Breathing

[frighteous]

Me and an old weightlifting buddy who I see from time to time do it differently. I inhale deep breath and exhale at the max stress points of repetitions, and he holds it in. I'm confused, as I figured the exhalation meant more force exertion, but I have seen several strongmen who didn't exhale on stress points of repetitions.

[Docd187123]

I do the valsalva manuever. Hold air in the lungs for the whole lift. Rinse. Repeat.

[Khazima]

Holding your breath through the whole movement makes your entire body more stable, if you watch any experienced lifters doing 1rms or heavy low rep sets they always hold their breath through the rep and reset at the resting point. It creates intra abdominal pressure for a more stable core.

[Docd187123]

Holding your breath through the whole movement makes your entire body more stable, if you watch any experienced lifters doing 1rms or heavy low rep sets they always hold their breath through the rep and reset at the resting point. It creates intra abdominal pressure for a more stable core.

Good post!

Even non-lifters do it too. Think about it, if your car breaks down in the middle of the road and you had to push it 10ft to get it clear of traffic how would you do it? Subconsciously you'd take a deep breath, hold it, and push the car and you wouldn't release your breath till you stopped pushing

[almostgone]

The only caveat would be for those with cardiac/coronary issues....in which case holding the breath is a no no. I generally inhale on positive and exhale on negative portions.

[Bonaparte]

The Valsalva maneuver is necessary for heavy lifts involving the core (deadlifts and squats). But it carries risks and places a lot of strain on your body (Valsalva maneuver - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), so you should limit its use/need as much as possible, IMO.

For any other lifts, try to breath consistently.

[Times Roman]

The Valsalva maneuver is necessary for heavy lifts involving the core (deadlifts and squats). But it carries risks and places a lot of strain on your body (Valsalva maneuver - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), so you should limit its use/need as much as possible, IMO.

For any other lifts, try to breath consistently.

^this

when doing heavy weight with high reps, like leg press, it's hard for me to breath while maintaining the rhythm of the exercise. Since I have a long range of motion on this routine, with my knees coming all the way in like a squat, I hold while exerting, and then breath quickly before the next rep. After 15 reps, I'm breathing moderately hard.