Breathe – don’t breathe: how to increase the effectiveness of your workout

It’s no secret that proper breathing during training plays a big role and directly affects its effectiveness. And you should understand it at the very beginning of the training process. Nina Zavadskaya – IFBB Elite PRO, vice-champion of Arnold Classic Europe and participant of the International Festival SN PRO EXPO FORUM – told “Championship” why it is so important and how to accustom yourself to breathing techniques.

Why is it important to breathe properly during training?

Running or stretching, swimming or strength training – in each case the breathing technique is different. However, in any type of exercise you should not neglect one rule – don’t forget to breathe!

You should not hold air in your lungs or do several repetitions on one breath. In this case, oxygen will not enter the body, and the muscles constantly need it during training. If you don’t watch your breathing, your strength will quickly leave you and the effectiveness of your workout will drop.

Everything is important in breathing technique: depth of inhalation and exhalation, frequency, correct alternation of phases. If you do not pay due attention to this, the following consequences may occur:

Dizziness and weakness due to oxygen starvation of brain cells.

Blood pressure and intra-abdominal pressure spikes due to too deep inhalation and exhalation or due to rapid alternation of these phases.

Low efficiency of training, as the body has to fight hypoxia (low oxygen content in the body or individual organs and tissues) and additional load throughout the process.

Breathing technique

In the breathing process we can distinguish two phases: negative (inhalation) and positive (exhalation). In the first, we relax the muscles, and in the second we make an effort, that is, we contract them. In order not to get confused during the performance, it is necessary to understand at once what in this particular exercise will be considered an effort. For example, when lifting dumbbells, the negative phase is biceps extension, and the positive phase is biceps flexion.

Trying to breathe “thoughtfully” and consciously control the process is not worth it. Of course, you should concentrate on the exercise and not be distracted by outside thoughts, but the breathing itself should be natural and help with the exercise, and not confuse even more.

You can compare the breathing technique with the launching of a space rocket. This comparison is based on the principle of counteraction. It seems that the rocket pushes itself without the help of extraneous forces. In fact, it will not move on its own. It needs reactive force, which the rocket gets from the fuel.

Our fuel is our breath. Like a rocket, we push ourselves upwards. It is on the exhalation that the maximum amount of energy is released, which is what we use to make the effort. Also when we exhale, our abs and diaphragm contract, which gives us additional stability. But at the moment of inhalation, the muscles are tensed unevenly, so it is not possible to put all the forces into the exercise, and the load seems heavier.

In general, breathing during exercise should be deep, but comfortable. In this case, the body receives maximum oxygen and does not spend so much energy as with superficial frequent breathing.

Inhalation should be done through the nose – thus the air passing through the nasal passages, warmed, moisturized and cleaned of dust and microorganisms. Exhale through the mouth – so the air will go out faster.

Exhale should be done through clenched lips. So it will be more powerful and will help to make an effort more effectively than “thought out” and soft.

The pace of breathing directly depends on the tempo of the exercise. If you have a slow negative phase and a powerful positive phase, the inhalation should be “stretched” for the entire negative phase, and the exhalation should be started only after overcoming the point of peak contraction – at the most convenient moment for the push.