Now that our plank challenge is complete, and the squat
challenge is now underway, I thought we should talk about an important, yet
sometimes neglected part of exercising – breathing. But before we get into a discussion
on breathing, let’s make a quick correction about the squat challenge test day.
We had originally scheduled the test for May 29th, without realizing
that May 29th is Memorial Day. I don’t know about you, but we will
be taking the day off; therefore, we will move the squat challenge test day to May 30th instead.
Mark your calendars now and get to work on those squats.
And now, moving on to breathing. Breathing is such a relaxing
word, and usually exercise isn’t, so how do they go together, what does it have
to do with the squat challenge, or even just exercise in general? Breathing is
one thing that we don’t have to tell ourselves, remind ourselves, or force
ourselves to do, it is involuntary – so why does it matter? Well surprisingly,
there are many benefits of breathing correctly during exercise.
Some of the benefits are that if we are breathing right, we
can experience greater range of motion while exercising, do more exercises in a
limited amount of time, and work our bodies harder in a routine because it’s
being fueled by oxygen, among many other things.
Okay, we know that there are benefits to breathing correctly
during exercise, but how are we supposed to breathe while we exercise? There
are many different techniques out there for breathing during exercise, but
today I just want to discuss one of them that will hopefully help you while you
exercise (and practice your squats for the squat challenge). This technique is exhaling
on the concentric portion of the exercise.
Let’s break down the phases of an exercise so that this
makes more sense. In each exercise you perform, there is a concentric phase,
and an eccentric phase.
The concentric phase is the shortening of the muscle, while
the eccentric phase is the lengthening of the muscle. Typically, an easier way
to think about it is that the concentric phase is the harder part of the
movement, and the eccentric phase is the easier part of the movement.
So, this breathing technique is based on exhaling during
the concentric (harder) part of the movement.
When applying this theory to a squat (weighted or not),
think about it – is it harder to lower yourself down toward the ground, or
stand back up? If you aren’t sure, stand up and do 100 or so of them and see
what part starts to get harder. No really, stand up and do a few if you aren’t
sure.
After that little experiment, hopefully you were able to
realize that the “harder” part of the movement was when you were standing back
up. That means you should exhale every time you stand up from a squat.
If you weren’t able to determine which part was “harder”
because maybe the exercise wasn’t hard enough, think about it in terms of the
muscle shortening and lengthening. In a squat, the quadriceps work
eccentrically (lengthen) as you lower yourself down, and work concentrically
(shorten) as you stand back up. Again, that means you should exhale as you
stand up (using the theory we are discussing today).
Here are some other examples, with different exercises, to
help reinforce this concept. To exhale on the concentric portion of the
exercise, exhale during the:
STANDING up portion of a squat (shortening of the
quadriceps)
PRESSING up portion of a bench press (shortening of the pectorals)
PULLING up portion of a pull up/chin up (shortening of the
lats)
PULLING up portion of a deadlift (shortening of the
hamstrings)
STANDING up portion of a lunge (shortening of the
quadriceps)
PRESSING up portion of a push-up (shortening of the
pectorals)
CURLING up portion of a bicep curl (shortening of the
biceps)
KICKING back portion of a triceps kickback (shortening of
the triceps)
Breathing in this way while you practice your squats, or
other exercises, can help you to reduce recovery time between sets, and help
avoid feelings of light-headedness from holding your breath. This could
translate into meaning you can do more repetitions or use more weight when you
breathe this way.
Try it out and see what you think! Does it help you be able
to do more reps, more weight, or even just feel better after your set? You won’t
know unless you try!
Until next time (if there is a next time because my baby
could come before next time)!
Please to hesitate to ask any questions you might have!
Miranda Harris
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