Whether you’re a competitive athlete or simply enjoy a heart-pumping, strength-building workout, improving your performance is the goal. There are many ways to do that, but have you ever stopped to think about the role how you breathe plays? It’s a factor that many people don’t think about, but it can make more of a difference than you might think.
Breathing is simple, right? You take in air and expel it through your nose and mouth. But there are lots of variables – how deeply you breathe in, how quickly you inhale and exhale, your emotional state, the altitude you’re at, whether you’re exercising or not, etc. Enter diaphragmatic breathing. It’s a way of breathing that can help you reach your full athletic potential and recover faster from your workouts.
What is Diaphragmatic Breathing?
Diaphragmatic breathing is sometimes called belly breathing. It’s an approach that engages your diaphragm, the muscle that lies between your chest and abdominal cavity. When you integrate your diaphragm more into your inhalations and exhalations, you maximize the amount of air you send to your lungs. Your breathing also becomes more efficient.
The Benefits of Diaphragmatic Breathing for Athletes
How can maximizing the movements of your diaphragm help your workouts?
Enhanced Performance:
By maximizing the amount of air, you take in when you breathe, you send more oxygen to your energy–hungry muscles. During exercise, your muscles need a continuous supply of oxygen to produce energy through aerobic metabolism. When oxygen demand exceeds the supply you have available, your muscles rely on anaerobic pathways, leading to the accumulation of lactate – and fatigue. By enhancing oxygen delivery through diaphragmatic breathing, you can maintain aerobic metabolism for longer periods, delaying the onset of fatigue.
Therefore, diaphragmatic breathing can boost your endurance. This comes in handy with endurance sports, like running or cycling.
Reduced Stress:
When you breathe through your diaphragm, it helps relieve stress and anxiety. In other words, you have fewer pre-performance jitters. Why? With diaphragmatic breathing, you expand your lungs more fully. This activates the “rest and relax” component of your nervous system, so you feel calmer and more focused. That’s why competitive athletes use this technique before a competition. Also, counselors teach anxious clients how to do this to relieve stress and anxiety. Whether you’re looking for a performance boost or to calm your mind and body, diaphragmatic breathing can help.
Enhanced Recovery:
Some experts believe that diaphragmatic breathing boosts exercise recovery. When you’re breathing in a controlled manner, you feel more relaxed and can bounce back faster. One study asked a group of sixteen athletes to take part in an intense exercise session. One group of eight relaxed in a quiet place after the session. The others performed diaphragmatic breathing while they relaxed.
What they found was the group who engaged in diaphragmatic breathing had a lower level of cortisol, a stress hormone. They also experienced a boost in melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleep and regulates our internal body clock. They also experienced a boost in antioxidant defenses. These bode well for recovery.
Better Lung Function:
There’s another benefit of diaphragmatic breathing – it’s beneficial for lung function. When you engage in diaphragmatic breathing, it strengthens your diaphragm and makes breathing more efficient. It also reduces the effort of breathing. This is beneficial for people who have lung conditions, like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), who struggle to breathe at times, particularly during exertion. It reduces the amount of work people with lung disease must do and helps them conserve energy.
Plus, diaphragmatic breathing builds stronger respiratory muscles, the ones that support breathing. This makes it easier to breathe without recruiting accessory muscles, like those in the chest and neck. People who have lung diseases often overwork these muscles to the point of fatigue.
A Different Approach to Breathing
How does diaphragmatic breathing differ from the garden-variety breathing most people do? When you breathe in the usual manner, you don’t maximize the amount of oxygen you take in. Most people breathe too shallowly because they only engage their upper chest muscles. With diaphragmatic breathing you expand your diaphragm to its fullest and take in more oxygen-containing air. And you get the added benefit of calming your mind and body.
How to Practice Diaphragmatic Breathing
The magic of diaphragmatic breathing is you can do it anywhere and at any time. Here’s how:
- Find a comfortable spot where you can relax in a sitting or lying position.
- Put one hand on your chest and the other on your belly.
- Inhale slowly through your nose. With your hands, feel your belly rise as your diaphragm descends.
- Exhale slowly through your mouth. Feel your belly fall and your diaphragm rise.
- Repeat for several minutes, as you engage your diaphragm with each breath.
It takes practice to master this way of breathing, so you can do it fluidly at any time. Therefore, practice it twice a day. Once you’re comfortable with it, try it before your training session and, again, after the workout is over. Also, implement this strategy when you feel stressed or anxious. It works!
You Can Also Combine Diaphragmatic Breathing with Visualization
Another practice you can combine with diaphragmatic breathing to get even better results with your workouts is visualization. Visualizing yourself doing a particular exercise or workout taps into the power of your mind to enhance your performance. Why not combine the two?
- Close your eyes and take your first deep, diaphragmatic breaths.
- As you inhale and feel your diaphragm move, visualize yourself performing your best.
- Envision yourself strong and confident and capable of facing any challenge.
- As you exhale, feel your doubts or fears leave with your breath.
- Repeat this process for several minutes.
Conclusion
So now you know how breathing affects exercise performance and recovery. Diaphragmatic breathing is your ticket to better performance and less stress and anxiety. Remember to practice it, focus on your diaphragm, and incorporate diaphragmatic breathing into your training routine to get the best results. By making diaphragmatic breathing a habit, you’ll be able to take your training to the next level and achieve your goals with greater ease and confidence.
References:
- Blayze, (2022). The Science of Breath Work: Breathing for Athletes. Blayze.io.
- Pompei, P., et al. (2017). Diaphragmatic breathing and exercise-induced oxidative stress. Journal of Sports Sciences, 35(12), 1245-1253.
- Martarelli D, Cocchioni M, Scuri S, Pompei P. Diaphragmatic breathing reduces exercise-induced oxidative stress. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2011;2011:932430. doi: 10.1093/ecam/nep169. Epub 2011 Feb 10. PMID: 19875429; PMCID: PMC3139518.
- “Diaphragmatic Breathing and Its Benefits | Healthline.” 19 May. 2023, https://www.healthline.com/health/diaphragmatic-breathing.
- “Learning diaphragmatic breathing – Harvard Health.” 10 Mar. 2016, https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/learning-diaphragmatic-breathing.
- “Diaphragmatic Breathing | UGA.” https://psychology.uga.edu/sites/default/files/CVs/Clinic_Diaphragmatic_Breathing.pdf.
- “Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercises – Physiopedia.” https://www.physio-pedia.com/Diaphragmatic_Breathing_Exercises.
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