Breathing Exercises- For Workouts and to Prepare for Child Birth

How do you perform breathing exercises to improve physical performance? Breathing is inevitable in life. This unconscious exchange of oxygen and carbon-di-oxide takes place for life, so breathe correctly to make life worthwhile. In this article, you will come across some basic information about the natural breathing process and plenty of breathing exercises you can perform to improve your strength, endurance, and overall performance.

What is breathing? The Biological Process.

Breathing takes place within the respiratory system. Our respiratory system comprises two right and left lungs in a cavity known as a thoracic cavity. The respiratory system also includes a muscular sheet called a diaphragm serving the trachea, windpipe, and bronchi. All these parts work together to perform breathing.

We divide the breathing process into two phases, i.e., inhaling and exhaling. When you take the air in, i.e., when the lungs inhale, the diaphragm contracts, and the muscles between the lungs also contract, which increases the thoracic cavity to allow the air to rush in and fill the lungs. The other phase is exhaling, where the lungs take the air out. Again, the diaphragm relaxes, and the thoracic cavity decreases, forcing the air to get out. As a result, the body takes oxygen in and expels carbon dioxide out.

Breathing with swimming

Though breathing comes naturally while performing certain activities, we need to take care of it to breathe correctly. Swimming is one such activity where you can’t breathe unconsciously.

In swimming, breathe and keep your face in the water, which is quite tricky. Maintain rhythmic breathing, i.e., how and when to breathe. You can’t swim if you breathe with your head up and your face out because your lower body will drop in this position, and it would be pretty difficult to drag it through the water. So, it would help if you learned how to breathe by keeping your face in the water.

There are ways how you can be comfortable breathing in water. One rule is to wear the goggles and look at the bottom. To maintain the rhythm, you must not hold your breath but keep exhaling it through your nose or mouth as soon as you inhale to avoid building up carbon dioxide in the lungs.

Bilateral breathing or three-stroke breathing is another way to breathe while swimming correctly. You must incorporate bilateral breathing in your workout to learn and practice it appropriately.

Breathing with running

Allow both your mouth and nose to inhale and exhale while running. It will make the breathing process easier and steady. When you breathe using your mouth and nose combined, your diaphragm takes maximum oxygen from the air and quickly expels the carbon dioxide.

Belly breathing or diaphragmatic breathing is the best breathing technique while running. The method works by engaging your diaphragm to create more space in the thoracic cavity, leading your lungs to collect more oxygen than normal breathing. Deep belly breathing improves focus and also reduces anxiety and fatigue.

Breathing exercises with strength training

If you are doing resistance training or strength training like weight lifting, the first thing is to remember to breathe correctly. It is difficult, but some tricks can make the exercise worthwhile.

We recommend breathing out or exhaling while performing the most challenging part of the exercise, like lifting weight and breathing in or inhaling when you have done so and returned to the initial position. However, it would be best never to hold your breath while training because this will make you dizzy and lightheaded.

Most exercises like weight lifting, deadlifts, biceps curls, rows, and shoulder presses need you to breathe with this technique.

Breathing techniques for childbirth

Childbirth is painful, and breathing needs you to learn and practice breathing techniques to reduce pain. An excellent way to reduce pain while childbirth is to focus on breathing. This will distract you from the pain you are encountering and maintain your oxygen supply.

Belly Breathing exercises

Belly breathing proves to be an effective technique in early labor hours. First, try deep belly breathing by taking a deep breath through your mouth or nose deep into your belly and how the abdomen moves outward. Now, breathe out all the air and how your stomach moves inward. Finally, practice the technique during contractions to reduce pain and experience better breathing.

Pant-pant blow breathing exercises

You can practice this technique when the contractions become intense. The pant-pant blow breathing style involves taking a deep breath and exhaling in two quick and long blows. It will help you breathe properly and focus more on breathing, not feeling intense pain.

How does breathing affect performance?

Breathing largely governs your physical performance. Proper breathing not only improves your athletic performance but also your quality of life. It affects all body functions and systems, like the nervous, respiratory, cardiovascular, and immunity systems. As a result, it improves your strength, endurance, stamina, and power and decreases stress, fatigue, anxiety, and muscle tension, allowing you to have a healthy life.

So, here are some best breathing exercises and activities that improve your physical or athletic performance and help you succeed in every field of life.

Best breathing exercises and activities

Here are some best breathing exercises and techniques that can effectively contribute to your breathing quality.

Alternate-Nostril breathing

In alternate-nostril breathing, you need to block off one side of the nose to breathe from the other side. Therefore, you must frequently switch between the two nostrils to practice this breathing in a seated position.