What's The Best Way To Catch Your Breath During A Workout?

We all know that when it comes to exercising, our form is incredibly important. Doing exercises with improper form can not only stand in the way of your results, it can lead to major injury.  But have ever stopped to think about your form  BETWEEN  sets?

Probably not.

Anyone who has ever pushed themselves to the max while busting out intense reps knows how winded you can become and just how hard it is to catch your breath in those rest periods.

A study from Western Washington University attempted to determine the best way to catch your breath. Is it standing upright with your hands behind your head, or is it bending over with your hands on your knees?

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The verdict: bending over with your hands on your knees reduces your heart rate by 22 more beats per minute (BPM) than standing up.

Being able to recover quickly gives you a major boost when it comes to your training. If you are able to calm your body and bring it closer to its resting baseline, you will be able to attack that next set with the same intensity as the last one. In other words,  “you’ll be able to perform more total work and reap a bigger benefit,” says  Lorrie Brilla, Ph.D., and author of the study.

The researchers found many reasons why bending over is better for recovery:

• it moves the position of the diaphragm so you can draw more air into your lungs with each breath.

• Being bent over allows your abdominal muscles to force out more carbon dioxide when you exhale. Carbon dioxide is produced in the body when you exercise. To get rid of it, your heart rate increases so more blood can be pumped into the lungs, replacing the CO2 with oxygen. As Brilla explains, if you expel more CO2 through your breaths, your pulse will slow faster.

• Brilla believes that being in a hunched position may signal to your brain that it is time to relax. The position shuts off your body's  sympathetic nervous system (the one that elevates your pulse and increases adrenaline) and starts your  parasympathetic nervous system which slows your breathing and helps your body relax.

So, next time you are smashing a killer workout, give this method a try! For over 80 hours of on demand workouts, check out Sweatflix℠! Get all your favorite BodyRock workouts when and where you want them! With new and exclusive content added all the time, we promise you'll never get bored!

What do you think of these findings? How do you catch your breath?

Source: Men's Health