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Secret
Training Tip #504 - Breathing
Backwards - Supercharge Your Back Workout NOW!
By Nick
Nilsson
If you've
ever had a hard time feeling your back
muscles working, this technique is for you.
Discover how breathing backwards will
SHOCK your lats into new growth!
Every experienced weight trainer knows that the proper way to breathe during
a set is to inhale during the negative (lowering) phase and exhale during the
positive (lifting) phase. But is this the best way to breathe in all exercises?
As a matter of fact, it
isn't. I am going to show you exactly how and why you should breathe BACKWARDS
during many if not most back exercises. I will use the lat pulldown exercise
to demonstrate this powerful technique.
Fact: the pulldown movement is more effective when done with an arched
lower back and puffed-up (expanded) chest.
This body position more
fully activates the latissimus dorsi muscles. In fact, if your lower back isn't
arched, it is extremely difficult for your lats to contract. The straight-back
position throws more tension on the biceps and upper back muscles.
Expanding your chest helps
to accentuate this arched-back position.
Fact: exhalation (breathing out) makes your chest contract. Inhalation
(breathing in) makes your chest expand.
Fact: the typical
breathing pattern of the pulldown consists of breathing out as you are pulling
the weight down and breathing in as you are letting it back up.
What this means to you is
that the typical breathing pattern is caving the chest in when you should be
puffing the chest out!
Take a deep breath in and
notice what happens to your chest. It puffs out and expands. This is the optimal
position for your torso during the pulldown exercise.
Now carry this logic over
to the pulldown movement. As you pull the weight down, take a deep breath in.
Your chest will puff up to meet the bar automatically and your lats will engage
strongly.
If you've ever had a hard
time feeling your lats working when you do back exercises, use this technique
and you will certainly feel an immediate difference.
This amazingly simple technique
can be applied to almost any back exercise from pulldowns to chin-ups to seated
cable rows. Try this technique the next time you work your back and you'll see
just how powerful breathing backwards can be!
For a visual demonstration
of how your body position changes with breathing, go to
Nick Nilsson is Vice-President
of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical
Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for
more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including
"Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've
Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!"
and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available
at (http://www.fitness-ebooks.com).
He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.
