Why Proper Breathing is Vital to Improving Athletic Performance
Respiration is a
unique biological process, isn’t it? It is something that is both voluntary and
involuntary. You can easily control your breath if you want or need to, like
when you’re taking a deep dive, but it happens autonomously once you ignore
it.
Because the autonomic nervous system takes over
breath control, most of us don’t really pay attention to this simple yet
fundamental function of our lungs. However, breathing exercises and techniques
serve a lot of benefits to overall wellness. For instance, it is an important
aspect of meditation, which helps improve one’s mental state. In the athletic
world, it has the ability to significantly improve one’s performance just as much
as physical exercises can.
How does breathing work
during exercise?
When you exercise, you can easily notice that
your lungs work harder than normal. As relayed by NCBI from Volume 12 of the Breathe medical journal, breathing increases from 15 times a minute to
40-60 a minute during a workout. When you inhale, the heart circulates oxygen
throughout the body and to your muscles. Oxygen is essentially fuel to our
muscles. Because you’re exerting more muscular effort, you need a steady supply
of oxygen to keep your body at optimal performance.
However, the lungs and the heart aren’t the only
organs responsible for this process. The diaphragm, while not exactly an organ,
is a muscle in the abdominal cavity that helps pull and push air in and out of
the lungs. This is why it’s important, especially for athletes, to understand
how to make use of their diaphragm as it will help deliver more oxygen to their
muscles. If not used efficiently, Expand-a-Lung detailed that it can significantly diminish lung
capacity which
every athlete should avoid. A swimmer that experiences shortness of breath
during the first lap is a very bad sign.
What are its other
benefits?
When muscles don’t have enough oxygen, they
become tense. This is due to the lactic acid build up that occurs from
insufficient oxygen. Where there’s lactic acid, there is also cramps and
temporary muscle soreness. Those knots that develop during exercise are most
likely due to the build up of lactic acid.
Proper breathing also works together with other
athletic skills. For instance, in running, proper pacing is essential. Women’s Running noted that synchronizing your breathingwith your strides is vital to maintaining
control especially in long distance running. It’s very common for runners to
burn out easily because they don’t know how to conserve strength due to bad
pacing.
Just keep in mind that the proper breathing
technique for a certain sport may not be ideal for another. In long distance
running, it’s advisable to breathe in through the nose and exhale through the
mouth in long deep counts. On the other hand, Muscle and Performance referred to the breath-hold technique in strength-based exercises where you only
exhale as you complete a rep.
There definitely isn’t just one singular
breathing technique that brings about the best results, which is why it’s
important to understand what works best for an athlete in their chosen sport.
While most of it is intuitive, consulting a sports scientist who has worked
with professional players in different fields is helpful. They understand the
intricacies of the body and its biological functions such as respiration. As detailed by a Maryville University post, qualified nursing professionals are
well-versed in pathophysiology, assessing health, and pharmacotherapeutics. This expertise can also be highly useful in
sports science because pathophysiology deals with knowing if vital organs like
the lungs and the heart are not functioning properly due to injury.
Another type of expert that can help is a
meditation specialist. We all know how nerves can impact athletic performance;
we’ve seen so many athletes choke on the spot because of the pressure of the
game. Breathing exercises are part and parcel of stress-reduction techniques
and can go a long way towards optimal sports performance.
exclusively written for expand-a-lung.com
By Jordyn Merriot
