Olympic Weightlifting Encyclopedia 36

Proper Breathing While Lifting

While not technically part of the subject of weightlifting technique, proper breathing is an important part of weightlifting. Although weightlifting is considered to be an anaerobic activity, it does increase the body’s need for oxygen far more than most activities that are considered to be aerobic. What makes it anaerobic is that the activity of weightlifting is not sustained for a long enough period to use up the body’s anaerobic energy supply. Therefore, a lifter could simply not breathe at all during a lift and still execute it without difficulty most of the time. Consequently, there is a tendency for some athletes to attempt to hold their breath throughout a lift. This should be avoided for at least two reasons.

While not technically part of the subject of weightlifting technique, proper breathing is an important part of weightlifting. Although weightlifting is considered to be an anaerobic activity, it does increase the body’s need for oxygen far more than most activities that are considered to be aerobic. What makes it anaerobic is that the activity of weightlifting is not sustained for a long enough period to use up the body’s anaerobic energy supply. Therefore, a lifter could simply not breathe at all during a lift and still execute it without difficulty most of the time. Consequently, there is a tendency for some athletes to attempt to hold their breath throughout a lift. This should be avoided for at least two reasons.

Another important reason to breathe properly is to avoid unnecessary increases in blood pressure when lifting. There can be a twofold or greater increase in blood pressure when the major muscle groups of the body are involved in a substantial muscular effort. However, at least one group of researchers has found that this increase is due as much to the lifter’s making an effort to expel air against a closed glottis (a portion of the larynx through which air flows during breathing) as to the exertion itself. Therefore, proper breathing can reduce this component of the increase in the pressure.

There is considerable evidence that the overall issue of elevated blood pressure during exertion should not cause great concern. Empirically there have not been any instances of strokes occurring during weightlifting competitions. (I know of at least one instance in which a lifter over the age of forty had a heart attack while warming up for a competition, but this athlete had existing coronary artery disease of which he was apparently unaware.) If heightened blood pressure were a very significant risk, we would expect to see more evidence of it when the strain was greatest.

On a more scientific level, researchers have argued that a difference in pressure across the walls of the heart and its large blood vessels can occur. This is because the pressure outside increases at least as much as the pressure inside. The brain is protected in a similar fashion in that any increase in intrathoracic pressure is transmitted to the cerebrospinal fluid, counteracting the increase in the pressure within the blood vessels that supply the brain. The peripheral vessels are more subject to the increased pressure, but their smaller diameter makes them more able to accept the increased pressure. There is actually more concern among some researchers about breathing too deeply and frequently (hyperventilation) before a heavy exertion than about breathing too little. This is because it has been discovered that hyperventilation before heavy exercise can lead to convulsions or even fainting. In short, extremes in breathing patterns are to be avoided.

As a general rule, proper breathing consists of inhaling just before or as a weight is lowered and breathing out while it is raised. During complex motions like the snatch and C&J, there are actually several points where breathing generally occurs. In the snatch there is usually some exhalation during the pull, particularly in conjunction with the final explosion of that pull. The lifter often does not inhale again until he or she recovers from the squat or split position but may exhale the rest of the air that was not expelled during the pull as the recovery to a standing position occurs. However, if the lifter remains in the low position for more than a few seconds, he or she may inhale at the low position and then exhale during the recovery to a standing position.

In the C&J, as in the snatch, there is often a partial exhalation during the pull, with the remaining exhalation occurring during the recovery from the low position. If the lifter remains in the ow position for some time, there may be some breathing while in that position and exhalation during the recovery, but this is unusual. After the recovery from the clean, the lifter generally takes several quick breaths in preparation for the jerk, then ceases breathing during the actual dip for the jerk, sometimes exhaling as he or she lowers the body to catch the bar at arm’s length. Some lifters move so quickly into the jerk that they do not take any additional breaths after the clean, but this is the exception rather than the rule.

In preparation for any lift (the snatch, clean, or jerk), the lifter should at least partially inflate the lungs and use the air that has been taken in to thrust the chest out just before the lift begins. This elevation and expansion of the rib cage give the lifter important assistance in achieving the rigidity of the torso that is so necessary during the pull and jerk. It is certainly not necessary to expel air with a great deal of force or an accompanying shout while lifting, but some lifters feel that such an action improves their concentration and power.

When the lifter performs exercises other than the snatch and C&J (or related movements), the general rule for breathing is to breathe in just before lowering the weight or while it is being lowered and to exhale toward the completion of the lift. For instance, when one is squatting, one typically takes one or more shallow breaths before the squat, then lowers the body into the squat position. A partial exhalation occurs as the lifter rises, at or just past the most difficult part of the squat.

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