How to breathe properly for any work out
How to breathe properly for any work out: breathing is not typically something we think about, we just do. We’ve been doing it since the moment we were born. However, more often than not we are doing it wrong. Although you may be getting by just fine with oxygen going in and carbon dioxide going out; taking steps to improve your breathing may result in: lowered blood pressure, reduction of stress, improved athletic performance, and possibly even increased brain size. The most common mistakes we make when breathing are chest breathing, shallow breathing, and lack of rhythm. As opposed to breathing deeply from the belly using the diaphragm for our breath it’s very common to breathe from the chest. However, when we breathe through the chest we end up using a lot of ancillary muscles which cause tension in the shoulders and neck in addition to weakening the diaphragm. A weak diaphragm will directly affect your stamina as it will cause your muscles to not get sufficient blood flow during exercise directly resulting in premature fatigue. Shallow breathing is another bad habit we should shake off. We should always be taking deep, full breaths but most people tend to take quick shallow breaths which actually cause your body to work harder to receive the same amount of oxygen. Shallow breath is usually associated with poor posture so making efforts to improve your posture will have enormous benefits as it’s also much better for your spine. Lastly, lack of rhythm in your breathing can affect your athletic in the same way that lacking rhythm in your stride could affect your running performance. Having and erratic pattern of breathing makes hard for your body to get in the zone. While having a fluid, the steady pattern can have a calming effect that will help with your endurance. These three key issues should be addressed for our everyday breathing as well as breathing through any physical activity. However, there are some breathing techniques that vary depending on the type of exercise or sport we’re participating in.
For running most runners find the best tempo is to breathe every two-foot strikes. This is known as the 2:2 rhythm. It works because the diaphragm and surrounding organs are affected by the forces of gravity. Synchronizing your cadence with your breath will reduce the impact of gravity on your respiratory muscles and organs.
For high-intensity sports like football and basketball, it’s very important to stabilize core while you breathe so that your body is prepared for impact. Taking deeper, calmer breaths, as opposed to short shallow breaths, will make your breathing more efficient. This will not only help avoid shortness breath but can also give you a psychological advantage over you opponents as showing fewer signs of fatigue can help psyche out the opposing team mates.
Proper breathing techniques are also beneficial for weight training. Most weight lifter already knows the rule of thumb: always exhale on the exertion. The logic here is that contracting the respiratory muscles helps you brace for the load while maintaining lumbar stability. So it not only helps to oxygenate the muscles, but it’s also a safer practice. When in doubt don’t forget to breathe out! It’s a common mistake to hold the breath while lifting weights which actually increases the pressure on the chest resulting in less lumbar stability and less blood flow to your muscles.
Last but not least breath is key to “mind body” activities like yoga. In yoga there are 2 most popular breathing techniques often referred to as pranayamas. Sam Vritti (equal breathing), and ujjayi (victorious breath). For Sam Vritti the idea is to have an equal length inhale, and equal length exhale. This style of breathing is known to have a calming effect on the nervous system and is great for reducing stress. For more vigorous styles of yoga like vinyasa and ashtanga many yogis turn to ujjayi breath to power through the flow. In ujjayi breathing you inhale through the nose, maintaining a slight contraction in the throat. You exhale through the nose maintaining the same contraction in the back of the throat. This technique is sometimes called ocean breath as it sounds like ocean waves washing up and down the shoreline.
Bringing awareness to your breath in all activities can not only improve your performance, but can also improve your health, reduce stress, and help prevent injury. In addition to bringing more awareness to the way you breathe, you can train you’re your respiratory muscles and improve your breathing techniques by using a breathing resistance trainer like Expand-A-Lung. The variable resistance encourages deep breathing and strengthens the diaphragm. While the instructions help you keep an even rhythm with equal inhales and exhales.
