Side-Bending/Breathing With Weights

When people work out in the gym, one of the most important things they forget to do is how to breathe properly.

Remember, breathing is the most important autonomic function your body performs, and it does this nearly 26,000 times a day.

You can get by for a few days without water and maybe for a week, if not longer, without food. On the other hand, if you stop breathing, your brain would begin to die in about 5 minutes.

Back to exercise, breathing is very essential to effective movement too. All respiratory functions are at the top of the CHEK Totem Pole/hierarchy of systems, surpassed only by the psyche.

What that means: The way we breathe excites the muscles in order to perform movements properly or it can shut the muscles down.

For example, if you’re trying to push something while breathing in, you’ll experience an inhibition of the flexion muscles. Plus, as far as the brain is concerned, maintaining the functioning of the respiratory system is more important than any exercise.

In this video, I’ll show you how to breathe properly when you’re doing side-bending pattern exercises, movements that can get a bit tricky.

I’ll demonstrate how to do them safely with a dumbbell (a common mistake with overhead lifting that can lead to a locked shoulder) and a cable pull.

Not only do these techniques have a huge influence on your performance, if you’re improperly breathing backward while exercising, you can drive patterns deeper.

This may result in a number of inverted breathing pattern disorders that can disrupt your biochemistry and energy levels, forcing you to rely on stimulants like sugar or caffeine.

Going down that rocky road creates what I call sick/fit people, something I see a lot in my practice.

Love and chi,

Paul