Do you know how to breathe while performing resistance exercises?
The art of breathing isn’t sexy but most people don’t need sexy they need the basics. I know what you’re thinking …
- Basic is boring
- Nothing new here
- I’ve been breathing since I was born, this isn’t for me
The fact is that the majority of people need this information and the majority are far too hung up on the next new shiny, sexy thing.
Unlike Justin Timberlake I’m not bringing sexy back. I’m bringing basics back.
Breathing basics
- Breathing the right way can increase your strength significantly and bulletproof your body.
- Breathing the wrong way can leave you weak and hurt.
Most people have no idea how to breathe effectively. The two big breathing dysfunctions I see are:
1 – Panic breathing which often looks like super fast shallow breathing or simply just holding one’s breath
2 – The I’m just going to let my mouth hang open and suck as much air in as possible
(Paul first thing in the morning 😉
The major problem with incorrect breathing is that it
- De-stabilises your spine, which can easily result in a lower back injury
- It can over tension the muscles in the neck causing spasms in the neck, shoulder tightness and over time will result in kyphosis (hunchback)
- It will tire you out pretty quickly as you’re simply not going to get enough oxygen into your system
How to Breathe while Resistance Training
Essentially there are either 2 or 3 phases depending on the exercise
Phase 1 – The sniff
Before you have even started the lift, take a sharp sniff in through your nose. This will push the diaphragm down and create a shield of air around your spine
Phase 2 – The breath hold
This would be the eccentric phase or the negative phase of an exercise. The key here is to maintain tightness through intra-abdominal pressure
Phase 3 – Breathe out through pursed lips
This would be the concentric phase of the lift. The goal is to slowly release pressure while maintaining tension. Imagine you’re watering the garden and you want to get the water further. If you squeeze down on the nosal of the hose, not too much but just enough – the water pressure increases and the stream of water shoots out further
A real world example…
The kettlebell swing
Phase one – Your hands are on the bell and the bell is on the ground. Before you initiate the hike you take a sharp sniff in through the nose
Phase 2 – You have hiked the bell back and as it starts to travel backwards you hold your breath and maintain tension
Phase 3 -. Once the bell starts to travel forward, you are breathing out through pursed lips to intensify the tension
If you want to avoid the risk of hurting your lower back or neck then I suggest you practise these breathing patterns
So once again..
- A big diaphragmatic sniff to start which will activate your inner unit. Think of it as a cylinder around your spine creating intra abdominal pressure AKA stabilising your spine and pelvis
- Hold the breathe and maintain the tension
- Slowly release the breath through pursed lips creating more tension
To conclude
Not only will the correct breathing pattern protect your spine and neck but it will also make you a hell of a lot stronger
Correct breathing = stronger stabilisation of the core
Or put another way..
You can’t shoot a cannon from a canoe
So if you want sexy then old globo gym down the road have TVs on their treadmills. We however don’t have TV screens showing the latest hits, we don’t have fancy machines and I’m not going to jump up and down trying to motivate you like Ken from Globo gym. BUT if you want to learn how to use your body, be strong and healthy, you want to look at the long term over the short term. You want to have confidence that you can be functionally fit..
Then forget sexy and come and be boring
Paul “boring” and Krystie “just breathe” Miller
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