Why Breathing Matters for Your Workout

Have you ever been working out and felt like you’re totally out of breath? Do you feel like you might burst when you’re lifting weights? Or perhaps you have a general overall feeling of tension in your body. When we are hyper-focused on working out, getting fit, and reaching that pie-in-the-sky goal, we often forget about self-love. Proper breathing techniques not only help you get more out of your workout, but it also helps you reduce your overall stress level.

Breathing and Winter

In winter we have this primal instinct to close ourselves off and go into hibernation mode. It feels more difficult to get motivated for physical activity and we feel icky about ourselves. Intentioned breathing helps us relieve that feeling of the winter blues. When we carve out time to focus on our breath we increase our oxygen intake and decrease hypoxia (or lack of oxygen). This results in feeling more refreshed, alive, and overall positive about ourselves. Intentioned breathing not only helps us to fight the winter blues, but it also aids in keeping us energetic and motivated to work out.

Breathing and Strength Training

One of the most common mistakes with strength training is holding your breath. It’s an automatic reflex that comes with exerting your muscles, but you can train this habit away by breathing with a braced core.

Before you begin your strength training, you should keep a braced core. Brace your core by tucking your tailbone in, engaging your glutes and pulling your abs in and up. This stance protects your back, engages your deep core muscles, and also makes it tough to breathe during a workout. Start by completing some of the breathing exercises below with a braced core before you add strength training so you can get used to the sensation before adding weight.

The key to breathing during strength training workouts is to inhale through the easy part and exhale through the effort. The exhale helps your body exert more energy so don’t be afraid to make this part audible. It really does help!

Breathing and Cardio

Maintaining proper breathing techniques throughout a cardio routine allows your body to push further. Proper breathing keeps your energy level and stamina higher for longer. This translated directly to any sport or outdoor activity. When you play a sport or have an extreme adventure (like climbing for example) there is the added stress of a mental challenge. If you breathe properly throughout your activity, you’ll have a sharper mind. Breathing activates the “Rest and Digest” side of your Nervous System and calms down the “Fight of Flight” side if the system.

There are several breathing exercises that help keep you going longer (we’ll get to them in a minute), but the important thing is to remember to practice these exercises in a low-stress situation, such as whule driving, watching TV or doing light cardio at the gym. That way breathing becomes a habit so when you’re faced with a buzzer-beater shot or committing move on the crag you’ll be focused and centered.

Breathing Exercises

The following breathing exercises are designed to increase your stamina and relieve stress. These exercises can be done both while engaging in a cardio routine or on their own.

Four Squared Breathing

This breathing technique is designed to rid your body of stale carbon dioxide (or CO2) in your lungs. Too much CO2 causes your hyperventilation reflex to kick in. When you first get started with this exercise, resist the urge to hyperventilate.

Simply inhale for four counts, hold for four counts, then exhale for four counts, and hold your breath for four counts. If you have to, tone down the duration to 2 or 3 seconds until you’re comfortable with a four-second count.

Increased Count Paced Breathing

The object of this exercise is to stretch your diaphragm and increase your lung volume over time. Start by inhaling for a count of four and exhale for four counts. Repeat, but bump up the duration of breath to five seconds. Continue increasing the breath making your way to inhaling for 60 seconds.

Relax your throat and breathe deeply into your belly and then your ribs, like filling up a large water bottle. Your sternum should lift like an old-fashion water pump handle. Your ribs should move in every direction and your

Don’t worry, you aren’t going to reach a minute on your first go, it will take some training. Start with a goal of 15 seconds inhale and exhale then work your way up.

Three-to-One Breathing

Increase oxygen perfusion into your bloodstream and dump that CO2 fast with this breathing exercise. Start by inhaling for three full counts then exhaling quickly in one count. Again, you can perform this exercise while doing a cardio workout for added impact.

One-to-Three Breathing

Some people have a rib cage that is kind of stuck in a position for inhaling. A rib cage that is very flat and kind of wide at the base may be a sign. Another sign is if there is a line or a crease across the upper or mid-abs. In this case, take the time to practice exhaling past your baseline to where your lower front ribs come together and down, like an umbrella closing all the way. You want to train your rib cage muscles to hold your ribcage a bit closer at the base so that your diaphragm has more room to freely move up and down, which means deeper breathing and a calmer nervous system. When you inhale, fill up over one count, nice and deep into your belly then ribs, then exhale slowly through pursed lips as if you were trying to blow up a balloon over three slow counts past your baseline and into active exhale closing your ribs together and down. Practice this either seated upright, such as when driving with good posture, or lying in the floor with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. You may find it helpful to place one hand on your chest and the other on your abdomen. If one-to-three feels rushed, try spacing out to three-to-six.

Overall, breathing exercises increase happiness and workout efficiency while decreasing stress. Practice these exercises as often as possible. Keep it fresh by practicing in the car, in front of the TV, anytime you’re seated, or during your workout.