Proper breathing when deadlifting. How to breathe properly during strength exercises

“Fresh breath makes it easier to understand” - even two-month-old babies have firmly grasped this “truth,” but few know that proper breathing in bodybuilding makes it easier to perform exercises.

Moreover, if you play sports, but still have not learned to breathe correctly, then improper breathing can almost completely nullify all your efforts, sometimes even the most advanced visitors don’t remember gyms. Today we will learn to breathe correctly.

Proper breathing during exercise

Typically, when breathing correctly during resistance exercise, exhale at the point of greatest resistance (very often in the negative phase), while inhale at a medium or low load.

Correct breathing cycle consists of four stages:

Before starting each exercise (repetition), you should take a deep breath;
Exhalation is performed at the most difficult phase of the movement;
At the top point you should inhale again;
Completion of the repetition should be done while exhaling.

When performing the exercise, you should breathe through your nose - freely and without delay. Why through the nose? There are many receptors in the nasal cavity, the irritation of which by a powerful air flow has a positive influence on the activity of internal organs.

Breathing should be as normal as possible. Ideally, at the moment of tension, you should inhale, and when relaxing, exhale. Holding your breath should be avoided (if you hold your breath for a long time during high load even loss of consciousness is possible). The exception is very difficult exercises, where holding your breath for a second is still acceptable.

Rules for proper breathing in strength exercises

There are several basic rules for proper breathing during exercise:

you should not focus on breathing, much less artificially force it;
You should not breathe deeply before each strength exercise, trying to “store” a portion of air. It is better to do a thorough warm-up at the beginning of the workout - this is quite enough to prepare the whole body for work;
immediately before starting the exercise, you should take a shallow breath and breathe naturally while working, correlating the pace of breathing with the nature of the movements;
when spreading your arms to the sides and extending your torso in the lower back, that is, in cases where the chest expands, inhale and then exhale.

Correct breathing recipe for success
At the same time, we cannot do without holding our breath. And this is where certain difficulties are possible. The fact is that holding your breath in itself can increase blood pressure, and if certain efforts are made against the background of this delay, the pressure can go off scale.
Hence the conclusion: you are allowed to resort to holding your breath while doing exercises only if your blood pressure is more or less in order. If this is the case, let's move on to performing specific exercises.
Bench press
Improper breathing when performing the bench press can completely ruin this exercise; the right one will make it possible to squeeze out significantly more weight- other things being equal. What is proper breathing when bench pressing? Something similar inherits. As you lower the barbell, you inhale. Approximately in the middle of the amplitude of movement of the projectile (near the “dead” point), hold your breath and lower it further while holding it. Under no circumstances should you exhale at the bottom point - the balance of your body on the bench will immediately be disrupted! And your shoulders will move forward, which is simply unacceptable. Still holding your breath, you begin to press. And approximately when you reach the same “dead” point, you exhale sharply and strongly - the projectile will seem to go up on its own.
Squats
Breathing when performing squats is almost the same as breathing during a bench press. The same deep breath at the beginning and - from about the middle of the amplitude of movement - a delay. Which persists both at the bottom point and at the beginning of the upward movement. And only halfway through the journey you still exhale sharply.
Deadlift
The task of breathing when performing a deadlift is to ensure maximum stability of the spine at the lowest point of the range of motion; the back should not be rounded. One more note - this does not concern breathing, but is very important: do not try to move the weight with a jerk - you risk getting a spinal injury. Try to “squeeze” the weight upward, pressing your feet as hard as you can into the floor. Well, now about breathing. Take a deep breath and hold your breath. Grasp the barbell and begin to pull it up while maintaining a hold. Start exhaling slowly (through your teeth) only after you have gone more than half the way. At the top point, exhale completely, then take a deep breath and lower the barbell.
Pull-ups/rows
If breathing during the three “basic” exercises is subordinated to the goal of maximum stabilization of the body in order to develop maximum effort, then during back training, breathing is intended to help you feel the muscles in the best possible way. Simply put, it should help direct all efforts to the back muscles. Well, regarding the whole effort, this is probably too “cool” - after all, the hands take on any kind of action and in any breathing “situation” they will take on a significant part of the load - but still. The main rule is to inhale throughout the downward movement of the handle (if you are pulling yourself up, then throughout your upward movement). This technique seems to unfold chest and allows you to bring your shoulder blades together as much as possible in the final phase of movement. And oh, how much depends on this convergence of the shoulder blades! As you move down (pull-ups) or move the handle up (rows), exhale. In principle, this technique is applicable not only for vertical, but also for horizontal rods(to the belt on the lower block, in the simulator, barbell or T-bar to the belt in an incline position).

Proper breathing allows you to develop greater effort and train more effectively. Today I will tell you how to breathe when performing strength exercises.
Remember the basic rule - in strength exercises, you exhale.
That is, exhalation occurs at the moment when you overcome the maximum load. Inhalation is done during the phase with the least effort.
This is logical, because during exhalation you can tense your muscles much better.
Research by physiologists shows that breathing reflexively affects muscle tension; maximum strength is best demonstrated by exhaling or holding your breath.
In addition, as you exhale, the abs tense and stabilize the entire body, plus the muscles of the chest are grouped and create a strong corset - in this state it is more convenient to develop force.
Conversely, during inhalation, the chest stretches and swells, the abdominal muscles stretch and relax, so this is not suitable for powerful tension of large muscles. muscle groups. It is difficult to strain with a relaxed stomach.

Some people are used to breathing incorrectly, so it seems to them that it is better to inhale with effort, but this is simply a wrong habit.
Start breathing correctly, exhale forcefully and your body will quickly adjust to the correct mode. Soon you will feel that it is more organic and that more force can be developed as you exhale.

LET'S LOOK AT A FEW EXAMPLES OF CORRECT BREATHING
How to breathe correctly when doing push-ups
When you forcefully straighten your arms and push up from the floor, exhale
When you go down and bend your arms, inhale

How to breathe correctly when doing pull-ups on the bar
When bending your arms, when you rise up to the bar - exhale
When you go down and straighten your arms, inhale

How to breathe correctly during abdominal exercises
Everything should be obvious here abdominal Press- these are the muscles of exhalation!
Naturally, when you tense your abs, you need to exhale.
Raise your torso - exhale, raise your legs or knees - exhale
Lower your torso or legs (when the abdominal muscles stretch) – inhale

How to Breathe Correctly While Benching
When you press the barbell up, exhale
When lowering the barbell to your chest, inhale
The same applies to bench presses while standing, sitting, or on incline bench– exhale when you press the barbell (or dumbbells) away from you.
In “press” exercises, the maximum force is developed when you straighten your arms, when you push the weight “away from you.”

How to Breathe During Biceps Exercises
Let's say you're doing standing barbell curls, or dumbbell curls.
The principle is always the same when you forcefully contract the working muscles - exhale.
Bend your arms, contract your biceps - exhale
Straighten your arms, lower the weight down - inhale

How to Breathe During Squats
Go down - inhale, go up - exhale.
When doing heavy squats, I use a different breathing technique.
When on your shoulders heavy weight, then the bar significantly compresses the entire body even when lowered.
So I inhale while standing, and then gradually exhale both on the downward movement and during the ascent,
because the tension is always high. The principle of “exhale with effort” is not violated.
With light weights, I breathe more dynamically - inhale down, exhale up.

How to breathe correctly when performing overhead pull-downs or abdominal pull-downs on exercise machines
There is an opinion that in exercises such as rows from above on a machine, pull-ups, rows to the abdomen (lower block rows), you need to inhale for the effort. They say that in these exercises it is important to arch your back, which means you are stretching and opening your chest and therefore you need to inhale.
In fact, this is another misconception in the modern fitness industry.
In these exercises it is really very important to arch your back - this is true, but this does not at all interfere with exhaling with effort.
During overhead pull-ups, pull-ups and abdominal pull-downs, you need to exhale during the effort!
1. The chest, in addition to the front surface, also has lateral and posterior surfaces.
During a row or pull-up, many of the chest muscles tighten significantly and compress the chest, which means you need to exhale.
2. Exhalation reflexively helps the muscles tighten better and develop greater force, which means it is more physiological.
3. As you exhale, the abdominal muscles become toned and strengthen the whole body, and with a relaxed stomach it is difficult to perform many exercises.

To get the right answers, it is better to turn to science, or study classical, olympic events sports, for the development of which entire scientific institutes work. When I studied at the sports academy, lectures often included different groups, of course we liked it more when a group sat with us rhythmic gymnastics(this is about twenty slender beauties) Some of our lectures were held together with rowers, these are huge guys, masters of sports with powerful spins. In rowing, for development high speed, they have to work very powerfully with the oars and they develop enormous strength. The movement during the row is very similar to performing abdominal rows on a machine. During the stroke, when they powerfully pull the oars towards themselves, they exhale with effort.
In all sports we can see examples of exhaling (or holding the breath) for a powerful effort.

As you know, proper breathing allows you to develop more effort and train more effectively.

Breathing while doing the exercise

Remember the basic rule: in strength exercises, exhalation is done during the effort, that is, at the moment when you overcome the maximum load. This is logical, because when you exhale you can tense your muscles much better. Research by physiologists shows that proper breathing reflexively affects muscle tension. Maximum strength is best achieved when you exhale and hold your breath, and when you inhale, the chest expands and the chest muscles stretch. The abdominal muscles also stretch and relax, and this is not very convenient for working and straining large muscle groups. It's hard to strain with a relaxed stomach. And, conversely, during exhalation, the abdominal muscles tighten and tighten, thereby stabilizing the entire body. The muscles of the chest are grouped during exhalation, thereby making it very comfortable position to develop maximum strength.

Some people advise holding your breath during an effort; holding your breath during a maximum effort increases the pressure too much and shockingly, and this can be very harmful to some organs. For example: for the eyes, for the heart and for the blood vessels of the brain. Therefore, it is better to exhale gradually, but exhale. If you have to struggle with a huge weight, then you can exhale gradually with tension. And if you are doing a sharp, explosive strength exercise, then it is better to exhale just as sharply, in accordance with the tempo of the exercise.

In professional strength sports, when lifting heavy weights, some athletes hold their breath during certain phases of the movement. For example, when passing the “dead spot” or at the very beginning of the “start” effort, it depends on the individual technique of the athlete. However, in any case, it is better to minimize breath holding, because it is not very beneficial for health.

Let's look at a few examples of proper breathing:

During push-ups: when you lower yourself, inhale; when you straighten your arms and push yourself up from the floor, exhale with effort.
During pull-ups or top link: for effort, when you bend your arms and overcome the load - exhale, straighten your arms - inhale.
During or: when you push the barbell away from you, develop an effort - exhale, lower it - inhale.
In other cases, exhale during the effort.

And let's talk separately about: when squatting with a large weight, we inhale while standing, and gradually exhale both while squatting down and while lifting. Because the tension is always high. With light or medium weights, it is better to breathe more dynamically downwards - inhale, exhale up.

Some people are accustomed to breathing incorrectly, so it seems to them that it is much more convenient and better to inhale forcefully, but this is just a wrong habit. Start breathing correctly, during training there should be correct breathing, exhale forcefully, and your body will very quickly adapt to this correct mode. You will feel that it is more organic and that much more force can be developed as you exhale.

There are opinions that in exercises such as deadlifts upper block or pull-ups and abdominal rows in the exercise machine, you need to inhale, because in these exercises it is very important to arch your back. It follows from this that you are stretching and opening your chest and therefore you need to inhale while pulling. In fact, this is another incorrect opinion of modern people. Of course, arching your back in these exercises is very important. But this does not at all prevent you from exhaling forcefully.

Remember, in the exercises of pulling the upper block, pull-ups, rows to the stomach and in all other exercises, during the effort you do - exhale.

In addition to the anterior surface, the chest also has lateral and back surface, and during the deadlift, a very large number of muscles tense significantly, squeezing the chest. Proper breathing during training is very important. And also exhaling when making an effort is more physiological; exhaling reflexively helps the muscles tense. In addition, the abdominal muscles also tense up - they become toned and help stabilize the body, and while inhaling with a relaxed abs it is very difficult to perform the exercise.

Proper breathing during training

How to breathe correctly during strength training?

How to do a bench press correctly

Hello to all visitors and readers of the blog site. Today, something inspired me to write a post about a classic strength exercise, namely the barbell bench press. horizontal bench. As you know, there are a lot of options for performing this exercise: press up and down with your head at different angles, on a horizontal bench, press with a narrow and wide grip. In addition, execution techniques are divided into: strength and bodybuilding. It is the latter that will be discussed. So, with an emphasis on building muscle volume.

First, let's define the nuances that you need to pay attention to during the horizontal barbell press:

The bench press technique consists of six important points, none of them can be neglected, otherwise all your efforts will lose meaning. Or rather, you, of course, will become stronger and bigger, but not as much as you could. My personal opinion is that if you do something, do it well or don’t do it at all. I hope you share my position. Therefore, in order to explain how to do a bench press correctly, we will go through each point separately. Let's start with the first one.

How to isolate the pectoral muscles

If the goal of performing a horizontal press is to gain muscle mass, then in no case should you make a bridge, as this will make it easier to perform the movement, this should be avoided. For a bodybuilder, it is important to make the work of one specific muscle as heavy as possible, while eliminating the auxiliary ones from the work as much as possible.

At the same time, you need to know that bridging is not necessarily a professional bridge from powerlifting; it is enough to raise your lower back above the bench, and it will be much easier to perform the bench press. Therefore, do not allow space to appear between the lower back and the bench, otherwise the triceps, back muscles and even legs will “steal” the load from the pectoral muscles.

To avoid this, press your buttocks against the bench; if this does not help, I recommend bending your knees and placing them on a bench press. If you do everything correctly, then during the movement the palm will not pass under the lower back.

Bench Press Grip Width

An equally important aspect in the correct technique is the width of the grip in the bench press. For effective development pectoral muscles, the optimal grip would be slightly wider than the shoulders, now I’ll explain why this is the case.

The first reason is the same isolation of the muscles, and the second is the length of the amplitude of movement. On the one hand, if you grab the bar too wide, then mainly the target muscle will work, but, on the other hand, the amplitude will become too short, which will make it difficult to properly load the pecs. You will have to do a large number of repetitions, which will negate the whole principle of training for hypertrophy.

Okay, well, what if you take a barbell? narrow grip. In this case, the amplitude will become quite long, but this will no longer be relevant, since mainly the triceps will work, and for it it will be more suitable. Therefore, it is advisable to stick to the golden mean and do the bench press with a medium grip, slightly wider than shoulder width.

Bench press amplitude

When you do a purely bodybuilding bench press, you need to work as if within the amplitude. This means that you must maintain a slight angle in your elbows at the top point. It is important not to place the barbell on your elbows because the grip we are working with is still narrow and straightening the arms at the top of the amplitude will certainly involve the triceps in the work.

At the lowest point, it is better not to touch the chest with the bar. It is acceptable to touch a little, but do not put it down. I recommend not bringing the barbell up to your chest by about one or two centimeters.

Rod movement trajectory

On initial stage The barbell must be pressed strictly along a vertical trajectory. This trajectory of the barbell movement optimally loads the pectoral muscles and is easier to control. A more professional trajectory involves shifting the top point of the amplitude to the level of your eyes, that is, you need to press the barbell at a slight angle.

The second option is much more effective, but it is also much more difficult to control the equipment. Therefore, it should be considered when you have already become a fairly experienced athlete.

Pace of exercise

When answering the question of how to do the bench press correctly, you should not miss the pace of this exercise. The main idea is that all movements should occur smoothly without significant jerks. In this case, you need to lower the barbell slower than you raise it. More specifically, you need to spend about 1-2 seconds on the ascent, and 2-3 seconds on the descent.

In addition, you need to stay at the top for one second to allow pectoral muscles contract as much as possible - this is called peak contraction.

Breathing in the bench press

The breathing system in the bench press is traditional. Exhale sharply while pushing, that is, when going up, and inhale when moving down. In principle, there is nothing complicated here, the main thing is not to forget to breathe. This is not a joke; we often see people not breathing during exercise, which at the very least prevents them from exercising well.

Breathing can also help babies get more load. To do this, “inflate” your chest before pressing, so you can better feel the contraction.

That's all, just six rules, following which you can do horizontal press as efficiently as possible. I think now the question for you is not: how to do a bench press correctly. But this is all theory. Practice, pay attention to your technique and don't lose patience.