Not everyone, when performing strength exercises, thinks about how to breathe correctly. But in vain - proper breathing determines a considerable percentage of the effectiveness of exercises. It helps you concentrate on the exercise and maintain rhythm, and also makes it easier to perform the exercises, since it allows the body to more easily bear the load. Professional athletes are familiar with the basics of proper breathing, as this is one of the first things taught in sports clubs. Knowing and following the principles of proper breathing, you can increase your endurance and quickly achieve the desired result. It is especially important to know how to breathe correctly when pumping the press, because these exercises are the most common.
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How to breathe correctly when pumping your abs.
For many people, when starting exercises to pump up the abdominal muscles, it is difficult to understand how to breathe correctly?
In fact, in order for the muscles to contract as much as possible when the abs are tense, you need to exhale air from the lungs, freeing the torso.
Breathe correctly when pumping your abs this way:
1). Lying on your back, take a deep breath. 2). Exhalation during strength exercises is done under tension. Raise your torso and at the same time exhale fully. If you raise your legs or knees, also exhale. At the same time, you should remember How to breathe correctly when pumping the press. You need to inhale air through your nose and exhale through your mouth.
The complete rule for pumping up the abdominal muscles looks like this:
1. Lie on the floor and put your hands behind your head. Keep your back straight. 2. Take a deep breath through your nose. 3. Lift off the floor, back straight, and exhale through your mouth. It is important to ensure that the elbows are spread straight apart and not at an angle. 3. Take a slow, deep breath through your nose while lying down, relaxed.
You might be interested in a video on the topic of proper breathing:
Mouth or nose?
Often when discussing respiratory control during training, disputes arise: how to breathe correctly - through the mouth or nose? In fact, there is nothing to argue about here; each method has its own areas of application:
- The nose acts as a natural filter for air. Passing through it, the air is cleared of dust particles and most microbes - and at the same time warms up. Therefore, when training outdoors in winter, you need to breathe through your nose, so as not to chill your windpipe and get inflamed. Laryngitis, tracheitis or bronchitis occur easily, but then are treated long and difficult. And a common cold does not add any pleasant sensations and is not at all beneficial for the body.
- With some types of loads, it is necessary to draw in and release air quickly and sharply - for example, during swimming with some styles, when the swimmer’s face is immersed in the water over and over again, or exercises with a barbell that always rises with a sharp exhalation. Then you can and should only breathe through your mouth.
IMPORTANT: If activities that require mouth breathing take place in cold air, you can use protective equipment, such as a scarf or windproof balaclava mask.
Muscle contraction
Another important factor regarding the question of how to breathe correctly when pumping the press. When we do exercises for this muscle group, they cannot contract completely due to the fact that there is a certain amount of air in our lungs.
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Therefore, those people who delay doing exercises (for example, standard sit-ups) never fully work the muscles involved. The solution to this problem is very simple - having reached the end point (maximum tension) during repetition, you need to exhale completely.
How to breathe correctly when pumping your abs?
When it comes to how to properly pump up your abs, proper breathing technique is very important. A mistake many novice athletes make is holding their breath almost to complete the entire approach. This is fundamentally wrong, because the muscles, without receiving enough oxygen, suffer, which negatively affects the effectiveness of your workouts.
Correct breathing technique maintains the normal functioning of the muscles, it helps us get tired less, and accordingly, the effectiveness of the workout increases. Also, correct breathing prevents hellish muscle pain, leaving only a pleasant, characteristic burning sensation. The breathing technique is always identical regardless of the exercise being performed: inhalation is done when you relax, that is, returning to the starting position, and exhalation is done during the actual exercise, when the muscles are as tense as possible. For example, during normal lifting, you exhale when you lift your body, and inhale when you lower it back.
What experienced athletes say
To consolidate the result, it is worth familiarizing yourself with what experienced athletes say about proper breathing when pumping the press.
Athletes say one rather interesting thing about the abdominal muscles; many of them call this group the “exhalatory muscles.” That is, every time these muscles are tense, you need to exhale.
This principle applies during any type of exercise. When lifting your torso, exhale; when lifting your legs or knees, do the same. The same principle applies everywhere.
Naturally, inhalation is done while lowering the torso or legs, that is, when returning to the starting position. At this very moment, our abdominal muscles are stretched to their maximum.
So, 90% of the success of your ab workouts depends on proper breathing. However, the same rule applies to any other strength exercises. Take care of yourself and enjoy proper training! I wish you success!
How to breathe correctly
Now it’s time to talk about proper breathing during abdominal workouts. And I would immediately like to point out a simple and obvious truth to everyone who plays sports: proper breathing is an essential element of all activities. The successful result of training largely depends on it.
In general, the technique of proper breathing is quite simple. Here is an approximate sequence:
1) We take the starting position, that is, we lie down on the floor or on the machine, depending on your training preferences and the part of the abs that you are going to work.
2) If you perform a standard exercise for the press, that is, lie on the floor, bend your knees and raise your body towards them, then exhale throughout the entire lifting of the body, and while returning to the starting position (again, throughout all this time) inhale. That is, exhale with effort.
As you can see, everything is quite simple. Why do you need to breathe this way? This technique makes it as easy as possible to perform any abdominal exercise and contributes to less muscle fatigue after training. Of course, they will hurt after exercise, but proper breathing will relieve unnecessary pain, you will only feel natural post-workout discomfort.
Great desire and diligence during training are good factors, but they, by themselves, will not bring the desired result. Everything should be supported by proper breathing, only in this case the abdominal muscles will become truly strong and acquire a beautiful appearance.
Belly or chest?
A person has two types of breathing:
- Diaphragm. In this case, from the outside it is noticeable how the abdominal wall moves back and forth - the person inflates and retracts his stomach.
- Breast. In this case, the ribs move first.
Although chest breathing is natural for many people in life, under load it is necessary to use diaphragm breathing. This is due to the fact that with this method, the volume of air flowing through the lungs increases sharply, and there is more oxygen in the blood. In addition, the diaphragm muscles are much stronger than the intercostal muscles - and fatigue from deep breathing occurs more slowly.
Press and improper breathing
As you know, proper breathing allows you to develop more effort and train more effectively.
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Before you figure out how to breathe correctly when pumping your abs, you need to consider what the consequences of improper breathing will be. In general, incorrect breathing is one of the most common mistakes when performing abdominal exercises. Many people do not pay attention to it, and in vain, because the effectiveness of the exercises suffers from this. Also, proper breathing technique helps prevent severe muscle and joint pain after exercise.
A fairly common breathing technique during sports: take a deep breath, and then hold your breath for several repetitions of the exercise. Then the person greedily gasps for air and again holds his breath for a certain time. But muscles need constant replenishment of oxygen reserves, especially during physical activity. With its deficiency, we cannot even talk about proper and complete muscle function.
In fact, how to breathe when doing abs is not that complicated. Why is this technique correct? The fact is that it helps simplify the performance of all exercises and helps the muscles get less tired after training. Of course, pain after training in them is still possible, however, proper breathing will help moderate them, reducing them to the usual post-workout discomfort, which is considered completely natural.
Speaking about how to breathe correctly while pumping up your abs, you need to take a closer look at muscle contractions. When doing abdominal exercises, the abdominal muscles cannot contract completely because we have a certain amount of air in our lungs. Therefore, people who hold their breath too much during exercise cannot fully work out the muscles involved.
Among athletes, the abdominal muscles are often referred to as the “exhalatory muscles.” That is, we must exhale when these muscles are tense. This principle applies to any exercise. Any lifting - legs, knees, torso, body and legs at the same time - is done while exhaling, this is a general rule. Inhalation, as is already clear, is done when we return to the starting position. At this time, the abdominal muscles are stretched to the maximum.
In order to understand how to breathe correctly when pumping your abs, let’s look at what improper breathing leads to. Improper breathing is one of the common mistakes when doing abdominal exercises. Usually, practitioners do not pay due attention to this aspect, and the entire effectiveness of the exercises suffers from this. Keep in mind that proper breathing technique will help prevent severe joint and muscle pain after exercise.
In sports, the most common breathing technique is: take a deep breath, then hold your breath for several repetitions of the exercise. Then the person takes in air through his mouth and again holds his breath for a while. And muscles need constant gas exchange - oxygen supply - carbon dioxide release, especially during physical activity. With a lack of adequate air exchange, we cannot build proper and complete muscle function.
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Muscles can be compared to a kind of factory for processing calories and burning excess fat. To work, they need raw materials - oxygen. When it enters the body intermittently, the work process slows down, and no matter what you do, you will not achieve sustainable successful results.
Proper breathing when doing abs is actually very simple. You need to inhale when relaxing - when tension drops (starting position), and exhale when lifting, when the muscles are tense as much as possible. At first, maintaining this pace may seem difficult; you will have to control yourself in how to breathe correctly while pumping the press. But after just a few workouts, the rhythm of proper breathing will become familiar, you will automatically breathe without even noticing it.
Let's take a closer look at how to breathe correctly when pumping your abs. The basis and principle are simple, they imply the following sequence:
- Take your starting position (lie on the floor, bench, machine, depending on the exercise).
- When performing a standard abdominal exercise, in which you need to lie on the floor, bend your knees and lift your body towards them, then, while lifting your body, you should exhale, and inhale, returning to the starting position. Exhalation is always done with effort - remember this.
- You need to exhale during the entire time of your rise, just as the time of inhalation should be equal to the entire time during which you lower your torso.
How to breathe when doing abs is not difficult. Why is this technique correct? It helps make all exercises easier and helps your muscles get less tired after training. Pain after training is possible, but proper breathing will moderate it and reduce it to normal post-workout discomfort, which is considered completely natural.
Among athletes, the abdominal muscles are often referred to as the “exhalatory muscles.” That is, we must exhale when these muscles are tense. This principle applies to any exercise. Any lifting - legs, knees, torso, body and legs at the same time - is done while exhaling, this is a general rule. Inhalation, as is already clear, is done when we return to the starting position. At this time, the abdominal muscles are stretched to the maximum.
The principle of how to breathe correctly when pumping the abdominal press determines 90% of the success of training. And this applies not only to working out the abdominal muscles, but also to other strength exercises, so it is important to control your breathing technique.
