How to use your breath during exercise

When you’re at the gym, it is common to hear coaches say, "Remember to breathe”. We all know that it is important to breathe, but many of us may not know why. Breathing allows us to drive movements through sticking points, utilize breath as core and lumbar stabilization, and use breathwork as a guide to lifting. Continually working on breathing while lifting can allow you to take your movements to the next level while also helping increase the quality of your workout. 

What is a sticking point?

According to Kompf and Arandjelovic (2016), a sticking point is a position in a lift where failure usually occurs due to a momentary point of muscle failure. What does that mean? Here’s an example: During a bench press, there is a moment about 75% of the way to the top of the movement where it can get really hard and heavy. Or when you’re nearly to the top of a squat, you may feel a little “catch” or “hitch” in the movement where it is a struggle to get the rest of the way up. Using proper breathing allows us to push past those points and complete the movements. 

Sticking points like these can happen in almost any movement at any weight as it is simply a point of muscle fatigue during a movement. Learning how to utilize your breathing can help you to push past that point. 

How breathing applies to bench press

When doing a bench press, it is important to understand the flow of the movement. Whether doing the movement with dumbbells or a barbell, a bench press movement always starts with the weights above you and arms fully extended. When you are in this starting position is when you inhale a deep breath to help prepare your body for the lift. As you continue the movement, your breath is held on the way down. Otherwise you can breathe in on the way down and simply hold it for a moment. As you start to push the weights away from your body and back to the starting position is when the exhale is completed. 

I always imagine that I am blowing the bar away from me or back to the top of the lift. By exhaling during the concentric part of the movement, you are exhaling during the most difficult part. Check out this video to see how to breathe properly during a bench press. 

How breathing applies to squats

Squats are another movement where breathwork can be a great tool. For more experienced Olympic weightlifters, it can even be the breaking point between doing a lift properly and injury. This form of breathwork is called the Valsalva Maneuver. The Valsalva Maneuver according to Hacket, Daniel, and Chow (2013) is when there is a forced exhalation against a closed glottis increasing intra-abdominal pressure. What that means for us is holding air during the part where you need the most stabilization to create intra-abdominal pressure to help stabilize the spine, and exhaling to contract the abdominal muscles and blow past the sticking point. For a squat, this looks like taking a deep inhale at the top of the lift, when our legs are fully extended, and exhaling as we stand up from the bottom of the squat. Check out this video to see how to breathe properly during a squat. 

Breathing is an important tool we can use in the gym to create a whole new level of core activation and increase the quality of movements. If you’re interested in more information on breathing during exercise, check out this book, which is full of great research and information.

You can also reach out to any of our Rise coaches during your next workout! To get started with Rise with a free fitness consultation, head here.

Sources:

Hackett, Daniel A.; Chow, Chin-Moi. The Valsalva Maneuver: Its Effect on Intra-abdominal Pressure and Safety Issues During Resistance Exercise. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 27(8):p 2338-2345, August 2013. | DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31827de07d

Kompf, J., Arandjelović, O. Understanding and Overcoming the Sticking Point in Resistance Exercise. Sports Med 46, 751–762 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-015-0460-2