Barbells and breathing: are you doing it wrong?

December 20, 2017 Ashley 0 Comments

Breathing right’s one of the easiest things you can do.

Even the thickest gym rodent can figure it out… right?

(“I sip eeeen air and push eeet out.”)

But, actually, when it comes to lifting, many of us are indeed “doing it wrong”.

How? Well, it’s all the stuff we typically do when we’re stressed or uncomfortable. There’s the shallow breathing. The hyperventilation. Inhaling and exhaling at the wrong time for the move. Then, there’s some of us who just hold our breath altogether, until an irreversible road map shaped blood vessel appears and perches upon our foreheads forevermore. Let’s not let that be us, shall we? Rather, let’s all learn the correct way to suck in oxygen so our workout doesn’t suck.

And that’s this super simple tip:

As the pic above indicates, all you hafta do is inhale on the eccentric part and exhale on the concentric (or “hard”) part. Simple, right? And, though the photo’s of one exercise, the same goes for all lifting. The exhale’s gonna be on the curl of the bicep curls, the upward part of the squat, or the crunch part of the sit up.

But…why? Well, let’s start with form. When we lose our posture during a workout, everything goes out the window. After the body gets fatigued, it gets a bit lazy. And the first thing to leave’s good form. Now, in a perfect world, we’d all get gold stars just for showing up. Back here on Earth, however, we’ve gotta do shiz the right way if we wanna work the right muscles. Lucky for us, that sharp exhalation during the concentric contraction recruits our core, keeping us in line for yet another rep that’s gonna land us that apple bottom or set of gorgeous guns.

And, just like proper posture and bodily evenness is important, internal balance is too. See, we all need an even exchange of O2 and CO2. But, when our breathing falls off kilter, carbon dioxide and oxygen levels go all askew. And, without the proper supply of oxygen to our muscles, we can’t possibly expect them to do their job well. The two even play off one another. When you’re gasping for air, are you holding good posture – or hunched over? Getting the right respiratory rhythm’s kryptonite to poor form and oxygen depletion alike.

(Concentric exhalation – the only time it’s appropriate to duckface at the gym.)

Then, lastly, there’s the calming effect. Sure, we’re not doing pranayama yoga breathing when we bench a bunch’ve iron. That said, breath focus is indeed the foundation for many a meditative practice. It soothes. It calms. It redirects the brain from its default tension inducing thoughts. By focusing on breath-in and breath-out, not only are we ensuring the proper oxygen supply. We’re also barring bad thoughts (like the fact that you’ve still got fifty more to go) from sneaking in ‘n making us anxious. When we get nervous, we tend to start breathing erratically and tensing up. This sucks enough for everyday life. But, when we’re lifting, it can really be counterproductive. By keeping a breathing cycle at the center of our focus, lifting can help us feel less burdened and more like Buddha.

And what’s all this gotta do with weight loss? A lot! Believe it or not, strength training’s integral to a weight loss regimen. However much we may value our cardio, it’s insufficient on its own. That lifting (whether it’s with dumbbells or the weight’ve our own fleshy shells) is going to be what keeps us agile and strong enough to go longer or harder on that cardio. Also, what many of us tend to forget is that the muscle we make’s basically a fat furnace in itself. That stuff’s just sitting on your limbs like a black hole for calories, eating them up hours after, as you sit and binge whatever latest and greatest show you now watch (to replace The Walking Dead which has pretty much deteriorated like a corpse itself).

So, if you wanna kickazz lift sesh that’ll land you a layer of fat burning muscle, remember to respire right!