Your form of execution, postural alignment and breathing patterns determine the safety, efficiency and effectiveness of your abdominal exercise program. Proper breathing might seem like an insignificant detail, but improper breathing can distort postural alignment, as well as your exercise form. Correct breathing engages your deep core muscles, which stabilize your posture, create deeper abdominal contractions and prevent spinal injuries.
How Not to Breathe
The form your body takes during an exercise determines the outcome of your sculpting efforts. Deep abdominal breathing patterns, while common during yoga class, do not work well with abdominal strengthening exercises. Blowing your belly up like a balloon during inhalation triggers deep relaxation of your entire body, including your abdominal muscles. If your abdominal muscles slacken, they fail to support your spine -- and back and neck pain ensues. Likewise, popping your rib-cage forward during inhalation arches your back and distorts the postural alignment necessary for functional abdominal workouts.
Engaging the Transverse
Engaging your transversus abdominis -- your deepest core muscle -- is a major goal in abdominal training. This muscle activates during forceful exhalation, as well as voluntary abdominal muscle contraction, says Dr. Len Kravitz, exercise physiology professor at the University of New Mexico. Exhalation during a torso curling or rotational movement abdominal exercise maximizes deep core muscle activity. This powerful core engagement supports your postural alignment, protects your spine from injury and creates a deeper, more effective abdominal contraction. Prepare for the exercise with an inhalation, then exhale to perform the movement.
Exhalation Test
Compare your abdomen to a balloon. It expands when you fill it with air, and deflates when you let the air out. If you don´t let out all of the air, the balloon will not completely flatten. Your abdominal muscles work the same way. Test the strength of your exhalation by lying in a supine position with your knees bent, your hands on your belly and a tissue over your mouth. Breathe in, then exhale forcefully. If the exhalation is strong enough, the tissue flies off your mouth, and your belly deflates as if you have blown the air out a big balloon.
Lateral Breathing
The Pilates method uses a lateral breathing method, which directs your breath to your outer ribs and upper back. This type of breathing method lets you maintain a flexed or rotated position for an extended time frame, without the risk of inhaling too deeply, expanding your belly, and losing abdominal support. Some Pilates instructors also use a modified breathing technique, that helps their students maintain postural alignment during the return movement of any abdominal curling exercise. To breathe during Pilates, or any type of abdominal exercise, breathe in while you are in the resting position. Exhale forcefully as you flex or rotate your upper torso. The fuller the exhalation, the deeper the abdominal contraction. Inhale as you return from the movement.
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