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Are you doing your breathing correctly? Breathing wrongly will cost you results.
Aren’t we all experts at breathing? After all, we’ve been breathing since the moment we were born. We do it without even thinking about it. So what’s the problem?
The thing is, many people do not realize that breathing during training is different from breathing outside training. And even during training, there can be different strategies to breathe in order to optimize your training to the fullest.
It’s not hard, and just takes awareness.
Let’s go through the ways to breathe properly while performing some common physical fitness exercises. You may want to adjust these exercises if you have health-related problems with regards to breathing (eg. Asthma, light-headedness).
Chin-ups, Pull-ups, Pull-downs and Rows
When you perform these exercises, you need to inhale as you exert.
As an example, when you perform a pulldown, you exert when you pull the bar down. People often tell you to exhale at this point. However, if you do so, your chest caves inwards and your lower back is straightened. This will result in fewer lats muscles being exercised.
What you can do is to reverse your breathing. Breathe in as you pull down.
Reason for this is that as you pull down and exert, there is an expansion in your chest area and your lats are perfectly positioned to be used.
Try it. You will be able to feel the effect immediately, especially if you’ve always had issues with the back exercises.
Squats

Breathe in deeply as you go down. When you’re halfway down, you should be able to finish the inhalation.
From here, hold your breath until you reach the end of your descent. Then you can start to breathe out as you start your ascent.
Bench Press
For bench presses, proper breathing will help improve your power. If you breathe wrongly, you may find that you’re not pressing as much as you should be.
At the bottom of the movement, when the barbell is against your chest, you should be holding your breath. Then, push upwards, bringing the barbell up. When you reach the point where you really need to exert, let your breath out forcefully.
When the barbell is at the top of your movement cycle, and as you start to lower the bar, start to inhale. Finish your inhalation by the time the bar is halfway down, and start holding your breath.
Make sure every inhalation, or exhalation, is full.
Curls using Barbells
This is one of the most popular exercises and I’ve heard quite a few people enquire about how they should breath when during this exercise.
Starting at the bottom of the movement, breathe in deeply. Then, as you curl the barbell up, you hold your breath until the halfway point. Now, you can exhale hard as you continue to do the curl.
At the top of the movement, hold the barbell for a short while, and then lower it slowly. Inhale when you are lowering the barbell, and when you reach the halfway mark, exhale forcefully again.
When done properly, breathing really helps to maximize the effectiveness of every exercise that you do. Implement these techniques in your physical fitness routines and feel the difference!