Do you find yourself stopping to catch your breath during a workout? We don’t mean the type of breaks you need to take before your workout is really kicking your butt, but we are talking about those moments you find yourself stopping between reps to get your breath back and to just chill out for a moment and breath. Although, it is certainly nice to take a little break during a HIIT workout, did you know that you might not be breathing correctly to just keep going?
Figuring out how to breath and keep it regulated while doing an intense workout or running is tough–but you do have the power to breathe in a way that keeps you moving through your exercise and not stopping to ‘catch your breath’.
Understand Your Rhythm
First and foremost you will need to understand the rhythm of your exercise. This is the easiest to do at the beginning of your workout. Focus on what your lower body is doing. It is easiest to find the rhythm of your lower body and once you find the rhythm in your movement you can then match your breathing to the rhythm. When your body gets into a flow, it’s easier to maintain pace, form, and breath.
Avoid Shallow Breathes
The more you can keep your breaths nice and full, the better your body can deliver oxygen to the necessary parts. When you take quick shallow breathes, your body cannot deliver the oxygen you are taking into all of your muscles. There is simply not enough oxygen to go around when your inhales are small.
Only Breath With Your ROM
Keep your range of motion of your exercise only as large as your inhale. For example, if you are squatting inhale as you lower your butt into your squat. As soon as you can’t inhale anymore, then stop your descent. The reason for this is because as soon as you cannot inhale any longer then you lose the strength and tension in your core. Your breath is your power, so if you cannot keep yourself braced with your breath then you lose all of your strength to power through your exercises.
