27 Jan Just breathe

I have recently been doing a course on the importance of breathing during exercise. Apparently it is very important!

Have you ever been in the middle of a particular hard exercise and caught yourself holding your breath? I think we have all been guilty of this…especially those dreaded ab exercises! Well it is actually easier to do exercises if you do breath. Your breath guides you through each exercise and will assist you getting through the toughest part. For example, when I was doing the leg press today at the gym I decided to really focus on it and see if it would help me with the hardest part – the push! So just before I started to push i took a nice big breath in and then proceeded to push and blow the air out of my mouth. I felt a little silly at first but by the end of my first set of reps realised how much better I was working and felt. I then tried it out on my crunches. I must admit this also helped..well maybe a little. I still find myself holding my breath at my yoga and pilates classes. I don't know what it is. Mmmmm…maybe child birth will be the next big thing that will teach me how important breath is!!

So tips for breathing during exericse:

Cardio: Avoid shallow breathing but take strong and deap breaths and establish a pattern that is comfortable for you. Shallow breathing may mean your working too hard

Strength: Exhale during the exertion of force and inhale during the recovery movement of the exercise. If you exhhale during the recovery movement of the exericse it helps relieve tension in the body.

Chaio.

xx