Just Breathe

    

Fitness is mantra of the day. Someone wants to loose weight, others want to become lean and many want to build a muscular physique. This has led to a plethora of workout styles and programs. Yoga, Pilates, Strength training, Cross fit, Bodyweight style training are ruling the roost. One aspect of fitness which sometimes gets ignored is breathing during excercise.   




In general it is not important whether you breath during the exertion (harder) phase of an exercise or the relaxation (easier) phase as long as you do breath. 

For example, in a traditional squat the exertion phase corresponds to the phase where you rise up to standing position and relaxation phase is when you sit down back. In a shoulder press the act of pressing the dumbbell or barbell up is the exertion phase and bringing it down to your shoulders is the relaxation phase.

Source: http://clipart-library.com/breathing-cliparts.html

Naturally, we tend to exhale during the exertion phase and inhale during the relaxation phase. It is when we hold our breath which invariably happens during the exertion phase that problems arise, especially if we are handling heavy weights. This act of holding breath while moving heavy weights may cause the subject to pass out, a phenomenon, referred to as thee Valsalva effect. This occurs because the intrathoracic pressure due to held breath impedes blood flow to the brain. Within a few seconds the lack of blood leads to blackout and when that occurs serious injury may result.

To prevent a Valsalva effect simply exhale as you exert.

Learn unique and powerful breathing exercises drawn from martial arts, qigong, and yoga that will teach you how to Adapt AND Perform Under Stress!. Click on the image below