One of the most important things to keep in mind while you are exercising is your breathing. The way in which you breathe not only affects how well you perform during your workout, but it affects the way you will feel as you continue throughout your routine.
Concentrating on breathing is particularly important for pregnant women as they have to provide enough oxygen for themselves and their baby while exercising. If they begin breathing too hard or if they allow their heart rate to rise too much, they are overtaxing their bodies and their heart.
These things both indicate that the pregnant woman's body is not being able to keep up with the demand for oxygen from the baby and the body. When the baby experiences lack of oxygen during development, proper development could be hindered.
One fairly common result of lack of oxygen during the developmental stages is brain damage. Of course, this side effect is not manifest until the child is born and begins to learn and grow.
As a result, it is particularly important for pregnant women and regular athletes to pay attention to their breathing so that they can meet their body's need for oxygen. Breathing techniques apply to all kinds of exercise and they are especially emphasized in the area of weight training.
However, they are just as important to think about during cardiovascular exercises such as running on the elliptical as well. If you want to develop good breathing techniques for your workout routine, there are several things you can do.
One of the first rules of breathing that you may want to implement is simply finding a steady, rhythmic pattern that works for you and fits well with the pace that you are going at. You should not be gasping for breaths or taking uneven breaths.
These things indicate that you are not getting enough oxygen. As you work to find something that is steady and which fits with your exercise pattern, you may want to try the two by two method.
The two by two method is an exercise during which you breathe in for two steps and then breathe out for two steps. If you are moving at a quick pace, you may want to increase this method to three by three or four by four.
Meanwhile, if you are slowing walking, you may need to decrease it to one by one until you can move faster. It will take some concentration and you will probably forget about the fact that you are trying to implement this method several times before you reach the end of your workout.
However, as you practice thinking about it, breathing in steady normal pattern will become easier and easier for you. In addition, you may be able to see your performance increase as you begin to breathe steadily and easily.
Once you have established a pattern in which you can easily breathe, you will be able to increase your speed. At first, you may need to increase how quickly you breathe as you lungs may not be used to filling the oxygen need for the increased exercise.
For example, you may need to apply a one by one to your faster pace. Another side effect that you will experience from increasing your pace will be shallower breathing because you will not have time to take deeper breaths.
However, you will want to increase this over time. In the mean time, it can still be an efficient way to bring in enough oxygen.
The third thing you will want to do is listen to your body. If you feel like you cannot bring in enough oxygen, your lungs are probably somewhat full of carbon dioxide.
This means that you will need to focus more on exhaling so that you release all of the carbon dioxide. Your body will tell you to keep gasping for air because you are short on oxygen, but you really need to focus on clearing your lungs first.
As you listen to your body and its needs, you will need to make sure that you do not work too hard and overtax your lungs while you are on the elliptical. Sometimes you may need to go slower in order to build up to being able to bring in enough oxygen to meet your body's needs.
Learning how to control your breathing can benefit other areas of your life as well. Breathing techniques can also help you relax during other parts of the day.
Author Resource:-
Ignacio Lopez is a personal trainer and has authored hundreds of articles relating to physical training and elliptical trainer. He has been a health expert and physical trainer for over 15 years.
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