Importance of Breathing When Lifting Weights

Overview

Proper breathing during any type of heavy exertion, such as during weight-lifting, is extremely important. People are often tempted to hold their breath during heavy exertion, which is called a Valsalva maneuver. The Valsalva maneuver involves forcibly exhaling against a closed glottis (entrance to the throat), which increases your intrathoracic pressure (pressure in your chest). This raise in chest pressure can couple with adverse effects that could become life-threatening.

Risk

The Valsalva maneuver causes your blood pressure to rise to extremely high levels. A study by the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the S.P.O.R.T. Clinic in California examined the effect of breathing on blood pressure during leg presses of the maximum weights subjects could lift. When subjects exhaled slowly during the maximal effort, the average blood pressure was 198/175 mm Hg. When subjects performed a Valsalva maneuver during maximal effort, the average blood pressure was an astounding 311/284 mm Hg.

Physiology

According to an article published in Heart Lung, the physiological process that occurs during the Valsalva maneuver starts with a decrease in venous return (the amount of blood coming from the veins to the heart), due to the strain of effort. Next, an increase in both venous and arterial pressures occurs. Because this increased pressure makes it harder for your heart to pump blood, it compensates by increasing its pumping rate and force. Once you resume normal breathing, venous return increases so quickly that the heart does not have time to alter its rate and force of pumping. Thus, it continues pumping hard and fast with a much higher volume of blood, while the arteries remain constricted. Since there is no room for that extra blood in your arteries, the pressure of your arteries elevates to a much higher level than if you were to breathe normally during exertion.

Significance

The blood pressure response to the Valsalva maneuver is dangerous because it compromises blood flow to important areas of the body, including the brain. Holding your breath during weight-lifting could cause dizziness or even fainting, especially when standing. In addition, according to the University of North Texas Health Science Center, the Valsalva maneuver increases your risk of catastrophic brain injuries. Such injuries include stroke, cerebral hemorrhage, retinal (eye) hemorrhage and retinal detachment.

Proper Technique

Proper breathing technique during weight-lifting simply requires that you do not do the Valsalva maneuver. A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that inhaling during the concentric phase (when the weight is moving against gravity) produced similar blood pressures to exhaling during the concentric phase. Thus, whether you are inhaling or exhaling during the concentric phase, the important thing is to make sure you do not hold your breath, even just for a moment. However, many athletes find it is more comfortable to exhale during the concentric phase and inhale during the eccentric phase (when the weight is moving with gravity). In addition, the heart rate is slightly lower when exhaling during the concentric phase, which may offer some advantage to this technique.

Misconceptions

The Valsalva maneuver is often cited as a technique used during heavy weight-lifting in order to protect the spine. The theory is that the increase in intrathoracic pressure provided by the Valsalva maneuver would disperse the weight across a large area of your trunk, thus decreasing the load on the spine. However, there is little research supporting this theory. In fact, a study published in Spine tested this theory and found that performance of the Valsalva maneuver actually increased spinal loading in four out of five weight-lifting tasks.