TRAINING TIP: Breathing During Exercise
Breathing during resistance exercise: It is generally recommended to in inhale during the lowering part of the motion (eccentric phase) and to exhale during the lift or push (concentric phase). For example, during a squat, breathe in as your lower your body towards the floor and breathe out as you push your body up.
Tempo: There are a number of reasons to give attention to tempo during your weight sessions.
- It improves your body awareness
- It improves the control of your lifts
- Helps to develop the strength of connective tissues
- Helps to improve stability
The slower your movements during weight training, the more challenging the exercise will feel at a given load. This can be a good way to minimise the risk of injury as you are able to better stimulate the muscles using a lower weight. Anyone who is new to resistance training should use slow and controlled movements, not only for safety, but to allow better mind muscle connection. There are many different speeds and tempos that could be used for different reasons. With regards to the lower body weights exercises above, a tempo of 3:1 is recommended. This means 3 seconds for the eccentric phase and 1 second for the concentric phase. So going back to the push-up example, take 3 seconds to lower your body towards the floor while you inhale deeply, and 1 second to push yourself back up while breathing out.
