Every breath you take while working out can help you push further, do more, or add extra pressure on your body. So make sure you're doing it right to get better results and improve weight loss.
You might already know some basic breathing techniques during exercise, but our breaths can do a lot more to help us lift an extra five pounds. It can also affect the overall quality of workouts, our energy levels, and even our fat-burning ability. So breathing right is important.
The most common "style" of breathing during exercise is "inhale on the way down, exhale on the push." Breathing correctly matters for many reasons, including helping you do the exercise properly.
There are two main types of breathing:
- Belly breathing and chest breathing. Yoga practitioners already know about belly breathing. Chest breaths are shorter and more shallow, which doesn't let our lungs fill properly and doesn't give our muscles the oxygen they need. If we can create bigger oxygen storage, more will reach our muscles, and we'll find we need shorter recovery times between sets, with an overall boost in energy and endurance. And all this comes from the right posture and correct breathing. Good posture makes enough space by positioning the diaphragm right under our rib cage, letting us pull breath using our "belly."
- Another dividing point in breathing is breathing through the nose or mouth. Often, people breathe faster than needed during workouts or even hold their breath. Generally, those who "breathe through the mouth" face mild trouble breathing deeply. Drawing air through the nose slows our breathing and lets us take in more oxygen than the mouth. Studies also show that people who breathe better can perform exercises correctly.
One way to train breathing is the "three to two ratio." Breathe in counting to three, then breathe out for two counts. You can try this while climbing stairs or on a treadmill. It's tough at first but will help get the most oxygen possible to your body. Of course, this kind of training is tough when lifting heavy weights.
Breathing and weight loss:
So what about breathing and weight loss? The simple answer is breathing lets us do more. If we breathe right, we can try a bigger range of movement during exercise, do more workouts in less time, and push our bodies harder because they get more oxygen.
Breathing can also help us lose weight because proper breathing fights stress. When we’re stressed, our bodies go into survival mode. This slows metabolism and stores fat since our bodies release more cortisol and stop improving our heart and lung health. If we breathe right, we relax and our bodies work better.
Note: Not all breathing techniques fit everyone. Always check with your doctor before trying something new. People with high blood pressure are especially at risk when changing breathing patterns. Our advice is to learn and practice new techniques with a specialist before trying them on your own.
