How to Breath?

5minty · May 2016

As I am going up in the weights, I have realized that I am having a somewhat tricky time trying to figure out how to breath, during squats especially- I have tried a deep breath as I go down and then exhaling as I go up, but I feel like I am holding my breath, I have tried short breaths on the way down and same on the way up, that seems a little easier but still not happy with it and now I am starting to focus more on my breathing then the actual move and I am afraid I will just end up tipping over one of these days :-( !

canadianlbs · May 2016

ideally, i try to get my big breath and 'lock' my core before i even start on the rep. for one thing, a big belly full of air is actually a valuable part of bracing your core and protecting your spine. for me, it's also pretty darned hard to try and breathe in while i'm also trying to move/control a barbell and maintain a smooth bar path.

for exhaling, my trainer seems to be trying to get me into the habit of exhaling during the 'work' part of most lifts. now that i think about it i'm not even sure which parts that would be for some of them, because i'm still really stuck to the habit of grabbing the breath, locking and holding it, doing the rep, breathing out.

either way, for squats a useful suggestion i got from one person early on was to pretend the rack was a tank full of water and it was up to my chin. big breath, hold it while you go down, and if you have to you can release it 'slowly' while you're coming back up to give yourself just a little more oomph. but the whole idea of the image was to help me ration myself to one breath per rep, however i actually go about the exhaling part.

5minty · May 2016

Thanks @canadianlbs for explaining, it is clearer to me now, as it seems the more I was dwelling on it during the move, the more difficult something as simple as breathing got. I like the going under in a tank of water suggestion, I will use that tomorrow and see how a belly full of air goes for me!

5minty · May 2016

I found it much easier controlling my breathing today, thank you @canadianlbs your tip helped me a lot!

lwhayes820 · May 2016

@canadianlbs and @5minty - thanks for this post. It helped with my squats today. It made a difference.

canadianlbs · May 2016

funny thing . . . i think talking about it reminded me to get more conscientious about it as well. so it's been win for me too because i had been letting myself get kind of sloppy and casual with how i breathed.

this youtube is long and probably overly technical for where you might be at, but i found it really helpful and i try to review it occasionally. so i'll pass it on in case you guys are interested in the smaller print around breath holding.