How to breathe properly during strength training

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Improper breathing during strength training degrades performance and can lead to fainting and increased intracranial pressure. Learn how to breathe to reduce your risk of injury and health.

Usually we don’t think about how we breathe, we don’t track the depth and rhythm of breathing. However, this is of great importance during strength training. Correct breathing can increase the stabilization of the spine, normalize blood pressure and provide the muscles with sufficient oxygen.

So how do you breathe properly? To begin with, we will analyze the breathing method itself, and later we will talk about continuity and delays.

Diaphragmatic breathing

One of the mistakes that gets in the way of exercising and getting great results is fast shallow breathing.

To check if you are breathing correctly, do a little test. Stand up straight, place one palm on your chest and the other on your stomach, and calmly take a few breaths in and out. Under which palm is movement felt? If the abdomen rises, you breathe deeply, using all the lungs, if the chest, breathing is shallow. Deep breathing is also called diaphragmatic.

The diaphragm is a muscle that separates the chest and abdomen and serves to expand the lungs. It accounts for 60 to 80% of the work on ventilation of the lungs.

In childhood, everyone breathes deeply. Due to sedentary work, stress, uncomfortable clothing, breathing changes with age, becomes shallow. During this breathing, only the upper part of the lungs is filled with air. As less air flows in, breathing becomes more rapid, and pressure increases on the neck and shoulders, which are already loaded with people with sedentary work.

The diaphragm, on the contrary, becomes weaker, due to which sufficient intra-abdominal pressure is not created, poor posture is formed - the center of the abdomen falls inward, bringing the lower ribs and pelvis closer together.

In addition, during rapid shallow breathing, you force your body to work harder to get the same amount of oxygen as when breathing calmly and deeply. This reduces the efficiency of your movements - you expend more energy, although this is not required.

Therefore, it is worth working on breathing, at least during the exercise. Try to breathe deeply and evenly. When inhaling, the stomach should be inflated. Yes, you will have to concentrate more on your body, but for the sake of good posture, relieving tension from the muscles of the neck and shoulders, and more economical movement, it is worth doing this.

To tune in to strength training with proper breathing, pay attention to how you breathe as you warm up. Try to do all exercises with rhythmic deep breathing. This will help you learn to breathe correctly faster.

Exhale for effort, inhale for relaxation

This is the most popular breathing advice you hear in and out of the gym: inhale as you do the light part of the exercise, exhale with effort.

Strong and safe movement is possible only with a rigid spine, which transmits force from large muscle groups. The spine is strengthened with the help of tension in the muscles of the core - rectus and oblique abdominal muscles, pelvic floor muscles, back. During inhalation, it is impossible to strain the abs and other core muscles well, which means that it is difficult to provide the spine with the necessary rigidity.

On the other hand, when you exhale, it is quite easy to tighten your core muscles. Breathing affects them reflexively, through the nervous system. The muscles tense, fixing the spine and helping to develop maximum strength. That is why the effort must be performed while exhaling.

If you pay attention to your breathing during strenuous exercise, you may notice a brief pause in breathing at the moment of maximum effort. This is quite natural. Brief breath holding is used by experienced powerlifters and weightlifters to lift large weights. This breathing technique is called the Valsalva maneuver, but it should be used very carefully.

Is Valsalva's maneuver dangerous?

The Valsalva maneuver is a procedure that creates high pressure in the middle ear cavity, as well as in the chest and abdominal cavities. It is used in otolaryngology to test the patency of the Eustachian tubes and in cardiology to identify cardiac pathologies. Also, this maneuver is used in powerlifting and weightlifting and helps athletes lift a lot of weight.

The Valsalva maneuver used in strength sports is as follows: a person takes a deep breath (about 75% of the maximum possible), and then, at the moment of maximum effort, holds his breath for a few seconds and tries to exhale air through the closed glottis. Breathing is delayed throughout the entire repetition, exhalation is performed after the end.

The Valsalva maneuver increases the pressure in the chest. It is transmitted through the diaphragm to the abdominal cavity, which creates good support for the back and helps to resist the forces that tend to move the spine. As a result, the athlete can lift more weight and the risk of injury is reduced.

However, the Valsalva maneuver is often criticized because it increases the pressure already high during strength training, which can lead to a heart attack.

Opinions differ on this issue. Dr. Jonathon Sullivan, professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Wayne University, believes that when using the Valsalva maneuver, a heart attack should be feared only for those who already have problems with the cardiovascular system.

In another study. it was found that using this technique to raise a one-time high produces only minor changes in blood pressure. The Valsalva maneuver is only suitable for lifting really heavy weights with low reps.

Using the Valsalva maneuver for multiple repetitions with low weight can cause dangerous high blood pressure, rupture of blood vessels in the eyes and face, headaches, temporary visual impairment, fainting, or cerebrospinal fluid leakage.

The last problem was described in the article. Vishal Goyal and Malathi Srinivasan, MD, from the University of California Department of Medicine.

A 50-year-old patient complained of headaches in the projection of the nose, continuous cough, and persistent unilateral nasal discharge. As a result of tests, doctors discovered a leak of cerebrospinal fluid and damage to the nasal ethmoid bone. It turned out that the patient was doing chest press with a weight of 90-136 kilograms every day. At the same time, he held his breath during the bench press.

The doctors suggested that the patient's problems arose precisely because of the Valsalva maneuver. Exercise raised the pressure, destroyed the pia mater, which caused meningocele and cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea.

The Valsalva maneuver does help lift heavy weights, but should not be used if:

• you are a beginner who does not have a set technique and a coach who can follow the correct execution of the Valsalva maneuver;
• you prefer exercises with low weight and high repetitions;
• you have had problems with the cardiovascular system;
• you have had problems with intracranial pressure.

Strengthening the body and continuous breathing

For medium loads, it is worth using continuous breathing without delays - exhaling for effort, inhaling for relaxation.

Start exhaling a little earlier, a moment before maximum effort. This way you can do more.

Breathing should be smooth and rhythmic. Don't stop at extreme points. Immediately after inhalation, exhalation follows without short delays.

To ensure the maximum rigidity of the case, try using the anchorage method. The term was first used by Dr. Stuart McGill, a specialist in lumbar spine injury and rehabilitation. Anchorage - Activation of all core muscles to create a rigid midsection, maintain whole core stability, and reduce the risk of injury.

Before lifting weights, imagine being punched in the stomach. Tighten your abdominal and back muscles. This will create a rigid corset that must be held in place throughout the exercise. At the same time, breathe in continuously, exhaling at maximum effort and further strengthening the body.

There is another theory about breathing during strength training. Dr. Stuart McGill and Dr. Mel Stiff believe that the correct exercise technique will automatically force the body to breathe correctly without your control.

But this is only true for ideal technique. If you can't boast of one, work on your breathing as well as on your technique.

Outcomes

1. Try to develop diaphragmatic breathing. Breathe this way as you warm up to get used to and tune in.
2. Use the Valsalva maneuver for only a few reps at maximum weight.
3. For exercises with a large number of repetitions, use continuous, smooth breathing with inhalation for the light part of the exercise and exhalation for maximum effort.
4. Along with continuous breathing, use anchorage - tightening your core muscles to stabilize your core during exercise.