The Most Important Exercise You May Not Be Doing

Wondering how you can lower your everyday stress level, be more focused, and even perform better on your workouts? The answer could be something you’re (hopefully) doing right now.

If you’re breathing now, you’re on the right track.

Fundamentally, breathing is how humans take in oxygen so that cells can then use the oxygen to make cellular energy. Without enough of that cellular energy (also known as ATP), we wouldn’t get very far in our daily activities. The more oxygen we are able to efficiently take in, the more balanced and energized we are able to feel (“Why Do We Breathe?” snow brains.com). Breathing deeply and purposefully can also seem to quiet a stressful mind because of a physiological response that recurs in the brain. When you feel overwhelmed, angry, or sad, the brain is cued to release certain hormones (these are released in times of a late night ice cream craving or chronic fatigue—and everything in between) that prepare the body to deal with those emotions. This is called the “fight or flight” response, a leftover characteristic of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. Apparently evolutionarily, being chased by a wooly mammoth is not too different than speaking in public where our brain’s chemical response is concerned.

You’re probably wondering what physiology, hormones, wooly mammoths, and breathing all have to do with YOU, and what exactly does it mean to “breathe purposefully/mindfully. Take a second to do a self-assessment of your breathing. Make sure you are in a comfortable position, and rest one hand on your chest and the other over your belly button. Take a deep breath. Which rose first, your chest or your stomach?

If your chest rose first, you may be having some trouble activating the diaphragm, which is the cylindrical muscle usually associated with deep breathing and the belly expansion that comes along with it. Many people tend not to engage their diaphragm during regular, relaxed breathing because, hey, who wants to look like they have a belly when they’re just standing there, breathing? As a result, they tend to “chest breathe” (also known as apical breathing) relying on other muscles to get air into the lungs, which are only able to partially expand as a result. Not exactly a recipe for getting maximal oxygen to the parts of the body (like the brain and heart) that really need it. This situation can be magnified negatively during exercise, when the body is under physical stress. Doing mountain climbers for intervals of sixty seconds or busting out some weighted squats requires some serious oxygen, which you may not be getting if you’re not able to make the most of your breath by breathing from the diaphragm.

There are a few ways one can learn how to breathe from the diaphragm, but one of the simplest ways is one that you can do anywhere, any time. Make sure you’re in a comfortable, relaxed position, but if you are seated, sit with proper posture (no slouching!). Place both hands gently on the stomach and take a few moments to breathe through the nose while focusing on expanding through your stomach and really letting the lungs fill. You should feel your belly rise quite a bit, while your shoulders and chest stay relaxed and rise only a little. Relax your stomach and exhale naturally, without forcing the air out. If lying down is an option you can advance this exercise. Maintain a comfortable position lying face-up with your feet on the ground and place a light but noticeable weight on your stomach (something like “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” or a similar weight is good), and work to breathe through the belly. This will help you properly recruit your diaphragm, although it may be a bit difficult, uncomfortable, and feel unnatural at first (“How to Activate Your Diaphragm,” Breaking Muscle).

Now for the important part: applying this to exercise. Of course, nothing worth having comes without a little work, and, in this case, maybe a little practice. Take a second, as often as you can, to think of your breath and do a self-check: am I breathing from my stomach, or am I really winded and starting to breath from my chest again? Simply having the conscious realization that you’ve stopped breathing from your belly is the first step to doing it more often. Remember, whether you’re on your last thirty seconds on the battle rope, doing heavy dumbbell rows, or swamped at work, taking a few deep breaths and letting it all hang out could be just what you needed to refocus and take on the task at hand.

-Maria Capuano