Your hips, shoulders and arms can move more effectively against a trunk that is stable, and the natural tendency to hold your breath on exertion helps creates this stability and helps guard against injuries.
People with high blood pressure or other circulatory system or heart problems should not participate in strength training or sport which requires great physical exertion and breath holding.
Best,
Zuzana.
Dear Zuzana,
Very good article on breath. Thank you!
Being aware of and eventually learning to control your breath and breathing patterns during exercise also helps to establish
and develop the “mind-body connection” and may even lead to somatic conscience.
In learning breath awareness, it is very important to go slowly; “the slower you go, the farther you will get, and the better
your results will be.”
To aid in your exercise and in your endeavors to develop proper breathing habits during exercise (and in Life! which is really what it is all about!), it can be very helpful to practice visualization and imagery as you proceed. For the sake of
brevity, I will only mention a couple of sayings that anyone can explore if they wish to and will not at this time even begin to explain them:
“Breathe in Good, breathe out Bad.”
“Sages breathe from the soles of their feet.”
“Breathe into the muscles you are working.”
“Imagine streams of healing/strengthening/ rejuvenating energy flowing into you from all directions with each breath.”
“Imagine an accordion, when expanded, air rushes into it; when contracted, air is expelled.”
As Zuzana mentions, “Your hips, shoulders and arms can move more effectively against a trunk that is stable, and the natural
tendency to hold your breath on exertion helps creates this stability and helps guard against injuries.”
For very heavy weights, you may consider this technique:
Breathe in deeply, planting your feet like roots into the Earth. Tighten all the muscles around your abdominal girdle, but
not too tightly. Gently lift the muscles around your perineum. Lift the weight. If you need to exhale, do not exhale fully, but always retain some air within. Perfecting this technique, you will never need to use a weight belt of any kind because you will develop your own natural weight belt. The internal pressure of your breathe will tighten the fascia within
your abdominal and diaphragmatic regions, strengthen your intercostals muscles, protect your vertebrae and all this along
with the externally flexed abdominal and pelvic muscles will provide fantastic support for you as you lift.
A great technique for anyone who wishes to explore breath control, but is nexperienced in exercise or reticent for any reason, is to practice a simple meditation technique at some point during the day. Simply position yourself comfortably in a favorite chair. Now, breathe in naturally and easily, and then breathe out naturally and easily. But only think about breathing; do not allow any other thought or feeling to enter your mind. Do this for five minutes per day to begin with, and work your way up to ten minutes per day. Ten minutes is all you ever will need. Just breathe, and think only of breathing; breathe easily and naturally. At first, it may seem impossible to do this for even one minute!
I hope this is helpful to someone and I thank Zuzana for all her efforts and generosity and I wish Zuzana and everyone the best successes, prosperity, and enjoyment in this Good Life!
hey zuzana i was wondering if you had any tips for running. i can run at a pace of about 4.7 for 20 mins but by the time i am done i feel like i will pass out. do you know any tips for breathing to make this easier?
@Katrease I used to do distance running in school and I always found that if I used my steps as counting for breathing I wouldn’t run out of breath as fast, my endurance was better and I caught my breath faster at the end. I always grouped breathing into 4 strides at the beginning of the season, inhale for 4 strides exhale for 4 strides and as my endurance got better I would increase the number of strides. I also found that focussing on my breathing made the run not feel as hard. when you start feeling out of breath at the end exhale really hard and it will cause more oxygen to go into your lungs :) hope that helps!!!