FitSugar

How to Breathe When Running

Heather Dale — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:57:35 PDT

Ever wonder why some days you feel like an energizer bunny and can keep running and running, while other days your legs feel like lead and you have zero stamina? Certainly the amount of sleep you got the night before, stress levels, and diet play a role in how you perform during your runs, but how you regulate your breath during your jogging session also effects your energy levels. Here's how to power your muscles with fresh oxygen on each stride.

Learn to breathe deeply: Your lungs are just a bit smaller than your ribcage, but we all tend to use just the top third of the lung. One reason being that, like all muscles, the intercostals, which run between the ribs, can get tight and inflexible, limiting the expansiveness of your lungs. When you take a deep breath, you are expanding the lungs, pressing down the diaphragm, and causing your abdomen to expand as your lungs fill with air. Learning to breathe this way helps you take in lots of oxygen while running, preventing dizziness and nausea. With a little training and some stretching you can breathe to your full potential to increase your endurance. Cross-training with noncardio workouts like yoga and Pilates can also help you learn to breathe from your diaphragm. Here are some tips for how to conquer diaphragmatic breathing.

Here's what else you can do to control your breathing during runs.

Breathing and Exercise

FitSugar — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 02:30:00 PDT

You breathe in. You breathe out. You rarely think about it, except when it comes to exercising. You know breathing is important; it supports your effort and can help make you more efficient. Here are a few simple tips to help you with the simple act of breathing, broken down by exercise type.

Cardio: Avoid shallow breaths since they are often an indicator that you are working too hard. Shallow breathing also indicates that you haven't established a suitable breath pattern for your activity. You want to take stronger and deeper breaths when doing cardio, so take the time to find your rhythm.
Strength training: Generally you want to breathe out on the difficult part of the lift or move to help stabilize your body during exertion. So you exhale when you are lifting a hand weight to your shoulder during a bicep curl. This helps you engage your core to help prevent your from swaying into your heels, which is cheating and could set you up for a lower back injury. In Pilates classes, we often start exercises with the phrase, "Inhale to prepare" to remind people to breathe in before they "work."
Stretching: Slow steady breathing is preferable when stretching and will help you relax. Try to focus on breathing from your diaphragm, which will make your belly move out on the inhale and not your chest and shoulders.

Ready. Set. Breathe.

Source

Check Yourself: Running Form To-Do List

FitSugar — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:59:26 PST

Whether you're new to running since Jan. 1 or just trying to find your fitness groove, running can be difficult to love 24/7. When my affection for running wanes, one thing that helps bring back the love is technique. When out for a run, I go through this simple list to check my form. It makes me a mindful runner, which helps not only avoid injury but also helps me find my stride once again.

Before you head out to put this checklist to work, be sure to enter to win a year supply of running shoes from Asics. Nothing motivates more than a new pair of sneaks!

Here's my form checklist, starting with the feet.

Land midfoot, not on the heel. Striking the pavement with your heel naturally puts on the brakes, which slows you down and leaves you prone to injury since it's jarring. Not convinced? Read more about heel striking here.
Keep your ankles relaxed and pick your feet up. Bringing the heel toward the bum to activate the hamstrings - a good thing - while pushing the ground away causes muscles to fatigue more quickly, especially the calf.
Shorten your stride. It's nicer for your knees. Really, it is.
Lean slightly forward. The lean should start at your ankles, not your waist, since bending in the middle can hurt your back and it's also inefficient.

To see what you should be doing with your upper body while running, just keep reading.

3 Injury-Prone Workouts and Tips on Avoiding Harm

Anna Monette Roberts — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:47:05 PDT

You might avoid certain workouts because you are fearful of injury. Or if you are like me, you might migrate toward certain classes or equipment because you are trying to maintain some fitness level while recovering from an injury. I'm currently working through back and leg injuries, so when it comes to protecting my body from further damage, I've learned that proper alignment is absolutely key for prevention. If you're also dealing with an injury (or worried about getting one), keep reading to see which workouts you should be aware of and follow these simple tips to avoid injuries while doing them.

Spin: Cycling can easily lead to hip, back, wrist, and knee injuries if your bike is not properly aligned. In addition, since biking consists of a lot of repetitive motion, taking several spin classes a week can lead to a muscular imbalance. You can overexert certain muscles, especially the tops of your thighs, while deconditioning other areas like the inner and outer thighs. To avoid these problems, always ask the instructor to help you properly set up your bike and cross train with other types of workout classes that target your core and thigh muscles.
High-intensity cardio: Fast-moving, intense classes like boot camp can lead to a variety of injuries, including sprained ankles, muscle pulls, low-back pain, dehydration, and overheating. If you are new to the class or technique, it's important to trust your body and modify moves or weights depending on your level of expertise. If you don't know a particular move, try it out at a slower pace to get the feel of it. Focus on proper alignment and your strength level rather than keeping up with the pace of the class. Remember, slow and steady win the race, and with gradual training your muscles and endurance will become stronger.
Weight lifting: Lifting heavy weights can cause a plethora of injuries, including stress fractures, sprains, strains, overexertion, and muscle pulls in wrists, shoulders, knees, and backs. However, proper weight lifting does have several benefits like helping weight management and improving strength. Sign up for a personal trainer to walk you through the weight room or see if your gym offers a group training session. By using correct alignment, you will target and strengthen the right muscles as well as save your tendons, muscles, and bones from some serious, unpleasant damage.

Still worried about injury? See three alternative low-impact workouts after the break!

How to Work With (Not Against) Your Yoga Instructor

Heather Dale — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:51:00 PDT

I've gone to yoga classes where I grit my teeth for the entire 60 minutes, loathing the teacher with the passing of each second. But then there are those classes where I feel like a halo hangs above my yoga instructor's head, and that she can do no wrong. Having a love/hate relationship with different yoga instructors is perfectly normal. The key is learning to work with your yoga instructor to get the most out of your practice. Here are some tips to help you achieve this.

10 Workout Secrets (From Experts Who Learned the Hard Way!)

Self — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 05:12:19 PDT

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from Self here on FitSugar!

Nobody is perfect. And neither are our workouts. From the fitness hangover solution to what not to wear at the gym and how to avoid being "that" girl at the gym, 10 fitness pros (and me) give us their "I wish I'd known sooner" secrets for having a better, more effective and enjoyable workout. So you don't have to learn the hard way!

Brynn Jinnett, Founder of the Refine Method
I was working out in a hotel gym and a man was trying to perform some strange acrobatics that involved a kettle bell and a wobble board. A guy walked by and said "KISS, man!" Keep it simple, Stupid. Eat clean, work out hard. Rinse, repeat.

Kristin McGee, Yoga and Fitness Expert
I usually never wear makeup if I work out at the gym, especially first thing in the morning, but I had my makeup on for a meeting at one of the gyms I teach at and stayed to do the moving stairs after for a quick session. I jumped off and ran to teach my next private yoga client and realized she kept staring at me funny the whole way through. After our private, I used her restroom and noticed I had total raccoon eyes! My mascara had run all down below my eyelids and I looked horrible! I told my makeup artist friend about this and here's the tip he gave me, "To avoid make up meltdown mascara under the eye, rub a little Vaseline under your eyes when you go for a run or do a heavy workout then use a q-tip to gently glide it off and reapply some concealer and you're good to go." It totally works and I realize many women have to sneak in their workouts midday or after work and this does the trick.

Yoga Styles Decoded

Shape — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 13:34:24 PDT

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar.

Hatha Yoga

Origin: Introduced in 15th-century India by Hindu sage, Yogi Swatmarama, Hatha poses - Downward Facing Dog, Cobra, Eagle, and Wheel, for example - make up most yoga sequences practiced today.
Philosophy: The goal of Hatha yoga is to bridge the body and mind with the breath in a series of physical poses called asanas.
What to Expect: Prepare for a gentle routine that often includes Sun Salutations, balancing poses, forward bends, and back bends to work the body and focus the mind. These movements all lead up to the final relaxation - the blissful Savasana at the end of class.

Try it if…
… you want an easy-going class that will challenge without overwhelming.

Ashtanga Yoga

Origin: One of the oldest forms of yoga, Ashtanga yoga was first recorded in ancient Indian manuscripts, but brought to life by K. Pattabhi Jois, who has been teaching it since 1948. Ashtanga (which literally translates to eight-limbed yoga) is influenced by Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, a yogic guideline for a meaningful life.
Philosophy: The Ashtanga technique is concerned with linking breath and movement - also known as Vinyasa. The advanced practice utilizes the dristi (the gaze) and the bandhas (internal body locks), which assist in holding the challenging poses of the sequence.
What to Expect: Think of traditional Ashtanga as the zen form of yoga. You'll flow from pose to pose with your breath - no props, no music, and no self-help lecturing - staying present in the moment. You'll earn your Savasana, the final relaxation pose, with plenty of arm strengthening chaturangas, inversions, and other advanced poses.
Try it if…
… you're looking for an old-school, kick-ass practice that's rooted in tradition rather than trend.

See even more styles of yoga decoded after the break!

Can't Fall Asleep? Try These Tips

FitSugar — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:30:23 PDT

It's so frustrating to be lying in bed, knowing you need your beauty rest and you can't for the life of you fall asleep. So the next time you find yourself tossing and turning, try these helpful tips from fellow FitSugar readers.

"In desperate times, I do the relaxation technique I learned in yoga when you breath and focus on relaxing each little part of your body. I start with my forehead and work down. By the time I reach my hips I'm usually out." - jadfair
"Sometimes it helps me to listen to audiobooks, especially those that I've already read/heard before. It helps me block out all of the swirling end of the day thoughts and just go to sleep." - tlsgirl
Fitsugar reader laellavita says, "If I don't work out, I just feel too restless to sleep. My workout is never at night, but expelling all that energy in one hour always makes me sleep better than a whole stressful day ever does."

For other tips on getting some shuteye,