By Nancy Alexander, PT, CSCS
“Breathe!” Not a class goes by when I don’t exclaim this to my participants while they exercise. I know you know how – you’ve been inhaling and exhaling all your life. But, did you know how you breathe during exercise can impact your fitness goals.
Consistent breathing patterns help your muscles receive the oxygen they need. On the flip side, ignoring your breathing becomes a problem when it leads to mistakes that can affect you and your workout. Let’s explore the risks of poor breathing and learn how to properly breathe during various activities to help you maximize your performance and your health.
“Breathing is, of course, critical for life,” says Dr. Corbin Hedt, a physical therapist at Houston Methodist. “Our bodies need oxygen to function properly, and breathing is what does that for us. It becomes more important during exercise, a time when our bodies are in need of more oxygen than usual. But breathing is easy to neglect when all of your concentration is on completing your workout.”
The risks can range from mild to highly dangerous. Here they are in that order:
- Decreased workout performance
- Delayed muscle recovery
- Muscle cramping
- Injury – including hernias
- Spikes in blood pressure
- Dizziness with or without a fall
- Loss of consciousness (from blood pressure spike)
Oxygen is fuel for your body. “When you exercise, you’re increasing your body’s need for oxygen because it’s now working harder,” explains Dr. Hedt. “Optimal breathing ensures an adequate supply of oxygen reaches your organs and tissues, helping to maintain a high level of performance but also to reduce the chance of your body needing to overcompensate (hyperventilate) afterwards to get these systems back to normal.”
Get the oxygen you need by following these five tips for proper breathing during exercise:
- Regulate your breathing — Avoid unsteady, short or heavy breathing whether running, weight lifting or something in between. That can stress out your body. Consistent breathing can help trigger a parasympathetic response which essentially helps relax your body and allows for better blood flow. Better blood flow ensures your muscles receive the oxygen they need. Sure, you might get briefly short of breath when running fast, for example, but that should be temporary. Your whole workout should not be spent out of breath. Short bouts of heavy breathing can, in fact, be good and help you build cardiovascular endurance over time.
- Don’t hold your breath — “When you’re doing a heavy lift or something at a high intensity or velocity, it’s easy to forget about your breathing,” says Dr. Hedt. “It can get to the point where you’re so focused on all the effort it’s taking to perform the activity or motion, you forget to breathe entirely.” Do not do this. Be mindful and continue breathing. Not only can this lead to large blood pressure spikes, it can cause dizziness, hinder your recovery between sets and even compromise your overall exercise recovery.
- Use diaphragmatic breathing beforehand — Some believe that intense and forceful breathing is required before exercise to get ready for the upcoming activity. Instead, perform diaphragmatic breathing to fill and expand your lungs for 5-10 seconds. As noted below, breathe in through your nose and exhale through your mouth at a pace similar to an active dynamic warm-up. Those participants in our Buff Bones® and BackStrong classes know that this is the very first thing we do each class. We also end each class with three slower closing breaths.
- Exhale with exertion — This is a valuable guideline for any activity requiring force such as strength training and weight lifting. You want to exhale when maximum work is being done to be more effective. This is typically during the concentric phase of an exercise, that is, when a muscle or muscle group is shortening. Alternately, inhale during the preparatory phase or when a muscle or group is lengthening. For example, when you perform a bicep curl, most of the work is when you are bending your elbow. Exhale in this phase. When returning the elbow straight, inhale.
- Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth — Considered the general rule for maximum efficiency and is consistent with the diaphragmatic breathing technique described above.
Use your exercise time to practice your breathing. This month’s video will give you some ideas as to how to perform this. Be aware that some sources refer to belly breathing differently. Some use it to describe diaphragmatic breathing as if they were one in the same. I and others tend to think of it differently as the video explains. For diaphragmatic breathing to be successful, the rib cage must expand (when inhaling) and contract (when exhaling) as the ribs house the lungs. Moreover, the diaphragm is a muscle and we can make it stronger by breathing correctly more of the time.
With consistent practice, proper breathing will help you maximize your workout and fitness level as well as improve your blood circulation and heart health. If implementing all five tips seems overwhelming, pick one and start there. Once you have mastered that, pick the next one. Continue on until you have all techniques working for you in each and every workout. Good habits start now.
Keep moving and keep breathing.
Sources:
Why Proper Breathing During Exercise is Important & How to Avoid Common Mistakes: by Katie McCallum: https://www.houstonmethodist.org/blog/articles/2023/may/why-proper-breathing-during-exercise-is-important-how-to-avoid-common-mistakes/
Breathe for a Better Workout: by Jessica Theifels, 4/21/17: https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-2017/breathe-exercise-workout.html
When to Inhale and Exhale During Exercise: by Nicole Davis:https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/when-to-inhale-and-exhale-during-exercise
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