Breathing

[old] raverlaw · Post by **[old] raverlaw** » August 30th, 2004, 5:08 pm

I'm new to erging, got my Model D August 4. I've rowed 150,000 m in three weeks (had a vacation) and I think my form is pretty good. I can feel I'm getting stronger, and my times and paces are coming down. My question is: How do most of you breathe? Based on what I've been taught with respect to exercising and weightlifting, I should breathe out during maximum effort (drive) and in during the recovery. When I'm really pushing, though, it seems difficult to take a deep breath as I'm recovering and shoving my chest up to my knees. So, what is the proper breathing technique? In on recovery, out on drive? vice versa? or do any of you double breathe?

[old] JimR · Post by **[old] JimR** » August 30th, 2004, 5:37 pm

While I have heard the breathing technique for weighlifting repeated many times I have never heard why this is so ... and since I don't weightlift it never seemed important. When I row I do the opposite ... breathe in as I drive (because I am opening my chest cavity as I do), exhale at the finish, start to inhale as I recover, then exhale as I come up to the catch (and squeeze my chest). Breathing two times per stroke ... JimR

[old] Al Cook · Post by **[old] Al Cook** » September 1st, 2004, 8:15 am

I've been trying various methods to get what feels best at various stress levels. Sometime I NEED to double breathe as this feels comfortable, other times I concentrate on breathing out during the drive and brething in on the recovery. When I do this, I find that my heart rate falls by about 5 BPM.. so I try to use this whenever possible in order to improve my rate & effort. This suits me, but may be different to others, especially as my levels of stress, and hence pace etc will differ from yours..

[old] John Rupp · Post by **[old] John Rupp** » September 1st, 2004, 4:10 pm

I breathe once per stroke, which is out at the catch and in at the end of the drive. Exhalation starts 1/2 way up the slide for recovery. Inhalation starts 1/2 way through the drive, or at the end of the drive (depending on effort and my focus). When rowing faster efforts I sometimes breathe twice per stroke in the manner that Jim outlined, but try to keep to once per stroke, sometimes alternating between them. I find the more relaxed my breathing, i.e. silent, no resistance etc, the less breaths that are needed and the easier my breathing becomes.

[old] ranger · Post by **[old] ranger** » September 1st, 2004, 5:06 pm

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'>QUOTE (John Rupp @ Sep 1 2004, 03:10 PM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>I breathe once per stroke, which is out at the catch and in at the end of the drive. Exhalation starts 1/2 way up the slide for recovery. Inhalation starts 1/2 way through the drive, or at the end of the drive (depending on effort and my focus). When rowing faster efforts I sometimes row twice per stroke in the manner that Jim outlined, but try to keep to once per stroke, sometimes alternating between them. I find the more relaxed my breathing, i.e. silent, no resistance etc, the less breaths that are needed and the easier my breathing becomes. </td></tr></table> Exactly. The same. ranger

[old] Carl Henrik · Post by **[old] Carl Henrik** » September 2nd, 2004, 3:21 am

During a max effort workout I hardly notice breathing at all in the beginning, Im just pulling. After a while I get to two breathes per stroke wich is comfy. Then sometimes at the last hundred meters I have to hyperventilate and I cant help feeling I'm like a scared little rodent with such a small quick breathe and fast heart rate. Maybe I should work on my mental image.....

[old] GeorgeD · Post by **[old] GeorgeD** » September 2nd, 2004, 4:21 am

Maybe I am missing something but this is an area I never think about ... I just breathe and if I am rowing harder then my body will demand more oxygen and I guess I either breathe deeper or more, who knows - not me? But I find there are more important things that occupy my mind such as pain .... iIwork on the assumption that if I forget to breathe 'I WILL STOP ROWING' and so there will be no issue.

[old] David Speed · Post by **[old] David Speed** » September 2nd, 2004, 6:29 am

I think I side with George on this one, although (if I really think hard about it) my breathing patterns are probably the same as those outlined by John. I got stuck with the breath out during exertion when I first started the ergo and spent far too much valuable training time trying to breath in while my diaphragm was being squeezed by thighs and belly Now I just row and the breathing thing works itself out. I figure that I got the hang of breathing at an early age and probably shouldn't mess too much with it

[old] ranger · Post by **[old] ranger** » September 2nd, 2004, 9:53 am

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'>QUOTE </td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>Now I just row and the breathing thing works itself out. I figure that I got the hang of breathing at an early age and probably shouldn't mess too much with it </td></tr></table> In rowing, breathing is an important part of the rhythm of stroke. Rhythm and relaxation are closely connected, especially at high levels of effort. Higher levels of effort, such as rowing a 2K, are not very relaxing and take a lot of wind. Neglecting breathing, and its relation to the stroke, leads to less relaxation, less breath, and a slower 2K time. ranger

[old] Cran · Post by **[old] Cran** » September 2nd, 2004, 10:36 am

Yeah it helps to have a rhythm to the breathing. The only thing you need to do is breath out, and the breathing in will be automatic. So it's really just a case of breathing out once or twice per stroke. fwiw I breathe 2 times per stroke, out at the finish, and out at the catch. But the breath out at the finish is stronger than at the catch. If you are going to breath out twice per stroke at high rates/effort it seems a bit pointless only breathing once at low rates/effort since one of the keys to a good rowing stroke is consistency, i.e. every stroke is exactly the same... changing the breathing will change the stroke, so it seems to me like it's probably a good idea to always do the same beathing pattern regardless of effort. So find what works best for you and then do it the same every stroke.

[old] raverlaw · Post by **[old] raverlaw** » September 2nd, 2004, 5:00 pm

OK, thanks for the input. What comes naturally to me is to breathe in during the drive and out during the recovery. When I'm sprinting, or driving hard during the last 50 meters, I can't help panting or double breathing. I was just wondering if there was a 'proper' way, because inhaling on the recovery just seemed unnatural. So I will just keep doing it the way it feels best to me. Thanks!

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