Want to lift more weight, improve workout performance, and recover faster? In this episode of the Healthy Living Scottsdale Podcast, Coaches Adam, Tara, and Damon explain why proper breathing is one of the most overlooked fitness skills. Learn how breathing impacts strength training, endurance, core stability, recovery, and overall exercise performance.
ep 270 Breathing technique
===
Speaker: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Healthy Living Scottsdale podcast. This show's your one-stop shop for all things health, fitness, and nutrition, and is brought to you by the team at Legacy Personal Training. You can learn more about how the team at Legacy is helping people live stronger, longer lives by going to trainlegacy.com.
But for now, let's dive into today's episode.
Speaker 2: What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to the Healthy Living Scottsdale podcast. I'm your host, Coach Adam, here with Coaches Tara and Damon today. And, uh, we are going to be talking about breathing techniques, uh, and the importance of proper breathing, how to do it, uh, during your workouts and before and after, I guess, all around.
So before we get into that, as always, we've got our member of the week, and this week we're gonna gas it up and shout out Rita Metcalf. What you guys got on Rita?
Speaker 3: I mean, she's just been killing it for the past few weeks, and I would say even for the past two months, honestly. She's been really [00:01:00] getting after it.
The consistency has gone up a ton, and the consistency has been showing with her InBody scans. A little bit more muscle mass now- Yeah ... a little bit lower in fat, and she literally told me this week saying that she doesn't care about her weight anymore, and that she's bought in with the muscle mass and the body fat and just only caring about that.
Speaker 2: Composition.
Speaker 4: I say she's a great person to train. Yeah. I love talking with Rita through the workouts. We talk about the grandkids, 'cause her grandkids- ... and my kids are roughly the same age.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So we compare and contrast stories. But in the middle of that, also getting her work in. As Damon said, numbers are doing great.
She's having fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think, uh, an important one to shout out, especially in this day and age, um, clean as far as she's not on a GLP-1 or anything, so this is, like, an organic... You know, she is doing it, quote-unquote, the right way. I don't know. You know, it- she's doing it- Au naturel ... au naturel- There you go
for lack of a better term. [00:02:00] Um, so just really locked in on the composition, and, uh, you know, she's surrounded by the GLP stuff going on around with all of her friends and stuff, but she's, uh, she's locked in her way. So shout out, Rita. Nice job. Um, all right. So getting into the topic, uh, breathing techniques.
So kinda have you ever... Of course, we've all kind of experienced this, you know, breathing super hard in a workout. Um, maybe you, you're feeling unstable during a super heavy lift. Mm-hmm. Um, or maybe just kind of unusually fatigued or fatigued, you know, maybe you've only done a couple sets and it's, like, early in your workout, and you're like, "Why am I already tired?"
Um, the issue might not be your actual conditioning or fitness level per se, but maybe the effectiveness of your breathing or how you're breathing. So, um, mainly kind of blanketing what breathing can affect before we get into a little more detailed stuff, um, strength [00:03:00] output, core stability, your recovery time, um, controlling your heart rate, obviously your endurance level, um, and then that all kinda translates and wraps up into your overall performance during a workout.
Um, so, you know, we take around 20,000 breaths a day if you consume, or you can assume there's about a breath every few seconds. Um, but people are doing it usually inefficiently during their workouts or during exercise. So-
Speaker 4: And throughout the day.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and throughout the day, too. I think s- I don't know the f- number exactly, but it's like an average breath is, like, maybe 60% of lung capacity.
It's like we're... It's something like that. It's like we use maybe half of what our lungs are- Capable of ... capable of intaking. So, um Why it matters to breathe well during exercise. Main point is that oxygen, the air we breathe, is going to lead to energy production. So kind of [00:04:00] the train- the chain of events is breath taken in, oxygenated, uh, through the lungs, right?
Taking a breath through the lungs. Gets oxygenated, and the heart then delivers oxygenated blood to the muscles. The blood is kind of the transport system. Mm-hmm. And then the muscles are going to use that as energy. Energy output, um, or ATP, um, is the form or the energy source that we use, uh, to produce energy.
So, um Let's see. Poor breathing basically means that you're going to fatigue faster 'cause you're not, you're not providing your muscle groups with the energy that they need to perform a given task, right? Um, the endurance is gonna be lower or reduced, and just overall less efficient in your workouts, right?
So let's get a little bit into, you know, we have a nervous system. Everyone knows that we have a nervous system. [00:05:00] Um, but there's a sympathetic and a paraseta- parasympathetic nervous system, and there's kind of... One's kind of like a low stress, more of a recovery mode. One's a high stress, um Fight or flight is the common term used to describe the sympathetic nervous system.
So, this is when you're in, like, a high stress or if you can imagine in the middle of a set, right? Um, your elevate- your heart rate's elevated, um, and it's like a hard training mode or a high intensity.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Right? I got something to add on to that fight or flight mode as well. Um, for some people, y- you know that nervous feeling that you get sometimes?
We're- 'cause we're in strength right now, for people-
Speaker 4: Adrenaline.
Speaker 2: Adrenaline, yep.
Speaker 3: There you go. She, she already answered it for me. Clearly she wanted to take it. My bad. Hey, you all good. You were so excited to tell everybody. It's all good. But yeah, no, it's... In a, on a serious note, though, a lot of people have that nervous feeling and that adrenaline rush.
Those are the moments when [00:06:00] you gotta use that to be able to go into those strength lifts. Because when you're going so heavy, sometimes that nervousness can help bring more blood flow through, all, all throughout your body, and be able to use that oxygen at its best and its, at its peak. So.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Good point, good point.
High stress isn't- Bad ... a bad thing. It's just how you're, how you control it or how you manage it, and being able to breathe effectively is, is one way to do that. Mm-hmm. Um, and then on the flip side, the parasympathetic nervous system is more during the rest and recovery. So, either at the end of your set or in between things if you're, you know, super setting or whatever, um, heart rate is a little bit lower.
Um, but being able to control your breathing there in, like, a recovery mode will, you know, help you prep to then get back into that high-stress mode, which is your during set exercise and stuff like that. So, um, let's go ahead and we wanna take away, someone wanna take away maybe some breathing mistakes or things that we see in the gym kinda [00:07:00] commonly that kinda wanna bring some attention to, and maybe help people realize that we can make adjustments there?
Speaker 4: The biggest thing, holding your breath. Yes. There is an, there is a, a- There's a
Speaker 2: time ...
Speaker 4: a time- Yeah ... where you do hold the breath for bracing and all those things, but you should not go through an entire set of reps and you have not taken one breath. '
Speaker 2: Cause you know where you're gonna be? On the floor. You're gonna be on the floor-
face
Speaker 4: down. Opening your eyes like, "What happened?" Yeah. Like, yeah, you just passed out.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: But no, seriously, like, that is, like, the biggest thing. Like, "I thought I had to hold my breath," and it's like, well- Yes and no. Like, it's like this much time that you're actually holding your breath through the movement, and we'll get more into, like, when that happens.
But it shouldn't happen over the course of multiple reps.
Speaker 3: Right. It's like swimming across a pool. You don't swim underneath the pool the whole time just to get that lap in. Sometimes those guys have to [00:08:00] breathe too, you know? Yeah.
Speaker 4: Very true. Also, not breathing deep enough. Like you, like you said, we're only using a portion of that lung capacity most times.
So the two ways we like, I like to think about it is chest breath, belly breaths. If you're breathing through your chest or you feel yourself, your shoulders getting big, getting wide when you're taking that deep breath, that's not deep enough. That's when you're using only that minimal portion of that lung capacity.
Yeah. I like to put hand on chest, hand on belly. If your hand on your belly's not moving when you're taking a deep breath, that's an inefficient breath Yes
Speaker 2: We're all doing it, if you guys are wondering.
Speaker 4: But that just is not allowing that oxygen flow, that oxygen exchange and production that you need for the muscles.
It's just not there, 'cause you're not giving your body time to, your lungs time to actually fill up, get the bl- get the oxygen you need so then that it can go through its process, like Adam said earlier, through the heart, through the blood, all the way to the [00:09:00] muscle.
Speaker 2: Yeah. There's n- the exchange doesn't hap- there's no time for the exchange to happen Or it's
Speaker 4: just short
it's,
Speaker 2: like, a
Speaker 4: really big- Like this short Yeah And it's like it's not efficient.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I'd say one that I see very common is breathing out at the wrong point- Right ... of the lift. It's... Oh. I... No, there was, there was one today that I, oh, I got a little worried, but it's, they're, th- they were fine, but it's, um, we, we had squats today, and usually when you go through a squat, you take the breath in, go on the way down holding it, and then on the way up, that's when you breathe out.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3: Mm. This person breathed in and breathed out all on the way down at- ... the same- Yikes ... time. And of course, we fixed it and helped, helped him figure it out from there, but those are usually common mistakes, is breathing out too early or taking a breath in at the wrong time. Mm-hmm. Like, breathing in on the way down when [00:10:00] reality is, is that you should be breathing in before the lift even starts- Right
and then breathing out on the way up, for a squat, for example, at least, and on bench press on the way up, and-
Speaker 2: Yeah ... so
Speaker 3: on and so
Speaker 2: forth. 'Cause that's all, it's all affecting the stability and the power, and, like, especially with squats, like today, like some, when some people really start to push it, um, it's, it's a scary thing for some people to have a lot of load on their back, right?
Mm-hmm. So you want to feel as, as stable as you can, and being able to breathe proper timing, um, is super important for that. So, um, breathing techniques, kind of touched on it a little bit, but, like, the belly breathing, it's, yeah, feeling it come, like, feeling the air fill in your diaphragm and not in your chest.
Um- You wanna breathe into your stomach and your ribcage and not up into your shoulders. So, you know, your shoulders might move a lot when you take a breath, but it's not efficient. So just, you're, you're u- your chest shallow breathing, [00:11:00] basically. Um, the belly breathing is gonna get better oxygen intake, better core stability.
That point where you're holding that breath, like in a squat, there's a hold. It's at the very bottom, right? 'Cause that's the point in which you need the most stability- Transfer it weight bearing ... um, and then transfer it and power on the way back up. Um, so another one is, like, I mean, again, along the same lines, is bracing, like a bracing breath for a, a heavy lift.
So this is the one that you take before you actually execute a rep. Um, same idea, though. You wanna be breathing in through your belly because that's going to provide the most stability. Um, and then it creates this abdominal pressure. It's called, it's a valsalva maneuver is actually- Mm ... the name or the term of it.
Um, it's, if you can imagine, you're basically creating, like, an air bubble, right? And, like, an air bubble just sitting there, but it's providing structure- Mm-hmm ... um, especially with spinal loading exercises, which can be sometimes sketchy, [00:12:00] right? Yeah. So we want the, all the support we can get. Um, and then rhythmic breathing for cardio.
So- Mm ... um, super important. Obviously, cardio is, um, sometimes quick and high-intensity, but also sometimes long duration and endurance. Um, so finding a pattern or a rhythm. So if you take, like, classic, you know, not sprinting, but jogging or running. I don't know, Tara, you should be talking about this. But like two steps in- I don't do that
two to three s- Like while you should be breathing in over the span of a couple of steps, right? And then breathing out through the span of a few steps, right? Breathing out just a little bit longer. But that's gonna f- Having that rhythm is gonna provide a consistent oxygen supply. Mm-hmm. And your body can then adjust to and adapt and understand, like it's gonna get, "Okay, this is how much energy I'll be able to put out because this is how many breaths I'm gonna take a minute," and all these things like that.
So, um- Cycling's another good [00:13:00] example of that, like a smooth, even, you know, obviously with cycling it has a lot to do with, um, terrain change, right? So if you're on an incline, maybe that rhythm looks different than if you're on a decline or something like that, but you're looking for the consistency to a point where it's almost something you don't really have to think about, right?
So it's gonna improve your endurance, better pacing, uh, and kind of reduce like panic breathing. I think panic breathing's another thing that happens with like heavy lifts, right? Mm-hmm. You know, psyching yourself out before a deadlift or a bench because they're, you know, there's a level of risk to them, um, obviously, it's like heavy things.
So panic breathing can happen if you find that, uh, you know, maybe you have like a little twinge in a muscle and you're like, you know, take a quick breath in or, um, you feel like you're gonna get stuck at a certain point of the lift. If you're able to find rhythm and know when to breathe in, when to breathe out, that just kind of eliminates that panic factor, [00:14:00] right?
Um, nasal breathing. So nasal breathing, it's really mostly effective during low intensity exercise because it's just n- you're just not going to get that much, right? The, the demand for oxygen is a little bit lower, um, because y- I mean, your nasal cavity is obviously smaller than your mouth, so you're intaking less air.
But it's, it's good practice for control and it's a good one that you can do. You know, people talk about box breathing and stuff at night to help them fall asleep, so like that's a good time to use like nasal breathing where you can control in a low intensity or like zero intensity environment basically, um, and just practice that.
Um, so some examples. Um, well, okay, so let's go, let's do this. Between sets for breathing, we wanna be able to... Obviously you go through your high intensity set and then you're done, [00:15:00] and then you have a break, hopefully, usually.
Speaker 4: You should.
Speaker 2: You should. Um- You should. Please. A quick recovery technique is a deep inhale through your nose and a long exhale through your mouth.
Um, the whole point of this is to try to slow down your heart rate. So- I think number one thing sometimes, maybe not here, but, you know, if you go to a big gym sitting down and, you know, sitting down essentially right after exercise or, you know, you guys have like in PE class growing up, you'd run like a mile and then everyone goes and like sits down or something like that.
And the teacher's like, everyone's yelling at each other like, don't sit down, don't sit down. It's not good for you. You're going to recover faster if you stay tall, control your breathing, and then you're prepared to, you essentially lower your heart rate and then you're prepared to go into the next set almost fully recovered, right?[00:16:00]
Got a couple of myths here that we're gonna bust. Mm-hmm. Great show, MythBusters. RIP, I think. I think it's done. Um, I don't know. Um, myth busting. So Damian, you wanna take away one of these maybe?
Speaker 3: More breathing equals better. That's myth number one. I don't know who came up with that- ... but that is nowhere close to be true.
It's about how efficient you can be able to breathe throughout the workout or throughout the day. It's about quality, not quantity.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think classic quality over quantity example there. So more breathing, not necessarily better, um, for you.
Speaker 4: Panting, panting. You can't catch your breath.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: That's what you're doing.
What are
Speaker 2: you,
Speaker 4: a dog? Panting. Yeah. Just like a dog.
Speaker 2: Yes, I am. Thank you. Um, myth- Nice ... number two. Um, myth number two: you should always inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Okay, so we kinda just touched on it, but it depends on [00:17:00] the intensity of whatever you're doing, right? If the oxygen demand is higher, you're going to need more of it at a probably faster rate or a more efficient rate, so the nose is probably not the best option there.
Nose breathing is more for controlled, um, kind of rhythmic, settling, maybe calming, but not calming to then turn around and go and exercise immediately afterwards. It's more so, like, let's calm down and, like, maybe you're meditating, maybe you're laying in bed reading, may- something like that. That is when you should be breathing in through your nose, out through your mouth.
Right? Myth number three, Tara?
Speaker 4: Breathing does not matter if you are strong.
Speaker 2: Ha.
Speaker 4: You are strong because you are breathing.
Speaker 2: Precisely.
Speaker 4: But like we said earlier, breathing through the, through a lift, that is important, especially for those l- those back-loaded, um, exercises. Right. That is your core [00:18:00] stability. If you're not breathing at the proper timing, one, you're not braced, so you es- essentially, you're giving yourself weight without support.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So think of- Like, uh- ... putting a house on a foundation that is not set. Yeah. The house is gonna sink. Like, it's not prepared for that weight, and that's essentially what you're doing if you're not breathing properly and timing that breath properly. So you must breathe in order to be strong.
Speaker 2: You'll be stronger if you're breathing right.
So that's like if you're running into a plateau or something, you know, it's like you've been barbell bench pressing for, what, three weeks of strength now, and it's like 135- When's that gonna change? ... 145, 145. Like, you just can't get to that next kind of tier. Maybe you need to check in on your breathing and see if that's something that can help you produce a little bit more strength, a little bit more power, 'cause sometimes it's not a strength issue, right?[00:19:00]
Sometimes it's not a strength issue. Sometimes it's a breathing issue.
Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: Um- It's like
Speaker 4: you said, the fatigue sets in. Now you're more- Yeah ... tired because- Right ... you're not breathing efficiently. And if you're more tired, you can't lift as heavy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. Uh, do we have anything else to add before I kinda give three things to maybe try this week for everybody?
Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3: Just make sure to belly breathe.
Speaker 2: Essentially belly breathing is, uh, the way to go, bottom line. Um, but three things that you guys could try, um, this week, and then maybe transfer it into your workouts as well. So, um, the diaphragm belly breathing. Practice that or try to practice for, like, five minutes a day.
Mm-hmm. So m- yeah, maybe you're not, you know, maybe don't practice during your workout. Um, but maybe over your cup of coffee in the morning before you come in to work out, or if you're trying to wind down at night before bed, a solid five minutes of focus on that. It's like anything else, like [00:20:00] muscle memory, right?
You have to- Just the more you can practice-
Speaker 4: Teach your body how
Speaker 2: to do it ... teach it, yeah, experience it. Um, that's the best way it will translate. Almost... Obviously you're thinking about it when you're here, but there's a level of subconscious, subconsciousness to it that, you know, it'll just take over if you've practiced enough, right?
Mm-hmm. Um, it's a skill that you'll be able to tap into, I guess, a better way to say it, when you're here. Uh, number two, uh, focus, and this is more during workouts, but focus on proper bracing during heavy lifts. Mm-hmm. Right? So those are your big compound movements that require the most strength, the most power, the most energy.
That is your squat, your deadlift, your bench, your row, your hinge, something like... All of those. Um, so try to ask your coach. If you don't know, ask your coach when you should be breathing in, when you should be breathing out, and give it a roll. Mm-hmm. Third one, um, [00:21:00] control your breathing in between your sets.
Don't gasp for air. Try to control. Um, don't sit. You know, stay, you're, you're s- in the middle of a workout, so stay moving and stay active. We wanna keep blood flow evenly distributed throughout your body, or distributed to what muscle groups you're using. But try to control your breathing, bring your heart rate down, improve your recovery, and then turn around and go into your next set.
Anything else? Nope. Nope. All right. Cool. We're gonna go ahead and wrap it up there, guys. Practice your breathing, and we'll see you, uh, next week.
Speaker 5: Thank you so much for listening to the Healthy Living Scottsdale podcast. Do you have a question that you'd like for us to answer live on the podcast? If so, all you need to do is head over to the Apple Podcast app on your iPhone and do three simple things.
First, leave us a rating and review, telling me what you think of the podcast. In that review, ask anything you want related to health, fitness, or nutrition. [00:22:00] And if you want a shout-out, leave us your Instagram handle or name. That's all you have to do. Then listen to hear your questions answered live on the next Q&A episode.