😮‍💨 Take my breath awayyyy

Good morning and happy summer. Welcome to the longest day of the year, Northern Hemispherites. How are you celebrating your 5am sunrise and 9pm sunset today? It only gets darker (but first, hotter) from here.

I’m ready for sand and figs and fireflies. Do they call them lightning bugs where y’all are from?

Anyway, let’s talk more about breath today. I think you’ll enjoy it 🫁 

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You’ll remember that last week, we talked about two situations when our breath is important:

1. Everyday life, going about normal activities (including sleep)

2. During cardiovascular exercise where our heart rate is up

For a refresher on those, you can view last week’s newsletter here

This week, we’re looking at the two other situations in which we can use breath to affect our body:

3. During resistance exercise/weight training

4. For rest, relaxation, recovery, and relief of stress

3. During resistance exercise or weight training. Here, it’s less about how we breathe and more about when we breathe.

For most people, it’s going to be advantageous to inhale either before the lift or during the eccentric phase (think—lowering against gravity). Then you’ll exhale during the concentric phase (when you’re contracting your muscles to move the weight).

If you don’t have experience with this, experiment with it. What feels best can vary from person to person and even exercise to exercise. But being able to forcefully exhale and sort of “squeeze” everything usually helps you move a heavy weight better. It gives your whole core a natural compression, contraction, and stabilization.

One other weightlifting breathing maneuver that’s more typically used in heavier lifts (e.g. back squat, deadlift, bench press, etc.) is the Valsalva maneuver. This is when someone holds their breath during a lift by closing off their throat when compressing torso muscles. (Ever really strained to poop? Basically that.) This can be used to help stabilize and brace the core in heavier lifts, but it can also do wonky things to blood pressure and make you lightheaded, so probably don’t employ this technique unless you know what you’re doing and have experience and good body awareness!

4. For rest, recovery, relaxation, and relief (of stress). Breathing is one of the best recovery tools we have. If you’re trying to do anything related to restorative breathing, it’s nasal breathing for the win.

Breathing exercises can lower blood pressure and heart rate, reduce anxiety, relax your muscles, improve your mood, and much more. There are countless techniques out there, developed and shared by practitioners far more knowledgeable on the subject than I am, but I’ll share a couple of my favorite ones. Remember for these to breathe deep into your stomach and keep your shoulders relaxed and down and back, away from your ears.

• Box breathing. Named because the four phases are equal in length. You inhale, hold, exhale, and hold again for the same amount of time every breathing cycle. I prefer an inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. For example, inhale 4 (seconds) → hold 4 → exhale 4 → hold 4 → repeat.

• Another common rhythm I’ve heard and practiced is 4–6–7. Inhale 4 seconds, hold for 6 seconds, exhale 7 seconds, repeat.

You can look others up, especially if you’re seeking certain outcomes, such as anxiety reduction, sleep promotion, or energy.

Remember that a common thread that runs through relaxing breaths is that the exhale is almost always longer than the inhale. Spend a relatively shorter time breathing in (usually through the nose), and spend more time holding the breath, exhaling, and holding again.

Fun fact: Typically, breathing rates at rest fall between 12–20 breaths per minute. That’s one full breath cycle every 3–5 seconds or so. Without changing your breathing pattern right now, watch a clock and count your own breaths per minute! I bet it’s hard because now you’re thinking about it hehe. 🤭 

Funner fact: Did you know that when a nurse or healthcare practitioner is taking your heart rate, they’re also monitoring your breathing rate, too?! But they don’t tell you that because your awareness will likely change your breathing rate. They’re probably keeping track of both counts at the same time, and you don’t even know it. Talk about multitasking! 🧑‍⚕️ 

The key takeaways: Use proper breath timing to help you lift weights. Try the Valsalva maneuver if you’re confident with it. Then, employ breathwork techniques to destress and relax!

✅ Take Action

Every newsletter's Take Action section will invite you to take small steps to improve your health. Recognizing that we all have different capabilities, I'll offer three different levels of action you can choose to take.

Level 1: Take one minute right now to practice one of the simple breathing patterns above. Relax your body, close your eyes, and find serenity. 🧘 

Level 2: Next time you lift weights, pay attention to your breathing. Experiment with this week’s advice (exhaling on the concentric part of the lift) and see how it helps. 🏋️ 

Level 3: Begin and end each day with breathing exercises. You can research tons of different techniques online. Practice centering or energizing techniques in the morning, and de-stressing, sleep-promoting techniques at night 😴 

This newsletter is brought to you by… me!

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✍️ Drew's Picks:

• Podcast: Getting over Gymtimidation. Ever feel intimidated in the gym? We’ve all been there. Give this podcast a listen. (Spoiler alert: most people are either fully zoned in on their own workout or also too self-conscious about what others are thinking to care about judging you) 🤸 

• Newsletter: Young Money by Jack Raines. He’s got over 40,000 subscribers to his weekly newsletter that’s often more about philosophy than finance. He’s inspired much of my thought and life in the past year. I even took Jack’s newsletter course to help me launch Move to Improve! Click below to sign up today. 💸 

You’ve got more sunlight today than you’ll have for the rest of the year. Go enjoy it 🌞 

(And if you enjoy breathing, get a friend to sign up today. If they do, email me and let me know and I’ll Venmo you $2. Terms and conditions don’t apply because this is low key.)

Keep moving,

Drew

The content in Move to Improve is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. It is always a good idea to consult with a trusted health professional before making any major lifestyle changes that could have a significant impact on your health. This is not a medical resource, and any opinions and articles are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. They are not substitutes for consulting a qualified medical professional. Please think critically and take what I say with a grain of salt (aka don’t sue me).