This week, I wanted to take a deep dive into breathing during exercise. A lot of questions I get are for when you inhale and when you exhale during an exercise, and I wanted to break down how to breathe throughout the different sections of class (this is long so bear with me!) I’m going to break this up into breathing through WarmUp (Cardio), Legs – Glutes (Strength Training) and Core/Yoga.

WARM UP BREATHING

• Overall Goal: to get regular oxygen to feed our muscles
• Common Issues Preventing Goal: 
  • Taking breaths in through their mouth – Clients try to get more oxygen faster, But this actually decreases blood levels of carbon dioxide, inhibiting the body’s ability to release oxygen into the cells.
  • Only using the top of their chest to breathe – many adults don’t properly engage the diaphragm, breathe shallowly, and move the upper rib cage more than it should.  This causes discomfort in the chest and back muscles and weakens the muscles in the pelvic floor and lower back
• How to fix these issues
  • Breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth – The hairs in your nose help purify the air and regulate the temperature of the air you inhale
  • Be a Belly Breather! – Use the entire abdominal area for oxygen, not just the top of your chest. You’ll have more energy to finish because air is fuel for the aerobic system.
• Helpful Cues to Use
  • “Breathe in Through the Nose, Out Through the Mouth”
  • “Find a natural rhythm to your breath as we move here”
  • “Remember to breathe! our muscles need oxygen for fuel”
  • “Breath out into your Belly” or “Make sure your breath is coming through the belly”

LEGS/COMBO/GLUTES BREATHING

• Overall Goal:  support the exertion of the exercise and allow you to lift/move more with better control
• Common Issues Preventing Goal: 
  • Holding Your Breath – many hold their breath to brace their core to get more reps in. However, this can lead to a rise in blood pressure leading to dizziness, and fainting.
  • Short, shallow breaths – same as in cardio, not using the diaphragm properly in breathing can lead to low back and pelvic floor weakness
• How to fix these issues
  • Exhale on the “exertion”, inhale on the “relaxation”
    • This will look a little different in each section, but Focus on the muscle groups you are targeting, (legs, arms, glutes) 
    • Inhale on the lengthening, passive, and Eccentric action of the movement
    • Exhale on the shortening, active, and Concentric actions of the movement
    • Example: Chair Squat – you inhale as you lower, exhale as you lift
    • Example: TRX Tricep Press – inhale as you bend your arms and lower, exhale as you extend your arms and lift
    • Example: Glute snappers (LRM) – inhale as you drive the knee in, exhale as you press the leg back
  • Be a Belly Breather! – Same goals here, use the whole abdomen to inhale and exhale
• Helpful Cues to Use
  • “Inhale as you lower, exhale as you lift!”*
  • “Give me a strong exhale to stabilize your core”
  • “Feel those muscles engage as you breathe out”
  • “Good breathing will fuel your muscles to sink a little lower here!”

CORE/YOGA BREATHING

• Overall Goal:  maintain an active core (pilates) and promote relaxation (yoga for True40 classes). Tempo is slower and drawn out.
• Common Issues Preventing Goal: 
  • Holding Your Breath – many hold their breath to brace their core to get more reps in. However, this can lead to a rise in blood pressure leading to dizziness, and fainting.
  • Short, shallow breaths (see a pattern?) – same as in cardio, not bracing the core properly in breathing can lead to low back and pelvic floor weakness
  • Worrying about the “choreography” of breathing – getting tripped up when to inhale/exhale will throw off the flow and stabilization you need. Sometimes there is exertion in both directions when it comes to core work.
• How to fix these issues
  • Exhale when you work the hardest to stabilize, or when you are fighting gravity the most. This is cued differently in every Pilates class I’ve ever taken!
  • Lateral inhale in core work – Push your ribcage outward as you inhale and pull the ribcage back into the midline as you exhale.
  • When in doubt, just breathe!  – cue what feels natural to you, for me that is inhale moving away from the midline, exhale moving towards it. There can be some exertion in both directions, go with your gut.
  • Breathing rhythm for core work (2 count or 4 count both ways) and full belly breathing in yoga for relaxation. 
• Helpful Cues to Use
  • Core:
  • “Inhale as you lower, exhale as you lift!”***
  • “Weave your ribcage inward on the exhale”
  • “Relax the pelvic floor on the inhale”
  • “Keep breathing here in this core blast, your muscles will be able to do their job better!”
  • Yoga:
  • “seal your lips and draw the exhale out longer to relax”
  • “breath in the air that brings you life, breath out anything no longer serving you”
  • “peel away any tension you have as you breathe out. “