Breathing

[TysonTF]

What is your opinion on breathing techniques with exercises? e.g exhale during contraction of bicep curl and inhale during the downward phase. Do YOU think how you breathe matters?

[chicanerous]

Inhale or hold through the eccentric and exhale during the concentric for squats, deadlifts, bench and overhead presses, extensions, etc.

Inhale during the concentric and exhale during the eccentric for rows, pull-ups, curls, etc.

Proper breathing is paramount to maximizing performance.

[Rahf]

I always think about how I breathe. Particularly during squats.

[PaRaSiTe_X92]

Inhale or hold through the eccentric and exhale during the concentric for squats, deadlifts, bench and overhead presses, extensions, etc.

Inhale during the concentric and exhale during the eccentric for rows, pull-ups, curls, etc.
Which is concentric and which eccentric though? I've forgotten. :eh:

[TysonTF]

Concentric is when the muscle shortens as it contracts and the muscle tension is greater than the resistance. Eccentric is when the muscle lengthens as it contracts, the resistance is greater than the force generated by the muscle. So a bicep curl,
upwards phase= concentric
downward phase= eccentric

[PaRaSiTe_X92]

OK, although I'm still slightly confused.

Pull-ups: Breathe in when you pull up
Pushups: Breathe in when you push up
Squats: Breathe in when you rise to standing position

That right?

[chicanerous]

OK, although I'm still slightly confused.

Pull-ups: Breathe in when you pull up
Pushups: Breathe in when you push up
Squats: Breathe in when you rise to standing position

That right?

Pull-ups: breathe in when you pull up
Push-ups: breathe out when push up
Squats: breathe out when you rise to a standing position

Eccentric is the negative or yielding phase of a movement. Concentric is the positive or action phase of a movement.

[compleks]

Don't think too much, you probably breath right naturally without knowing.

[rwm]

I prefer not to breathe....ever.

[Reim]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=eqfeIsRXTF0

[TysonTF]

Should have posted Helldens sampler. Although that was something fresh to my eyes.

[PaRaSiTe_X92]

Pull-ups: breathe in when you pull-up
Push-ups: breathe out when push up
Squats: breathe out when you rise to a standing position

Eccentric is the negative or yielding phase of a movement. Concentric is the positive or action phase of a movement.
Hmm OK, I sorta get it...:dead:

[Final Prophecy]

Don't think too much, you probably breath right naturally without knowing.

Kinda, most people end up holding their breath and that causes problems. :tongue:

[A_Wilhelm]

I prefer not to breathe....ever.

non-breathing is the easiest way, but it shortens your life expectancy to a minimum if performed too consequently. :D

Concerning your question: like chicanerous said, breath out while working (concentric Phase), breath in while relaxing (Eccentric Phase).

On Squats and Deadlifts: try to hold your breath in the concentric Phase. Its important to stabilize your backbone.

If you have problems to remember it:
You may think about the karate-fighters always screaming (parallel with breathing out) while punching there opponents. They also do this in the concentric Phase to get more power. Only a little analogy I thought about because there are some karate classes at my gym.

Maybe that helps, but really: it isn't such difficult and most of it goes natural.

[compleks]

Concerning your question: like chicanerous said, breath out while working (concentric Phase), breath in while relaxing (Eccentric Phase).

That's not quite what Chicanerous said.

Also, you can maintain, if not increase, intra-abdominal pressure while exhaling. Holding your breath isn't necessary.

[A_Wilhelm]

Whatever, maybe not what chicanerous said, I didn't read such carefully. Butwhat I wrote is an usefull guideline adaptable to the most of the basic exercises.

For the intra-abdominal pressure as far as I know it bases on the air in your chest so the backbone is stabilized. Going from this point I would say that it decreases when there's less air in your lungs, but like everywhere there are most probably more than one right solution. If he uses an Belt this Problem is anyway secondary at the beginning.

So no offence man, relax a bit.

[compleks]

Butwhat I wrote is an usefull guideline adaptable to the most of the basic exercises.
If you consider all pulling exercises to be advanced, then yeah.

For the intra-abdominal pressure as far as I know it bases on the air in your chest so the backbone is stabilized.
Having air in your chest wont do much to stabilise your lower back (It can however increase Intra-Thoracic Pressure, which can be useful depending on the exercise). Stability of the spine is caused by creating static tension in the surrounding musculature, and increasing IAP.
You can achieve this by forcefully contracting the appropriate muscles, which combined with correct breathing will also increase IAP (intra-abdominal pressure).
This can be achieved while holding your breath, but I prefer to exhale. As a controlled contraction of the diaphragm can help to increase tension in the surrounding core stabalising muscles, without having to sacrificing IAP.

So no offence man, relax a bit.
I am relaxed.

[chicanerous]

I am relaxed.
http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/5417/relaxtm9.jpg

[compleks]

Haha, perfect. That looks about as relaxed as possible.

[Reim]

Should have posted Helldens sampler. Although that was something fresh to my eyes.

...blasphemy

[Ashtar]

Breathing confuses me, I never breathe properly at all.