The best breathing technique for strength training

Strength training can be quite challenging. So challenging, in fact, that some people forget to breathe while lifting or pressing weights. Experts call this phenomenon ‘forced breathing’ when athletes push themselves too hard. Here are a few tips for the right breathing technique during strength training.

Why breathing technique is so important

If you want to tone your muscles for the sake of your health, you should try to do without the press breathing. It is always a clear sign that an exercise is too heavy or the weight too high. But even for performance-oriented athletes, calm and even breathing is still better. It is best if the breathing rhythm controls the movement – and not vice versa. It is easy to explain why the right breathing technique is so important, especially in strength training:

• With every physical strain, the organism needs more energy and, therefore, also more oxygen.

• If this vital elixir is missing, the cells of the body are no longer sufficiently supplied.

• As a result, metabolic waste products accumulate, and this reduces performance.

Combined breathing is best

Therefore, exercises’ correct execution plays a vital role in strength training and the proper breathing technique. Studies have shown that combined breathing is the best for every athlete. This is a combination of chest and abdominal breathing. And it is very easy to train:

• Breathe in as deeply as you can. Then you will feel not only your chest rise but also your belly bulge.

• This fills the lungs with air all the way to the tips of the lungs. Then exhale completely.

• If you have forgotten abdominal breathing, you should learn it again and concentrate on it regularly.

• In this way, you will increase your sensitivity to breathing and learn to use combined breathing more effectively in everyday life and sports.

• If you use the entire breathing spectrum during strength training, you can exploit your potential much better.