Breathing in Weight Training
August 3rd 2007 15:24
In my most recent entry I made the case for weight training as an aerobic activity and encouraged everyone to pursue it as such. The obvious question to be considered by anyone convinced to do so is how this is to be accomplished. As I said in my last entry the chief way is to regulate the intervals between weight sets carefully. The shorter these intervals the more aerobic the workout.
The way you approach the act of breathing during each set is similarly important in adding an aerobic demension to your weight work. It is quite easy to hold your breath, for instance, while you do your repetitions and without special attention you may well be doing a fair amount of just that in your workout. Holding breath is the very worst way to train.Proper breathing,in contrast,not only adds to your aerobic capacity but can increase the strength which you can apply to your movements.
Proper breathing is very simple. In any movement you should be breathing out as you do the working part and breathing in as you return to the starting point. If you are doing a pushing movement, your out breath should accompany it. If you are doing a pulling movement your out breath should accompany it. In a squat or leg press the out breath should assist your movement of the weight.
If you begin to concentrate on properly orienting your breathing, you will soon realize that the correlation of breath to movement makes you stronger in that movement. I first confirmed this, as I remember, while doing pull downs, and the result was an immediate increase in the amount of weight I was able to use. It is worth the effort to concentrate on how to maximize the interrelationship of breathing with every movement you do.
If your set intervals are fairly short and you concentrate on breathing you will soon see a pronounced difference in your respiration during your rest periods. I recommend that you work toward a level of exertion where you are panting a good portion of your workout.
One day some years ago I was bent over panting and trying to recover from some set or other and I laughed with an acquaintance that I was sure glad that weight training is not aerobic, because I was having enough trouble getting my breath as it was. Your servant, as always.
The way you approach the act of breathing during each set is similarly important in adding an aerobic demension to your weight work. It is quite easy to hold your breath, for instance, while you do your repetitions and without special attention you may well be doing a fair amount of just that in your workout. Holding breath is the very worst way to train.Proper breathing,in contrast,not only adds to your aerobic capacity but can increase the strength which you can apply to your movements.
Proper breathing is very simple. In any movement you should be breathing out as you do the working part and breathing in as you return to the starting point. If you are doing a pushing movement, your out breath should accompany it. If you are doing a pulling movement your out breath should accompany it. In a squat or leg press the out breath should assist your movement of the weight.
If you begin to concentrate on properly orienting your breathing, you will soon realize that the correlation of breath to movement makes you stronger in that movement. I first confirmed this, as I remember, while doing pull downs, and the result was an immediate increase in the amount of weight I was able to use. It is worth the effort to concentrate on how to maximize the interrelationship of breathing with every movement you do.
If your set intervals are fairly short and you concentrate on breathing you will soon see a pronounced difference in your respiration during your rest periods. I recommend that you work toward a level of exertion where you are panting a good portion of your workout.
One day some years ago I was bent over panting and trying to recover from some set or other and I laughed with an acquaintance that I was sure glad that weight training is not aerobic, because I was having enough trouble getting my breath as it was. Your servant, as always.
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