How to Breathe During Resistance Training

Proactive Core Health Mini Series

Part One: 7 Aspects of TRUE Core Training

Part Two: How to Breathe During Resistance Training

Part Three: How Breathing Gives You Abs

Part Four: Improving Pelvic Circulation and Lymph Flow

Last week in the Proactive Core Health mini series, we covered the crucial principles of core training that can prevent core and pelvic dysfunction. This week we will discuss how your breathing during resistance training is a critical component of proactive core health. Your core training is put to the test during resistance exercises, especially weight lifting. How you train your core muscles leads to how they activate or deactivate in response to load. It is typically an unconscious process to use breathing to help you move a load or lift something heavy. And the form of core training you choose to perform will influence this unconscious use of breath while exercising. So today, I’d like to discussing best practices for breathing during resistance training. 

When it comes to exercising, especially during resistance training, the question of how to breathe often arises, and for good reason! The way you breathe will either turn your core muscles ON or turn them OFF. How you breathe during resistance training can significantly impact the health of your core, spine, and pelvic floor. Ideally, your breathing will decrease your risk for injury during resistance training. But if your core muscles are dysfunctional and you are conditioned to breathe in a way that turns your core muscles off, this can lead to an increased risk for injury during resistance training. In this post, I’ll guide you through the intricacies of breathing during resistance training, help you to understand why it matters so much, and what you can do to ensure your core, spine and pelvic floor are safe during resistance training.

Why Breathe Differently During Resistance Training?

In addition to oxygen delivery to demanding tissues, breathing serves an important biomechanical purpose during resistance training. How you breathe, specifically how your diaphragm moves during an exercise, will determine intra-abdominal pressure during exercise. The diaphragm is the muscle that controls pressure management in the abdomen, pelvis and spine for all movements and during any exercise. The movement of the diaphragm during an exercise will determine how much the pressure in the abdomen increases and whether the core muscles actually accept the load or if the organs and ligaments are loaded and stressed.

Breathing is also intricately connected to our involuntary nervous system. The way you breathe will either reflexively activate or deactivate your core muscles. This distinction becomes crucial during resistance training, where your body is subjected to added pressure. If we can remember that breathing is how we tell our core to fire and support us, or relax and let go, then we can use it to maximize our strength! Whether you're recovering from core, spine, or pelvic dysfunction or simply aiming to optimize your workouts, understanding the proper way to breathe during resistance training can make a world of difference.

Your Breathing During Resistance Training needs to:

Trigger reflexive and coordinated core muscle activation:

During resistance training, the breathing pattern we use should activate your core muscles in a manner that supports the organs and spine. Your breathing needs to trigger an automatic upward and inward activation of the abdominal and pelvic floor muscles if we want the load of the exercise to be absorbed by the muscles, and not the organs and ligaments.

Promote optimal pressure management in the abdomen:

The diaphragm manages the pressure in the abdomen because its movement either brings in air or expels air. The pressure in the abdomen increases when you inhale and decreases when you exhale. So using this rule to our advantage during resistance training results in huge improvements in strength and reduced risk for injuries.

Decompression Breathing:

The breathing technique I like for resistance training is called “decompression breathing”. Incorporating decompression breathing into your resistance training lays the foundation for a successful, injury-free workout. Here's a quick breakdown of decompression breathing: