If we don’t think about it, breathing works automatically. Even if the body needs more oxygen during sports, the respiratory rate adapts. “This is a vital process that happens unconsciously in the beginning,” says Barbara Nützel, a lecturer at the German University of Prevention and Health Management. In this way, it ensures that the body does not slip into oxygen deficit.
“Breathing is controlled by the vegetative nervous system and the brain stem,” says Sylvain Laborde, a research fellow in the Department of Performance Psychology at the German University of Sport in Cologne. The brainstem network can adapt our breathing to external conditions. When we are relaxed or sleeping, we tend to breathe deeply and evenly. “We have sensors that detect if we have enough oxygen in the blood and if we have too much carbon dioxide, and then adjust the intake accordingly.”
It is best to breathe deeply into your stomach
Breathing is not the same as breathing. We can send air to the chest or breathe deeply into the stomach. The last, called diaphragmatic breathing, is the archetype of breathing, Nützel says. The diaphragm is a large respiratory muscle that sits below the lungs and contracts when you breathe from your stomach. In the flow of life, we forget to breathe with the diaphragm. Because stress, among other things, causes our breathing to become shallow.
This has a downside: “Chest breathing is a waste of energy because it activates many muscles we don’t actually need to breathe,” says Laborde. In sports, this means: we have less energy. Therefore, as an athlete, you should do abdominal breathing. Instead of a breathing rate of 15 to 20 breaths per minute, the breathing can be reduced to six breaths per minute, Laborde says. In yoga, an increased breathing volume can be trained particularly well because the focus is on diaphragmatic breathing.
By the nose or by the mouth?
Athletes can use different breathing techniques. “The best way to breathe in any sport is through your nose, because the air becomes more humid and warmer,” says Laborde. This prevents drying, cooling and contamination of the respiratory tract.
However, during intense exercise, mouth breathing is usual to meet the oxygen demand. “High concentrations require a lot of oxygen, and sometimes you have no choice,” says Laborde. “If the amount of oxygen taken from the nose is too low, performance will also deteriorate.”
good breathing techniques when jogging or weight training
What is the best breathing technique for jogging or in the gym? “It’s about the fact that in sports, no matter what I’m doing, I always have to breathe as little as possible,” Nützel says. When running, you don’t have to artificially adapt your breathing to your stride. “It’s best to let your breath flow freely, because our body knows exactly how much air it needs.”
In strength training, you can use a more targeted breathing technique. “If you’re working against gravity, you have to exhale during the relaxed phase and inhale again,” says Nützel. A well-known technique in weightlifting is forced breathing. “Athletes try to mobilize more force by pressing air into a closed mouth and nose.” However, this makes little difference in performance. (DPO)