Correct Breathing Method for More Powerful Weightlifting
The two most important things to consider in the gym are safety and how much you can lift. For some people, it’s one thing or the other, but with the right breathing techniques, you can lift more weight more effectively and without harming yourself. Here’s how.
How you breathe when you pick up objects (but not how you think)
In sports such as swimming or running, breathing is critical. We need a certain rhythm to send oxygen to the muscles and keep pace. On the other hand, weightlifting doesn’t technically require oxygen, but that doesn’t stop fitness trainers from telling us to breathe properly. Here we are told to inhale on the eccentric or lighter portion of the lift and then exhale on the concentric or force-based portion of the lift.
The logic is that exhalation on the concentric portion gives us a small increase in power, but as this study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine , shows, there is no real advantage to exhalation over inhalation on the concentric portion. In addition, trying to remember this pattern can be harder than it’s worth, says Dr. Stuart McGill , director of the University of Waterloo’s Spine Biomechanics Laboratory, in an article :
… inhalation and exhalation should be continuous and should not be trained in specific loading efforts – this helps to maintain constant abdominal muscle activation and ensure spinal stability in all possible situations (of course, the opposite is true for competitive maximum effort lifting when the delayed valsalva maneuver breathing [sic] is necessary – but performance training is not the emphasis here).
Basically, when you’re not lifting crazy weights, just remember to breathe normally. In these other high-performance cases, McGill suggests the Valsalva maneuver , which is essentially an “exhale” without actually exhaling, such as inhaling followed by holding your breath while you press. It is also a great way to relieve ear pain when flying or changing altitude.
Watch the advanced weightlifters lift astonishing weights, and you may notice that their faces sometimes grimace and glow beetroot red from sheer effort during the performance. This is Valsalva’s maneuver in action. They strategically hold their breath to provide control and stability throughout the body, especially the spine and core. You may already be doing this, for example when you strain from the effort to lift something heavy and forget to breathe, or even when you are holding back by sneezing.
In other words, the real purpose of “breathing” in weightlifting is to stabilize the spine and core. Specifically stability when you want to transfer a lot of weight over your head or onto your body, rather than bending like a tight fit. When you suck in air and expand your abdomen (as opposed to breathing through your chest) and hold it in, you create intra-abdominal pressure, a kind of internal cushion. This pressure mechanically softens the spine and increases tension throughout the body to prepare it for heavy loads.
This is also what people mean by the slang phrase “fortify your core”. I mentioned this in our previous articles on deadlifts and squats because it is especially important for these exercises to keep the torso tense. It’s useful for more than just deadlifts and squats. When it comes to safety and weightlifting, core support is just as important as being in good shape for any exercise.
Core strengthening affects how much you can lift
The video above by Omar Isuf featuring Cody Lefever, whom I often turn to with questions about weightlifting (and burritos), demonstrates the difference between lifting weights with and without a reinforced core. At about the five-minute mark, Cody shows you how to breathe from the belly, not the chest. To learn this, he suggests lying on the floor and placing one hand on your chest and the other on your stomach, and slowly learn to breathe by squeezing your diaphragm .
When I first tried this breathing in my exercises, I had a hard time making sure I was breathing this way, but I also focused on still lifting weights with good technique. Over time I got better at it and now I do it without thinking, but it definitely felt like I was awkwardly trying to multitask at first. Remember to practice this floor breathing first and gradually apply it to various non-heavy activities, such as sitting and standing, before moving on to heavy weights.
So how does it work in the gym? Imagine that you are doing squats: you are standing with a heavy barbell on your back and preparing for the first repetition of your set. Just before descending, take a deep breath to fill your belly and then lower yourself down. You should hold your breath throughout the descent and feel pressure and tension in your abdomen, even as you begin to climb again.
The next part is figuring out when to exhale. If you exhale too early, you may lose stability and strength due to intra-abdominal pressure. Most coaches say that you should hold your breath until you work through the hardest part of your exercise, and exhale forcibly to finish hard. Others advise holding your breath while lifting to take full advantage of the pressure. Choose whichever feels more comfortable and allows you to do the repetition well, but I personally breathe out, overcoming the obstacle, because I already do it instinctively.
It is much more important to remember to take another breath with your belly before starting the next repetition. Treat each rep as a separate cycle: prepare, inhale, hold, exhale, and repeat.
The Valsalva maneuver may not be for everyone
A caveat is that using the Valsalva maneuver with heavier weights can raise your blood pressure even more than it usually does when lifting weights. So, I asked Dr. Spencer Nadolsky , a Virginia bariatric (weight loss) physician who also does weight lifting, if we should be worried. He told me that in healthy people, the changes are acute (short-term) and have long-term effects from weightlifting (for example, improved quality of life, improved posture and confidence, long-term reductions in blood pressure, and improved overall health). usually outweigh the known risks.
Basically, if you have uncontrolled high blood pressure or conditions that can get worse due to increased blood pressure or intra-abdominal pressure (such as a hernia), you may not want to use the Valsalva maneuver; or to lift really very heavy things, since even a short-term Valsalva is inevitable. If you’re just unsure, check with your doctor.
Remember that the Valsalva maneuver is usually used for extra heavy loads where you will be doing one to three reps. You know, these power lifters are when you really push your limits. For other normal lifting efforts, just focus on natural inhalation and exhalation.
Overall, core training is an important part of heavy lifting, but that doesn’t mean you can ignore all the risks associated with lifting weights. As always, be smart and learn to weigh the risks and rewards of what you do in the gym.