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Breathing
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Check Your Breath
Breathing is fundamental to every form of exercise I can think of; the first concept I teach new Pilates clients is how to breathe. I might know this intellectually, but Hannah my swim coach at Equinox decided my freestyle breathing needed an overhaul.
To prove her point, she even took a video of my form.
Breathe For Your Skin
I am firm believer in deep breathing. It is the cheapest way to relax when you're stressed out. Unfortunately, stress can bring on shallow breaths.
Pilates Tip: Avoid the Head Rush
When I am gardening and move from a deep squat to standing, I get a little lightheaded. It is not really disconcerting, but when it happens when I'm doing Pilates, well that is a different story. Exercises where you move from horizontal to vertical quickly can create a sudden lowering of blood pressure, which can make you dizzy.
Fit Tip: Don't Hold Your Breath
The next time you're lifting at the gym, take a minute to focus on your breathing or lack thereof. Unknowingly many of us, myself included, have the tendency to hold our breath and tense up during the hard part of an exercise. It's time to break the habit.
Learn to Love: Breathing Both Ways
Have I mentioned lately that I love swimming and that it feels like I am dancing a duet with the water? Another thing to love when it comes to swimming is breathing to both sides – it is really helpful if you are swimming for exercise. I know trying to breathe on the side you aren't used to feels extremely awkward and uncomfortable, but in the long run it is well worth conquering the skill of bilateral breathing.
Breathing and Exercise
You breathe in. You breathe out. You rarely think about it, except when it comes to exercising.
Breathing and Running
When it comes to breathing while running, you need to focus on the rhythm. Coach Jenny over at Runner's World says you can even think of it as a dance between the two elements if you'd like.
You should match your breathing to your steps.
Problems Breathing While Exercising?
If you've been having troubles breathing while exercising, but don't have asthma, it's not all in your head.
Turns out that exercise induced bronchospasm, or EIB, is a breathing problem that happens when you exercise or play sports. In fact, many people with no history of asthma suffer from the problem too.
Stretching Tips
Stretching is the most overlooked part of a fitness plan. Since I love stretching and since I don't really understand why people avoid flexibility training, I have decided to act like the Ambassador of Stretching. So as ambassador I am going to give you a few tips and reminders and hopefully they will inspire you.
Learn to Love: Bilateral Breathing in Freestyle
Swimming is one of my favorite forms of cardio, but if you are going the distance swimming laps of freestyle you're going to want to learn how to breathe to both sides. I know trying to breathe on the side you aren't used to feels extremely awkward and uncomfortable, but in the long run it is well worth conquering the skill of bilateral breathing. You know it is skill since it has such a fancy sounding name!
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