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Expert breathing help?
Aug. 25th, 2009 07:19 amOkay... so I've been exercising a lot more, for various and sundry reasons, and I think I've re-discovered how important proper breathing is.
For those of you who've never exercised, or thought through the matter, it goes like this: your muscles need lots of oxygen to create energy; they literally burn calories for energy (though it's not quite as flashy as when fire burns things for energy). Your heart and lungs are your great limiting factors... not enough oxygenated blood going to your muscles = muscles giving up because they can't handle the load.
Well, I have two problems. One, I don't think I've ever really practiced using my lungs well. I've taken deep breaths, and tried to engage my diaphragm and even the muscles at my sides that one Pilates book says is also helpful for breathing, but I've never really known what I was doing.
And, my posture isn't normally very good. I tend to slouch a bit. Without your lungs standing straight up and down, they haven't got the same capacity to expand vigorously.
Does anyone have any advice, or links, for improving one's breathing capacity? (We can skip the old 50s/60s era advice that suggests a few cigarettes might help.)
For those of you who've never exercised, or thought through the matter, it goes like this: your muscles need lots of oxygen to create energy; they literally burn calories for energy (though it's not quite as flashy as when fire burns things for energy). Your heart and lungs are your great limiting factors... not enough oxygenated blood going to your muscles = muscles giving up because they can't handle the load.
Well, I have two problems. One, I don't think I've ever really practiced using my lungs well. I've taken deep breaths, and tried to engage my diaphragm and even the muscles at my sides that one Pilates book says is also helpful for breathing, but I've never really known what I was doing.
And, my posture isn't normally very good. I tend to slouch a bit. Without your lungs standing straight up and down, they haven't got the same capacity to expand vigorously.
Does anyone have any advice, or links, for improving one's breathing capacity? (We can skip the old 50s/60s era advice that suggests a few cigarettes might help.)
