Breathing while exercising is still a problematic topic for many exercisers. No wonder. Breathing, although a basic physiological activity, is not that simple. The breathing pattern differs when exercising, another when relaxing, and another when performing daily activities. Check how to breathe correctly during exercise and learn the most common mistakes made by trainers.
Contents:
- Breathing during exercise - rules
- Inhale
- Exhaust
- Breathing during strength training
- Exhale in strength exercises
- Air retention in strength exercises
- Breathing in the eccentric and concentric phases
- Breathing while exercising - don't do that!
- Proper breathing during training - what are the effects
- Proper breathing - exercise
Breathing is the most important physiological activity in the body. However, it is very common for many people to have trouble breathing properly. Usually, such people come to medical and physiotherapy offices with problems with the spine, stabilization and numerous neuralgia in the body.
Incorrect breathing pattern contributes to the destabilization of the entire figure, and this leads to dysfunction and even damage to the musculoskeletal system. The diaphragm is responsible for proper breathing during exercise, and more. It is one of the most important muscles in our body. Check how to use it correctly.
Breathing during exercise - rules
Proper breathing during physical activity should take place in three planes.
1. Inhale
During exercises, the chest should work in three planes: front, back and side. Our chest is built in the form of a three-dimensional triangle with a wider base at the bottom for a reason. It is from below that the inhalation movement should begin and end at the top of the chest, under the collarbone.
Remember, however, that breathing in order to be performed properly must take place in a three-dimensional perspective. When we draw air into the diaphragm, it should spread sideways and forward and backward. To make it easierlet us understand it, let's imagine that our body is like a barrel that we have to fill to the brim with air.
The above breathing pattern, or rather inhalation, will be applicable not only in everyday life, but also during some exercises. These include relaxation exercises, stretching, mobility training, yoga and Pilates.
When it comes to strength training and more demanding sports, your breathing pattern will vary slightly. Before we discuss it, let's move on to the starting phase of breathing, which is exhaling.
2. Exhaust
Exhale, when we want to relax or we train sports consisting in increasing mobility or relaxing muscles, should be as free as possible. However, when we do exercises that engage our muscles more to work, the exhalation should be more like an exercise than a free chest fall.
Breathing during strength training
1. Exhale in strength exercises
- Lower ribs down as you exhale. It is very important that the diaphragm follows the correct path. If you do not make the rib lowering movement, you will never breathe properly, it will only cause tension in your body and destabilize your body.
- Tension on the sides. Once you begin lowering your ribs, direct the air downward as if trying to tense the muscles on the sides of your body. This movement will cause your abdominal muscles to tense properly and protect your vertebrae.
- Ligation of the lower abdomen. Finally, once you have the ribs lowered and the tension right, make the movement as if you are trying to pull up the lower abdomen. It is the tension of the pelvic floor muscles that will ensure its proper work and stabilization.
The above pattern of exhaling air will work for all types of strength exercises in which the abdominal muscles are heavily used. We should also take it before doing sit-ups or before lifting heavy loads from the ground. Why? Because the proper tension of the diaphragm allows for the generation of greater muscle strength and proper stabilization of the entire body.
When exhaling during strength exercises, the rate of deflation is also important. We can do this in two ways:
1. Quick release of air and tension in the abdomen
2. Teeth exhale slowly
2. Air retention in strength exerciseshe
Contrary to popular belief that air retention is not good for our body, it will be used in strength training. Free or more controlled breathing is essential for uswhile resting, performing daily activities or training that does not require the use of high muscle strength.
However, during heavy strength training and performing such exercises as deadlift, squat, bench press, ohp, etc., air retention will be necessary to be able to perform the exercise correctly! Of course, the point is not to take air into your lungs and hold it until it is exhausted. It's about the right ability to retain air at the time of the body's greatest effort.
There will be times when we will either lift something heavy from the ground or squeeze the weight upwards. Here, the controlled exhalation of the air mentioned earlier will be checked, or the retention of the air in the lungs and the release of it while putting down the load. It is the value of the weight and the difficulty of the exercise that determine whether or not air holding is necessary. Usually, our body instinctively knows how to behave, so it's not worth disturbing its natural work.
Breathing in the eccentric and concentric phases
When it comes to a specific phase of movement and breathing during training, it should be done in accordance with the eccentricity and concentration of the exercise. During the eccentric phase, i.e. the one in which a given muscle is elongated, we should inhale. However, you should breathe out during the concentric phase.
Breathing while exercising - don't do that!
Hardly anyone remembers the basics of our physiognomy in advance, assuming that these matters are obvious and for sure that each of us works as it should. It turns out that many of the exercisers have the greatest problems with the basics of movement! These include proper breathing during exercise.
The most common mistakes are:
1.Upper chest breathing. This is often the case when we are stressed and our diaphragm becomes stuck. Then we must especially take care to normalize our breathing. Upper chest breathing makes your shoulders and thoracic spine stiff.
2.Breathing into the abdomen. Excessive abdominal stuffing is a big mistake as it reduces the tension in the deep abdominal muscles. It is the diaphragm that should fill with air, not the abdominal cavity.
3.Breathing from top to bottom. This direction of air inhalation only increases the tone of the pelvic floor muscles and can cause neuralgia in the lumbar region.
4.Breathe loosely during strength training. During strength exercises, proper breathing is controlled and is part of everyoneexercise.
It is also very important to be able to correct your figure correctly so that the diaphragm can move on the right track. When we feel tension in our body and it is hard to breathe, we should start by putting our pelvis in a neutral position.
Correcting the posture by aligning the thoracic spine is a big mistake as it destabilizes the spine. We always start with the pelvis and then work on other places in the body. It is important that the pelvis is above the chest. To check the neutral position of the pelvis for our figure, we should first perform the maximum forward tilt and maximum retraction, and then set the pelvis in the middle of its range of motion.
Proper breathing during training - what are the effects
The effects of proper breathing during training are invaluable! It's just or as much as - a he althy body. Proper breathing allows our body to tighten and relax in a specific way that is safe for the body. This is especially important when exercising!
A well-placed diaphragm guarantees a stable spine, and it is responsible for the stabilization of all joints of our body. Proper breathing during exercise also helps to relax your muscles and tone them properly. Oxygen supplied to muscle cells makes them work more efficiently, and increases muscle strength and endurance.
Proper breathing - exercise
To understand how breathing works and thus better learn it during physical exercise, it is worth doing the following breathing exercises every day or choosing one of your favorite ones and practicing them regularly.
Exercise 1
Raise your right hand to the level of your face. Bend your index finger and middle finger. You will need your little finger and thumb to cover the left nostril and the right nostril respectively.
Close the right nostril and take a deep breath through the left one. Then close the left one and unclog the right one while exhaling. Now inhale with the right nostril and exhale with the left nostril. Start from the starting position.
Do this sequence for 2-3 minutes every day.
Exercise 2
Sit cross-legged. Take a deep breath and as you exhale, press down on the diaphragm and begin to make the sound of the letter "m" vibrating. The sound should be as uniform and controlled as possible.
Take 10 such breaths.
Exercise 3
Sit or lie down comfortably. Then take a deep breath and breathe out slowly. Do it on a scale of 4 to 6, i.e. breathe in for 4 seconds,and breathe out for 6 seconds. After three such breaths, increase the difficulty level - inhale for 6 seconds and exhale for 9 seconds. After five breaths, move on to the final phase of the exercise and extend your inhale to 7 seconds and your exhale to 11.
Do 7 repetitions.