Knowing how to breathe properly during exercise can affect your athletic performance. There are a variety of breathing techniques you can use during exercise to help you stay in rhythm and in tune with what your body is doing. Running and swimming are ideal exercises to help develop good rhythmic breathing. Mastering these techniques can help you optimize your workouts.
Strength Training
Proper breathing is not just required for aerobic exercises. Anaerobic workouts, such as strength training, are more efficient when you use good breathing form. Lifting heavy weights puts a high amount of stress on your heart, which needs a constant supply of fresh oxygen. Don't hold your breath when lifting weights, as this deprives the heart of its oxygen and raises your blood pressure. Exhale continuously and slowly when pushing or pulling a weight, then inhale on the return. As with running or swimming, create a steady pace when lifting weights. The rhythm will help synchronize your breathing.
Running and Swimming
Rhythmic breathing is perhaps most applicable to running and swimming. Creating a steady cadence of inhaling and exhaling makes these activities easier, especially if running or swimming for long distances. Swimmers must establish a breathing pattern from the very beginning of the exercise, as most strokes require the head to be submerged at some point. A runner can first find a suitable pace, then adjust his breathing to fit that pace. Some runners use the 3:2 inhale-to-exhale ratio, during which a runner inhales on a left-right-left stride sequence and exhales on the following right-left stride sequence.
Deep Breathing Technique
Intense aerobic exercises can sometimes leave you exhausted and gasping for air. A technique that can help return your breathing to a steady pace is deep breathing. Taking one or two deep breaths gives your body a shot of extra oxygen and temporarily helps relax your overworked aerobic system (Reference 3). Whenever you feel short of breath during exercise, concentrate on filling your lungs with as much oxygen as possible. Hold the air in for one second and then slowly exhale. Don't force deep breathing. Your body should tell you when it is ready.
Nasal Breathing
Certain endurance exercises, such as running, biking and walking, can be performed at low intensities and don't necessarily require breathing through the mouth. In such cases, you can breath through the nose at a steady pace. This technique can help calm the body and your aerobic system. Breathe fully and deeply through your nose and exhale through the nose or the mouth. Only breathe through the nose for as long as it is comfortable. If your exercise intensity increases and you begin to feel short of breath, breathe through you mouth.
