Am I Breathing Right?

Am I breathing correctly?

This is a question I get quite often and something I really like to focus on during boot camp and personal training sessions. It can make a significant difference on your exercise performance and have a direct impact on how effective your training is!

Many novice athletes have the tendency to hold their breath during exercise. Your muscles need oxygen in order to work properly, so you might get lightheaded easily while working out. Changing this one thing alone could be a game changer on your productivity during your workouts!

Strength Training:

While lifting weights and performing an exercise, you want to exhale when you want the most power. This is usually when you are pushing or pulling a weight.

For example, when lifting a dumbbell for bicep curls, you want to exhale when lifting UP the weight, then inhale when you LOWER the weight.

Sometimes you aren’t lifting any weights, but just using your body weight. The same principle applies.

For example, during a push-up, you want to INHALE as you lower your body to the ground, then explode up (EXHALE) while you push your body back up.

Stretching:

While stretching, you want to maintain deep breathing to allow for adequate oxygen to replenish your muscles. Breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth, trying to exhale ALL the air out of your lungs. Use your breath to help you get deeper into each stretch.

Cardio:

It’s best to keep a steady breathing rhythm while you do cardio exercises.

A good way to keep steady rhythm is to match up your breathing with your strides.  For example, while running, you can inhale every 2-3 steps. See what works best for you.

Please leave your comments and questions below!

Committed to YOUR fitness success,
Laura