How do you know if you’re working out rigjt?
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Redchip26
Posts: 15 Member
How do you know if you’re working out right and breathing correctly?
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Replies
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You’re breathing correctly if you’re still alive.11
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Breathing correctly while working out0
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Hey @Redchip26 - not sure what specific information you are looking for, but usually pain = not working out properly. So if you happen to be experiencing any, it'd probably be a good idea to look into why its happening (not saying this is you, just providing an example of how you may not be working out properly based upon the vague info.)
Best of luck to you!
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You’re breathing correctly if you’re still alive.
Funny enough in my 30's I found out I didn't breathe right. During a neurological exam the Doctor pointed out I tended to breathe by predominately lifting my chest and shoulders rather than using my diaphragm properly.
Which then made sense of why I was a good splinter blessed with freakishly oversize lungs but my endurance was truly appalling. I regarded a 400m as an endurance event when I was at school.
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I’m mostly talking about ab workouts1
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Don't hold your breath is probably the most important rule.
In general, exhaling during the more strenuous part of the movement and inhaling during the release or between movements seems to work most of the time. But honestly, I think as long as you don't hold your breath you should be OK.4 -
You’re breathing correctly if you’re still alive.
Funny enough in my 30's I found out I didn't breathe right. During a neurological exam the Doctor pointed out I tended to breathe by predominately lifting my chest and shoulders rather than using my diaphragm properly.
Which then made sense of why I was a good splinter blessed with freakishly oversize lungs but my endurance was truly appalling. I regarded a 400m as an endurance event when I was at school.
I've found in my 50's that I wasn't using my diaphragm properly also, contributing to lots of shoulder issues.
Working with a very good physical therapist on my shoulder issues I learned that I was chest/should breathing and it's a telltale sign of stress
https://www.loyolamedicine.org/blog/breathing-stress-improve-digestive
Part of the article
"Chest Breathing vs. Abdominal Breathing
There are two ways we breathe: through the chest and through the abdomen. Chest breathing is shallow. The shoulders rise with each breath and only the chest expands. With shallower breaths, less oxygen enters the blood, hurting digestion, increasing the heart rate and tensing muscles. Chest breathing is most common when we feel stressed, anxious, or in pain.
Abdominal breathing is the natural breathing of newborn babies and sleeping adults. It starts by relaxing the belly and taking slow, deep breaths. The stomach expands as the diaphragm moves downward to allow air to fill the lungs. When you breathe through the abdomen, it will feel like a balloon is gently expanding with each breath in and falling back down (contracting) with each breath out."
During my discussion with therapist, it came out that I had a stressful job with a company that was very cyclical (layoffs/restructuring averaging every 4-5 years during my 30+ years with the company). I had issues with back pain (crawling on the floor for 3-4 days level) from sitting long hours at work as well as the shoulder pain (several operations) from being hunched over a keyboard. The therapist was like, no wonder you're chest breathing from the stresses you have going.
He put me on some rehab exercises that included working on my breathing. He used some of the techniques in this article to help retrain my breathing. I worked on breathing with his coaching for the last 20 minutes of the session and my core was sore for 2 days.
The guy I went to used balloons to help cue the breathing, IMO, they would be better than the straw shown in some of the videos in the article which is a really good introduction to breathing exercises.
http://movement-as-medicine.com/why-and-how-we-program-breathing-exercises/
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Most women do not breath correctly as we are "trained" from a young age to hold our stomachs in all the time. It is very hard to do abdominal breathing while holding the abs tight.
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@Theoldguy1Theoldguy1 wrote: »You’re breathing correctly if you’re still alive.
Funny enough in my 30's I found out I didn't breathe right. During a neurological exam the Doctor pointed out I tended to breathe by predominately lifting my chest and shoulders rather than using my diaphragm properly.
Which then made sense of why I was a good splinter blessed with freakishly oversize lungs but my endurance was truly appalling. I regarded a 400m as an endurance event when I was at school.
I've found in my 50's that I wasn't using my diaphragm properly also, contributing to lots of shoulder issues.
Working with a very good physical therapist on my shoulder issues I learned that I was chest/should breathing and it's a telltale sign of stress
https://www.loyolamedicine.org/blog/breathing-stress-improve-digestive
Part of the article
"Chest Breathing vs. Abdominal Breathing
There are two ways we breathe: through the chest and through the abdomen. Chest breathing is shallow. The shoulders rise with each breath and only the chest expands. With shallower breaths, less oxygen enters the blood, hurting digestion, increasing the heart rate and tensing muscles. Chest breathing is most common when we feel stressed, anxious, or in pain.
Abdominal breathing is the natural breathing of newborn babies and sleeping adults. It starts by relaxing the belly and taking slow, deep breaths. The stomach expands as the diaphragm moves downward to allow air to fill the lungs. When you breathe through the abdomen, it will feel like a balloon is gently expanding with each breath in and falling back down (contracting) with each breath out."
During my discussion with therapist, it came out that I had a stressful job with a company that was very cyclical (layoffs/restructuring averaging every 4-5 years during my 30+ years with the company). I had issues with back pain (crawling on the floor for 3-4 days level) from sitting long hours at work as well as the shoulder pain (several operations) from being hunched over a keyboard. The therapist was like, no wonder you're chest breathing from the stresses you have going.
He put me on some rehab exercises that included working on my breathing. He used some of the techniques in this article to help retrain my breathing. I worked on breathing with his coaching for the last 20 minutes of the session and my core was sore for 2 days.
The guy I went to used balloons to help cue the breathing, IMO, they would be better than the straw shown in some of the videos in the article which is a really good introduction to breathing exercises.
http://movement-as-medicine.com/why-and-how-we-program-breathing-exercises/
Interesting, thanks for sharing.
My shoulder/chest breathing wasn't from stress though as it's something I did as a child. Although I was one of the most sporty at school I was one of the worst at cross country running - basically I only ran when in sight of the teachers!
I resolved mine by consciously breathing from my diaphragm and in a rhythm with my running cadence - never fell in love with distance running but I'm pretty decent at endurance cycling.
I still have a tendency to revert to poor breathing, almost panting, when sprinting though.
One of my fellow cyclists uses a version of the zooming breathing technique in the gym. That can be a bit startling to suddenly hear an explosive out breath.0 -
@Theoldguy1Theoldguy1 wrote: »You’re breathing correctly if you’re still alive.
Funny enough in my 30's I found out I didn't breathe right. During a neurological exam the Doctor pointed out I tended to breathe by predominately lifting my chest and shoulders rather than using my diaphragm properly.
Which then made sense of why I was a good splinter blessed with freakishly oversize lungs but my endurance was truly appalling. I regarded a 400m as an endurance event when I was at school.
I've found in my 50's that I wasn't using my diaphragm properly also, contributing to lots of shoulder issues.
Working with a very good physical therapist on my shoulder issues I learned that I was chest/should breathing and it's a telltale sign of stress
https://www.loyolamedicine.org/blog/breathing-stress-improve-digestive
Part of the article
"Chest Breathing vs. Abdominal Breathing
There are two ways we breathe: through the chest and through the abdomen. Chest breathing is shallow. The shoulders rise with each breath and only the chest expands. With shallower breaths, less oxygen enters the blood, hurting digestion, increasing the heart rate and tensing muscles. Chest breathing is most common when we feel stressed, anxious, or in pain.
Abdominal breathing is the natural breathing of newborn babies and sleeping adults. It starts by relaxing the belly and taking slow, deep breaths. The stomach expands as the diaphragm moves downward to allow air to fill the lungs. When you breathe through the abdomen, it will feel like a balloon is gently expanding with each breath in and falling back down (contracting) with each breath out."
During my discussion with therapist, it came out that I had a stressful job with a company that was very cyclical (layoffs/restructuring averaging every 4-5 years during my 30+ years with the company). I had issues with back pain (crawling on the floor for 3-4 days level) from sitting long hours at work as well as the shoulder pain (several operations) from being hunched over a keyboard. The therapist was like, no wonder you're chest breathing from the stresses you have going.
He put me on some rehab exercises that included working on my breathing. He used some of the techniques in this article to help retrain my breathing. I worked on breathing with his coaching for the last 20 minutes of the session and my core was sore for 2 days.
The guy I went to used balloons to help cue the breathing, IMO, they would be better than the straw shown in some of the videos in the article which is a really good introduction to breathing exercises.
http://movement-as-medicine.com/why-and-how-we-program-breathing-exercises/
Interesting, thanks for sharing.
My shoulder/chest breathing wasn't from stress though as it's something I did as a child. Although I was one of the most sporty at school I was one of the worst at cross country running - basically I only ran when in sight of the teachers!
I resolved mine by consciously breathing from my diaphragm and in a rhythm with my running cadence - never fell in love with distance running but I'm pretty decent at endurance cycling.
I still have a tendency to revert to poor breathing, almost panting, when sprinting though.
One of my fellow cyclists uses a version of the zooming breathing technique in the gym. That can be a bit startling to suddenly hear an explosive out breath.
I would do some of the suggested exercises with the balloon while doing warm ups or mobility work at the gym. Some asked about it some just tried to hide the weird looks but it helped me.1
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