It comes so naturally to us until we start working out. Breathing through exercise can get tough, but focusing on proper breathing while executing intense training is vital.

To maintain a high level of performance, you need to ensure oxygen is delivered to your organs and tissues. Proper breath control throughout your workout will maximize your performance. If we don’t focus on breathing through workouts, we risk overcompensating by hyperventilating. Here are some tips for maintaining proper breathing through workouts.

1. Inhale through your nose before eccentric parts of motion (muscle-lengthening).
2. Exhale through your mouth during concentric parts of motion (muscle-shortening).
3. Exhale forcefully after a movement. This relieves thoracic pressure.
4. Breathe in a rhythmic pattern to take in more oxygen and put less stress on your body.
5. Engage in diaphragmatic breathing. This technique activates the parasympathetic nervous system, helping you relax, slow your heart rate, and conserve energy.
6. To improve lung function, engage in pursed lip breathing. 
7. Practice resonant or coherent breathing. This technique aims to keep your breaths per minute between 5 and 7.
8. A final technique you can use is humming bee breathing or Bhramari breathing. This involves humming through a closed mouth while exhaling.

When in doubt, stop to catch your breath!