Why you should start to exercise your intercostals muscles
Intercostals Muscles
When thinking about how muscles aid the process of breathing and how we can use this knowledge to improve our breathing to increase stamina or simply breathe easier we often focus on the diaphragm. Even while working out or meditating we can consciously engage the diaphragm to reduce shortness of breath and re-train the respiratory muscles to breathe properly even when we don’t make the conscious effort.
However, we should never overlook the importance of the other key muscles that allow us to breathe, the intercostal. “The intercostal muscles are a group of 22 pairs of tiny muscles found between the ribs. These muscles play a vital role in the movement of the chest during breathing. They also help to solidify the thoracic region and protect the lungs.”-www.innerbody.com .
Just as there are many exercises we can do to strengthen the diaphragm, there are also exercises that can strengthen the intercostal. The intercostal are short muscles located between your ribs. They can be categorized into two groups: the internal intercostals and external intercostals. They both play a key role in our breathing. The external intercostals elevate the ribcage and assist on the inspiration.
Conversely the internal intercostals lower the ribcage and help with conscious expiration.
We use our intercostal muscles every day by simply breathing, but just like the other muscles in our body they need to be challenged in order to build strength and improve performance. In addition to improving your respiratory health working out your intercostal muscles will improve your endurance which will reduce the shortness of breath you experience from working out and improve stamina as well as endurance.
Like most other muscles in our body you can use weighted exercises to strengthen the intercostals. There are two primary free weight exercises you can do to strengthen the intercostals: barbell pullovers, and dumb bell flyes.
When focusing on strengthening the intercostals moving with your breath is essential. Perform the barbell pullover as you normally would but be sure to choose light weights. Lie face up on a horizontal bench with the barbell directly above your chest. As you inhale expand your chest as much as you can while you lower the barbell behind your head.
Exhale to raise your arms back over your chest to come back to the starting position. It’s ideal to complete two to three sets with between 8-12 reps. Dumbell flyes are a great basic exercise as they strengthen all the muscles in and around your ribcage (including the intercostals). This exercise should also be performed lying face up on a horizontal bench.
Begin with your palms facing each other and a slight bend in the elbows. Slowly open up your arms as you inhale keeping the slight bend in the elbows find the point at which your feel a stitch throughout your ribs. Exhale as your raise your arms back to the starting position.
Additionally you can use the yoga asana “Gate pose” or “Parighasana” to stretch your intercostals and improve lung expansion. To set up your gate pose follow these step by step instructions from the Yoga Journal. Hold the pose for 30-60 seconds and repeat on the alternate side. Use your breath to move deeper into the stretch with every exhale.
Last but certainly not least performance breathing is an excellent way to strengthen the intercostals. You can practice performance breathing with or without the assistance of a breathing exerciser like Expand-A-Lung.
Keep in mind that adding the inspiratory and expiratory resistance that you get from a device like Expand-A-Lung will maximize your efforts by making the exercise more challenging and efficient. If you plan to practice without a device begin by inhaling through your nose for two counts, hold your breath for two counts, and exhale profoundly for four counts.
Repeat this cycle several times. Though it is less efficient the benefit of the performance breathing without the device is that you can continue to practice while you perform a cardiovascular activity as long as you do not begin to experience dizziness. If you experience dizziness stop the activity until you are able to catch your breath and the dizziness subsides. Once the dizziness subsides you should be fine to carry on with your activity while breathing regularly.
The benefit of the Expand-A-Lung is that the added resistance makes each breath more beneficial in strengthening your intercostals and as it is compact and easy to use you are able to use it almost anywhere. There are many ways to train with the Expand-A-Lung but I recommend starting with the instructions on the website . There are many YouTube videos available showing different ways to use the device once you feel comfortable adding it to your training.
Though we often forget about our intercostals it’s important that we exercise these tiny but very significant muscles in the same way we pay attention to our larger muscles like the quadriceps or the glutes. Remember you can live without legs (though it may be a challenge), but it is impossible to live without breath.
