Does it matter? Yes, it truly does.

Have you ever been working out and had a trainer remind you to breathe, or tell you to breathe differently? You’re not alone. In fact, there are several different ways to breathe depending on the type of workout you’re doing. Trainer Sam is here with tips on a couple techniques, specific to lifting weights and for cooling down post-workout.

Weight lifting breathing technique:

• Starting with your feet hip width apart, relax your upper body.
• Take a deep breath in, expanding your rib cage.
• Hold your breath.
• Forcefully push it out.

This technique is great for when you’re lifting heavy weights. You’re going to breathe in and hold the breath while your muscles are under tension. Then push out your breath at the end of the rep.

Why? Holding your breath helps stabilize your spine and keeps the trunk area active. You’ll get a deeper range of motion on your lift, and can often even add more reps using this technique. To see the difference, try a couple of reps the way you would normally breathe, and then try it this way. Which is more effective for you?

Cool down breathing technique:

• Take your body down to a mat, with your back flat on the ground and feet on the floor, knees bent.
• Place one hand on your belly and one on your chest.
• Doing a two-part inhale, first fill up your belly with air. Then holding that, fill up the chest.
• Exhale to melt it all out. With the exhale, you may not be breathing all the air out.

This is a breathing style that’s great at the end of a HIIT workout, or even as part of an abdominal workout.

Try incorporating these techniques into your next workout when you try the Free Trial over on Studio SWEAT onDemand! Download the app, or if you happen to live in southern California, visit us in our San Diego studio.