Today, we have a special guest blog from Fitness and Life Coach, Abby Shaye Maroko. Abby teaches that breath is the gateway between the brain, heart, and gut, the 3 brains. When your breath is both open and controlled, like a steady flowing river, you achieve your best success in both life and the gym. We are excited to learn more about how these breathing techniques can benefit our Rocky Mountain Flex members and help them reach their goals faster!
Breathing is a vital component of our lives — well, duh, we need it to survive. But we can also leverage it to thrive. And yet, we rarely consider how to utilize the potential power of each of our precious breaths in our workout programs.
I mean… when was the last time you paid attention to your breathing before your workout? During your workout? After your workout?
If you cannot recall how you breathe while you move, it’s time to start applying the techniques in this article.
Tap into the physiological prowess packed into these three tried-and-true conscious breathing techniques to elevate your training tenfold. Whether your variation of “peak performance” translates to routinizing your workouts, increasing your speed, power, strength, etc., accomplishing a new PR, or recovering better from workouts, there is a place in your plan and your physiology for each. Welcome to conscious breathing before, during, and after your workout.
BREATHE BETTER BEFORE YOUR WORKOUT
The Technique: Box Breathing
When to do it: When you need to settle in and focus, and get a leg up on a long day, and say farewell to a sense of being frazzled and unfocused.
Why to do it: Belly breathing and longer exhales can be remarkably effective at hitting the “refresh” button for your nervous system. Box Breathing encourages belly breath, and the airflow through your diaphragm (spanning the gut) stimulates neuroreceptors of the parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) branch of the autonomic nervous system, cultivating a deeper state of relaxed awareness.
How to do it: This is a very simple technique. You’ll breathe in for four seconds, calmly hold your inhale at the top for four seconds, exhale for four seconds, and calmly hold your exhale at the bottom for four seconds. You can visualize your breaths traveling around a box. Perform standing, seated, or lying on your back/belly.
Research shows that performing six cycles of this breathing technique is the minimum effective dose to shift from a sympathetic dominant to a more balanced, even-keeled nervous system state. This is a calm yet energized lens from which you can focus on doing the work ahead. Box breathing is a rhythmic, soothing way to create a space between your other obligations and responsibilities so you may focus on your workout with your undivided attention.
Bonus Challenge: Breathe in and out of your nostrils as you follow the 4–4–4–4 tempo. Nasal breath x box breathing = prep for a phenomenal workout.
BREATHING BETTER DURING YOUR WORKOUT
The Technique: Two Rapid Breaths
When to do it: Before a perceptually very heavy lift. When you are feeling fatigued and need to tap into extra gear. For example, between your third and fourth sets of an exercise, when you notice the thought, “Oh gosh, more of this” arises.
Why to do it: When you train at the intense level we like to train at, your perception of the workload (oftentimes measured in RPE) can be the most limiting factor. It’s like Henry Ford said: “Whether you believe you can or you can’t, you are probably right.” If the exercise seems way too hard, it will become harder. Vice versa, if the exercise seems doable, it will become doable.
These rapid breaths act as a vacuum, forcefully sucking out distractions and clearing the necessary space for you to crush it. The two rapid breaths technique stimulates the sympathetic (fight-flight) nervous system, cultivating a state of urgency and immediate readiness to do hard physical work.
How to do it: Again, it’s quite simple. Take two rapid inhales through your nose or mouth. They should be done in succession with virtually no exhale between the sniffs. Perform standing with your hands on your hips or stretched out to a ‘T,’ as this posture communicates dominance and control to your brain.
Bonus Challenge: Pair your rapid breaths with a mighty mantra. “I Got This,” as cliché as it is, will do. This time is all about ascending into “I Can” territory!
BREATHING BETTER AFTER YOUR WORKOUT
The Technique: 4–7–8 Breathing
Why to do it: Longer exhales and unnerved breath holds communicate to your brain a sense of safety and relaxation. Each of these 4–7–8 breaths is a physiological ping to your brain that reads “we’re good” and “we have plenty of oxygen.” This gives space to your brain and body to go into repair mode so you can build up the muscle, endurance, and power you purposely ripped to shreds while training.
When to do it: Once you’ve wrapped up your workout and are ready to warm-down.
How to do it: Breathe in through your nostrils for four seconds, calmly hold the top of your inhale for seven seconds, then exhale out of your mouth for eight seconds as you make a “whoooooosh” sound by pushing your lips outward. Perform six rounds just like you did for your Box Breathing. Perform standing or lying down, whatever feels best for you.
Like the simple exercises that have supported your best lifting and physical resilience (think: dead hang, plank, clamshells), these breathing techniques are necessary work that may now seem unnecessary to you. They may be annoying and/or uncomfortable at first and take some time to appreciate. You may need to practice patience as your skill rises to the level of your gumption. But, also like your weightlifting dates with discomfort, over time you will see and feel the beautiful benefits of your breathwork, layered in one set at a time.
Now, it is time for you — trainee, athlete, avid gym-goer, to breathe your way forward.
AUTHOR
Abby Shaye Maroko
Abby Shaye Maroko is a leading fitness and wellness coach, writer, and public speaker located in Denver, CO. She loves to empower women with the practices and perspectives to empower themselves to feel strong, confident, sexy, and free. Abby specializes in strength and conditioning, mobility, pranayama, meditation, and motivational interviewing techniques to help you foster an unbreakable connection with your deepest desires and most radical vision for your body and life. You can book 1:1 sessions and small group training with Abby at Rocky Mountain Flex, online at abbymaroko.com, or by emailing her at [email protected].
