The Best Way to Breathe During Your Next Workout
Ready to Elevate Your Workouts?
Working out for me comes and goes in all honesty. When I say that I’m referring to the in-the-gym type of workout. I prefer more activity based workouts like bike riding, rock climbing, volleyball, you get the idea. BUT! Recently I’ve joined the gym again after years of being more on the yogi side of movement and I actually am growing to love it. At first, the gym atmosphere and overall energy wasn’t inviting though. It just felt like so much invisible pressure in the air. Like where did all this ego and competition come from? You don’t really see that too much in your average yoga class so this was a contrast for me.
But instead of matching that energy, I’ve brought the yogic ways to this space and it’s been a game changer. I used to suffer from really bad asthma when I was younger. I played soccer and I played center field! I was running A LOT. I needed an inhaler after the game, my face would have these blotchy red spots. It wasn’t ideal to say the least. Guess what though? I ran 3 miles the other day in the gym effortlessly.
I can’t even believe that as I’m typing it but it’s true! I will say my dad is a runner so maybe I get it from him a bit but my overall endurance while working out, and especially during cardio based activities is incredible to witness. With this foundation of the breath, it’s allowed these physical challenging moments to be more meditative, knowing I have this tool that is the breath to anchor me!
So if you’re wondering what type of breathing to implement into your next workout, here’s a quick and easy guide to always reference:
Before Workout
I always start my days (most of the time anyway) with at least 40-60 minutes of breathwork. This resets my nervous system first thing in the morning, allowing me to be in that parasympathetic state consciously instead of only when I’m sleeping. Fun fact: muscle growth only happens in the parasympathetic! So if you took more conscious breaths, you’d actually accelerate muscle growth.
During Workout
Breath through your nose! I can’t emphasize this enough. This is the way we were born to breathe and it is naturally a deeper breath that filters the air. Nitric Oxide is released when we breathe through the nose, helping our circulation tremendously. Initially, it may seem tough but overtime your body and nervous system will adapt to this change and you’ll notice a huuuuge change in your physical activity.
I also wanted to mention Breath of Fire is a great breath exercise to use as a “pre-workout” instead of a store bought one. This is also great throughout a workout if you feel you need a boost of energy!
Post Workout
The cooling breath is a great way to calm down the body, relax the nervous system back to a calmer state. This is simply actively inhaling through the nose, and actively blowing out of the mouth as if you were blowing through a straw. You can take these as slow as you’d like.
