A nice theory: breathing during strength exercises

A nice theory: how to breathe during strength exercises…

We all know the advice: when you perform a strength exercise, breathe out as you lift the weight and breathe in as you lower it. I was taught this, and I have passed it on to others. Only now, looking back and thinking it through, do I realize that this advice is quite literally nonsense and could not be further from reality.

It sounds nice in theory and may work better for calisthenics and beginners who are simply moving a weight without any effort, but certainly not for a serious, experienced lifter. Try doing a set of ten squats at, say, 70–80% of your 1 RM, breathing in during the lowering phase, also known as the eccentric phase, and out as you rise with the weight, during the concentric phase.

Of course, you can do it if you really try, but for some reason, this still isn’t how we breathe during our usual sets. Things are different in practice, and this “breathe out as the weight goes up, breathe in as it goes down” advice doesn’t hold up. I wouldn’t call it entirely wrong, but it is very, very incomplete.

You certainly must not hold your breath throughout a set. People do make that mistake, but in practice, you don’t actually breathe in while lowering the weight. Try paying attention to your breathing as you perform a set of squats with a substantial weight. Observe yourself and how you breathe.

What actually happens is that you fill your lungs with air in the starting position at the top, hold your breath as you descend, and come back up half (½) or 2/3 of the way out of the squat before you start breathing out. There is no breathing in on the way down and out on the way up. As experienced lifters, this is how we breathe on every repetition of every exercise.

Yet another “nice theory” that largely fails to hold up in practice…

Author: Janar Rückenberg

Source:Turg.Fitness.ee

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