Breathing Tips for More Effective Aerobic Workout

[Guest guest]

Comments?

Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

Breathing Tips for a More-Effective Aerobic Workout

[from Authentic Breathing]

 

Would you like to get more health benefits from your aerobic workout?

Would you like to burn more fat during your workout? Would you like

to reduce exercise-related fatigue and injury? Would you like to

increase your endurance and stamina? Would you like your workout to

help improve your breathing?

 

If your answer is " yes " to any or all of these questions, then there

is one simple thing you can do: don't let yourself come " breathless "

during your workout. When we become breathless, we undermine our

breathing coordination, burn sugar instead of fat for fuel, and

become tight and tense (which can promote injury).

 

The simplest way to know whether you are exercising too intensely and

becoming breathless is to try to speak several sentences out loud

while you're working out. If you can't do it without gasping for

breath, then your workout is no long " aerobic " --it is, or is about

to become, " anaerobic, " which means that it is proceeding without

oxygen and you are no longer burning fat for fuel.

 

A simple way to ensure that you are working out at a level that will

not make you breathless is to inhale and exhale only through your

nose. If you try this you will quickly discover, especially at the

beginning, that you will have to work at a less intense rate during

your workout. Gradually, however, your breathing coordination will

improve and you will be able to do more and progress more rapidly.

 

Another way is to use your pulse rate as a guide. In his book " The

Portable Personal Trainer, " Eric Harr suggests that we subtract our

age from 180 to determine the upper limit of our pulse rate during

exercise. The key is to stay below this number. He also suggests

using a " heart-rate monitor " to ensure that we don't go above this

number. He does point out, however, that because of individual

differences this number may not be accurate.

 

For myself, I do only as much as I can do while breathing through my

nose, use a heart-rate monitor, and check occasionally to be sure

that I can speak a few sentences while working out. At the

beginning, breathing only through my nose seemed to slow me down

quite a bit, but after only a few weeks I found that I could

progress much more rapidly than I was able to when I allowed myself

to become breathless during the workout.