How to Breathe Effectively During Workouts to Maximise your Fitness Results and Performance

We take our first breath when we are born and our last breath when we die…

We can survive weeks without food, days without water, but only minutes without breathing oxygen…

Breathing can control our entire nervous system allowing us to flip between two modes:

• Buddha mode: the parasympathetic system – rest and digest
• warrior mode: the sympathetic system – fight and flight

Breathing can increase our recovery time by double…

It can also delay it by double.

Breathing correctly can be the difference between waking up groggy and waking up refreshed…

We can increase our aerobic cardiovascular ability without even breaking a sweat using nasal breathing alone…

So, it’s safe to say our breath is immensely powerful at transforming our body and mind when used correctly.

Breathing is our superpower that many neglect.

From optimising your three foundations to health:

• Sleep
• Stress
• Gut health

… to aiding in transforming our body quicker and better.

Practising to just use nasal breathing

Nasal breathing improves circulation due to increased nitrogen in the blood.

It also increases the body’s maximum ability to produce ATP in the presence of Oxygen (VO2 Max).

The body becomes better at performing high amounts of work while burning fat as the primary energy.⁣

How and does nasal breathing achieve this?

The body is more efficient at oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange with nasal breathing as it utilises more lobes of the lungs.

This means more oxygen availability in the cardiovascular system.

Thus more oxidation of fat cells for energy.

And more CO2 by-product expelled from the lungs.

View nasal breathing as gears to utilise within your life to optimise your body and performance:

Gear 1: Only nasal breathing

Attempt to live your entire life nasal breathing.

From day to day activities and in your workouts.

Mouth closed, tongue to the roof of your mouth for jaw alignment and balance, and with controlled slow breaths in and out.

Start introducing this into your workouts.

Breathe only through your nose when performing every rep of every set.

It will be challenging at first but you will be surprised at how quickly you improve over time.

This skill acquisition will have beneficial knock-on effect in all areas of your life.

Gear 2: When intensity increases

There will be times when you simply can’t only breathe through your nose.

Often during leg workouts. Exercises like TRX Pistol Squats are very demanding on your cardiovascular system.

In this instance when intensity increases, look to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.

You will be able to breathe quicker and thus supply your body with more oxygen faster.

Gear 3 when intensity increases A LOT

Like a HIIT session or cycling up a hill.

When intensity is all out mouth breathing is needed.

Then go back down your gears until you return to nasal breathing.

With normal day to day living keep checking yourself and make sure you’re living in gear one until it becomes a habit.

Sleep, general living, and suspension training/resistance band workouts (except leg day):

Mouth closed, tongue to the roof of the mouth, and only breathing through the nose.⁣⁣

Breathing focus during workouts

Breathing effectively is something that will come with practice and will not be the first thing you naturally focus on.

Nor would I advise it to be.

Your main focus should be practising the perfect TRX suspension training (or resistance band) technique

And connecting with your body to feel your muscles contracting through the full range of motion, first.

However, there are two steps of breath work to practice within your TRX workouts once you get more comfortable.

Step 1

Inhale during the eccentric (negative/lowering phase).

This would be lowering your body down during a TRX Chest Press.

Often correlated with ‘easy’ part of an exercise movement.

Step 2

Exhale during the concentric (positive / push phase).

This would be pushing your body up during a TRX Chest Press.

Often correlated with the ‘hard’ part of an exercise.

This helps regulate a smooth, consistent breathing and moving pattern.

It also aids in contracting the muscle had, the squeeze at the top of the exercise movement.

As you get more confident with executing exercises and the technique becomes habitual.

Then start to take note of your breathing.

It can help greatly help with performance and results.

Let’s get to it!

Coach Adam