grobar_14

DO u guys breathe out when relaxing muscles and breathe in when you exert your musles FOR EVERY EXERCIES. When i do pullover (for my chest) i feel like its easier to breathe out while raising the dumbell up and breathe in when lowering it down??......

what do u guys think??...should i do this or alwayz breathe in when muscles are working because they need oxygen. Breathing is one of the important parts of workout..so i dont want to screw up..thanks guyz

__________________
You Only Live Once!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jfelco

for what little knowledge i have, i believe you should be breathing out when contracting muscles. so when youre 'pulling up' on pull ups- you should be breathing out and vice versa. as for curls, same thing. when curling towards yourself, breathe out....

hannukah harry

when you are lifting, you should breath out when contracting and in when relaxing. when you contract if you hold your breath or breath in you will increase pressure in your thoracic cavity (chest/abdomen) which can lead to a huge increase in blood pressure. by exhaling you're reducing the pressure.

__________________
shabbat shalom, mother fucker! - the hebrew hammer

grobar_14

ohh thnx guyz but listen to this...when i bought my weight bench and some dumbells they gave me a book and this is whats says inside "Inhale through the nose as you exert the muscles and exhale through the mouth as you relax the muscles. Your body requires plety of air with its supply of oxygen while performing some of the heavy exercises"..... then i guess THIS IS WRONG....

__________________
You Only Live Once!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seaver

yeah dont listen to that dumbass. you breath in while coming down and exhale while exerting the muscles.

Iliftrocks

Well, I don't do pullovers, BUT the folk I know who do them say to breath in on contraction as this expands the chest cavity over time, which is one of the benefits of pullovers, I think. It's kind of backwards on pullovers for this reason. Of course you're not supposed to be moving max weights this way anyhow. Otherwise I've always heard exhale on contraction and inhale on release....

Why you would want to expand the chest cavity is beyond me.....

__________________
bill hicks - "I don't mean to sound bitter, cold, or cruel, but I am, so that's how it comes out."

grobar_14

so for pullovers is different???...you brethe in while exerting muscles and breathe out while relaxing..anyone else?

__________________
You Only Live Once!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hannukah harry

you never breathe in or hold you're breath while contracting. never. while rare, the pressure increase can be enough to cause an anuerism. back when i was in high school, an high school athlete in my state died that way in the weight room. it doesn't happen often, i bet there's probably only 10-15 healthy people each year that it happens to, but it is possible.

the book that told you to breathe in is wrong.

__________________
shabbat shalom, mother fucker! - the hebrew hammer

grobar_14

THANKS A LOT GUYZ....

i dunno i feel like when i am doing PULL exercises i feel like brething in while exerting ....and for PUSH exercies i feel like its better to brethe in while relaxing and breathe out while exerting...

but as many of u said its better to exhale when exerting the muscles i will do so..thanks guyz..

__________________
You Only Live Once!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seaver

Ok...

You exhale while exerting yourself. If it's a pushing exersize, you exhale while pushing. If it's a pulling (lat-pulls/etc) you exhale while pulling.

st33lr4t

actually you hold your breath during contraction and make sure you breathe in your gut and not your chest.

hannukah harry

no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

you do not hold your breath or breathe in while contracting. never. end of story.

__________________
shabbat shalom, mother fucker! - the hebrew hammer

skier

listen to harry!!!!

His advice is good. I was watching this guy in my gym that held his breath doing curls with a weight that looked too heavy for him (used his whole body to get it up) and he held his breathe while doing it. His face on every curl turned bright red and you could see all the veins. I was thinking that his head was going to explode or something.

__________________
"Asking a bomb squad if an old bomb is still "real" is not the best thing to do if you want to save it." - denim

st33lr4t

holding your breathe is better for tensing your core structure used for big lifts...or exhale sharpy to get the same tension.

hannukah harry

if the only way you can manage a lift is by increasing your intra-abdominal pressure by holding your breath, then the lift is too heavy. you're not exhaling for tension, you're exhaling to avoid huge exercise-induced spikes in your blood pressure that can cause damage to your vasculature and heart.

__________________
shabbat shalom, mother fucker! - the hebrew hammer

thingstodo

If you have that breath just before you contract you can use it in a psychological way as part of the contraction. You then breath in in the reverse mode. Like others have said, a contraction is the push on a pushing movement and the pull on a pulling movement. So on a bench press movement, take a deep breath (with your diaphragm) right before you press and then let it out as you go through the contraction. Air is a fuel used at one point in time.

And I think the point is to grow muscle, not the body cavity area.

__________________
If you're wringing your hands you can't roll up your shirt sleeves.

Stangers have the best candy.

hannukah harry

__________________
shabbat shalom, mother fucker! - the hebrew hammer

st33lr4t

powerlifters use belts to increase their IAP to give them more support. it also allows the spinal erector muscles to produce less force during the lift.

st33lr4t

exactly the point is to grow muscle. and you can lift more by increasing your IAP...plan and simple. if anything your exhale is used around the 90% mark of your lift.

Seaver

For non-professional lifters... dont hold your breath. I have seen people bust hernias they never knew they had because they didnt exhale... but listen to st33lr4t if you want.

hannukah harry

yeah, powerlifters do it. but if you watch them lift, you'll also usually see that they're breathing properly when they're doing it. if you're just lifting weights for health or body building, then there's no reason that you would even really need a weight belt unless you've got a bad back when you start.

you're trying to use a small subset of weight lifting to validate your point, but it (your point on breathing) doesn't really hold true even for them. not only that, but weight belts are only really used for exercises like squats where your back needs stabilization. you don't need one when you bench press or curl, when you do leg extentions or hamstring curls. it could be argued whether their necessary for leg presses.

__________________
shabbat shalom, mother fucker! - the hebrew hammer

st33lr4t

all i am saying is...

the more weight you lift the bigger you are going to get. if increasing your IAP helps you lift more weight then it will help you acheive your goal. exhaling during contraction does not give you the solid support you are looking for.

regarding belts. personally im against them unless you train your core, as it takes away from development which pushes you closer to the limit of injury while training.

st33lr4t

your back doesnt need to be supported during bench?...WHAT? while pressing you should be keeping your shoulder blades together and a tight upperback. your looking for a stable surface to press from. Rychlak benched over 1000lbs using a belt last week.

and a belt for squats and maybe presses?...sure squats are alot better then presses but how can you recommend a belt for one and not the other since they are very similiar?

st33lr4t

just out of curiousity...

i wonder what the difference in blood pressure levels are holding your breath and exhaling different amounts are.

hannukah harry

probably quite different. if you want, i can pull my ex. phys book out of storage and find what the air/gas pressure in the lungs are, and i think it explains the effect it will have on blood pressure. but when you add a higher blood pressue when exercising and increased intraabdominal due to tensing your abs when lifting, it's likely that it gets quite high. but by exhaling, you're reducing the pressure in your lungs due to air pressure in the cavity.

__________________
shabbat shalom, mother fucker! - the hebrew hammer

grobar_14

yeah yeah..its no good to hold the breath while exerting the muscles!..

__________________
You Only Live Once!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nazggul

Yes, your muscles need oxygen when you are working out. That's just one more reason to not hold your breath.

As always you need to consider what your goals are. Personally I don't lift in order to build bulk, I work on muscular endurance (lower weight, very high reps). However, the one constant no matter what you are doing is that you exhale while exerting and inhale on recovery.

Even in the power lifting example stated above you will note that these guys are always letting out a loud yell especially on big lifts. Well, that in fact is exhaling on exertion. Harry is right on the mark with his comments.

__________________
"If something has to give then it always will."

-- Editors