Breathing

[DR. NOE]

What's up with people holding their breath while lifting heavy weights. My partner wonders why he can't perform as many reps, I tell him to breath but he continues to hold his breath. I told him that he runs the risk of shutting down blood flow to the brain. That can cause anoxia, a shortage of oxygen to the brain, but hey, it really doesn't matter seeing how he already brain dead. Some people say that holding the breath allows them to move more weight. Do you hold your breath and do you move more weight while doing so

 

[Thaibox]

I find I always hold my breath during max lifts.

 

[GreekGodGenetics]

I have to breath. I feel it helps me get the weight up. I believe that I only do breath when the weight is heavy or when I am pumping out those drop sets or sets to failure.

go figure...

 

[Sebass67]

Especially in squats and deads it gives you a bigger midsection which is good if you are going heavy.

 

[BenBen]

I have to breath. I feel it helps me get the weight up

I agree with GreekGodGenetics.
Besides fainting which is an obvious risk when you hold your breath while doing an intense workout, these is a thing called Valsalva which basically is the inner pressure of your body (or rather the air pressure in the lungs). I am not an expert but I believe that by holding your breath while lifting weight, you increase the inner pressure and that can cause real damage to small blood vessels.
Bye.

 

[Realgains]

you need to hold your breath and then let it go a crack as you really strain in the lift....like a steam engine.

Lots of deep breaths between reps!!

 

[WannaBPowerful]

I was askin people at my gym...

but it seems u answered my question. I was leg pressing some very heavy weight and held my breath for a couple reps. I started to get a bad head pain so i racked the weight. Now all of a sudden whenever i hold my breath i get a pain in my head, but its not a headache lol. Its really botherin me, and i realized when i breath a lot during the lifts, i dont get the pain.

 

[thebigchief]

On lower rep lifts, a large breath should be taken before commencing, then it should be let out in small increments after eah rep. This keeps pressure on the coratid artery - Not saying to hold all the way, just let out short bursts of the 1st breath.

BigChief

 

[I'D RATHER BE DEADLIFTING]

If I am doing speed work for bench(triples) I can do the set with one breath. Same goes for boxsquats(doubles).

If I am doing a max attempt, I rarely let the air out. If I do it is near the lockout of the lift.