Learning how to breathe while lifting weights (whether it’s a barbell or your kid) is one of the most important things you can learn.
Properly filling your trunk with air creates stability for your spine. A stable spine ensures you’re safe while lifting AND improves the ability of your muscles to contract 💪. Improved muscle contraction means gains in strength, in some cases almost immediately.
How Breathing Makes you ‘Stronger’
Think of your spine like a water hose. The ‘water’ flowing through that hose is the signal your brain sends to your muscles to contract. If a kink gets put in the hose due to loss of spinal stability the ‘flow of water’ is reduced and your muscles won’t fire at their maximum capacity.
How can we ensure you have no kinks in the hose? Proper breathing!
- Set your spine into a neutral position by squeezing your leg muscles, glutes, and abs. We call this ‘Quads, Butts, and Guts’ and scream it often in class when we’re lifting.
- Take a deep breath into your belly using your diaphragm.
- Hold your breath through the rep and exhale when you get to the end.
- Repeat.
How to Breathe while Lifting Weights
Breath control takes practice, so don’t skip over your 90/90 breathing drills! Let’s us know how it goes or if you have any questions in the comments.
