Sunday, April 5, 2009

Fitness Tip of the Day

~When strength training always breath
especially on the lift phase.~




Bicep curl~inhale going down, exhale lifting up.
Squats~inhale going down, exhale pressing through the heels & lifting up.
Lateral Raise (Shoulders)~inhale hinging down, exhale lifting up.
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Last week I had a husband and wife talking with me about my schedule what do I teach/when.  The husband says that his wife is so stressed out, doesn't exercise, doesn't stretch, has diabetes and what recommendations would I make for her.  Well I talked to her first about getting clearance from her doctor but a walking & yoga routine would be a good start.  Then he continued to say that when she "lifts-weights-she-holds-her-breath."  

The downside to holding your breath is you have blood pressure problems & cramping.  Just breath when your lifting at the hardest part of your strength training routine.
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"A cheerful heart is good medicine." Proverbs 17:22

15 comments:

Unknown said...

When I first started working with a trainer, he was always reminding me to breathe. Not sure why it seems natural to hold your breath when you do something difficult - it's clearly not good for you to do that!

Missy said...

My trainer doesn't hold my boobs like that...maybe because that guys boobs are bigger than mine.

Breathe, breathe, breathe - I swear I still have to remind myself to do it. Seems dumb but true.

RunToTheFinish said...

maybe I need someone to hold my breasts while I lift

Chris said...

I remeber when I ran track and high school and we would always start pre-season with several weeks of wieghts and I remember our coach, before every lifting session, saying
"breathe when you run, breathe when you lift" -
"breathe when you run, breathe when you lift" -
"breathe when you run, breathe when you lift"

ONEHOURIRONMAN said...

I actually applied for that job (the boob grabber) in the Womans squats. Didn't get the job, had to settle for training for Ironman instead.

Great picture !!

Jess said...

I can see how holding your breath would be an easy mistake to make, but we all need to remember to breathe when exercising. All that work takes oxygen!

Wes said...

Hahaha... that was one of the tips of the day on P90X. Breath! You'll die if you don't :-) but doing it right IS important!

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

True story - when I first started exercising and weight training with a buddy of mine, I'd get these killer headaches. I mean KILLER!

And I told him I wasn't made for this exercise sh*t because of these headaches and he said, "Are you breathing?"

And I realized I was holding my breath while I was doing my, say, set of push-ups.

So I stopped holding my breath and -poof! - like magic, no more headaches!

Now, you can tell this is a TRUE story because it's so f*cking boring, who would make it up?

Fit Mommy said...

Thinking that yoga would be the best course of action for the friend. A good yoga class will teach breathing and strength training and lots of other good stuff.

raulgonemobile said...

Yeah, ok, I'm so not the first making a comment about that top picture. LOL. My guess is, if you got that boob holding job, it would be far from what you'd hope it would be.. chuckle.

I need to pay attention to my breathing. Hell, if GQH even says so, it must be true

X-Country2 said...

I always notice the red-faced lifters at the gym holding their breath. Let it out people!

Gotta Run..... said...

Right in Sister.... great tip and advice!!

triguyjt said...

I am all over the Proverbs....

right on.....

ShirleyPerly said...

Good tip not only for strength training. Breathing right when putting forth any major effort is key. In martial arts, we were taught to exhale on punches & kicks. And in swimming, esp. when going hard, I was taught to hum to hear myself exhale in the water (or else I sometimes hold my breath!).

Jason said...

ok, that first picture rocks...and I have been here...lots..I think your Google Analytics is messed up ;)