How Does Breathing Training Work?

The process of breathing is brought about by your breathing muscles. Your breathing muscles are skeletal and they have the same basic structure as your other skeletal muscles. This means, that just like any other muscle group, you can train them to adapt and become stronger and more efficient. This is achievable with breathing training which uses the same principles as resistance training. In this blog, we explain how does breathing training work?

Why Train The Breathing Muscles?

Firstly, we need to answer this question, as you may be wondering, “why should I bother? I’ve been breathing all my life. I don’t need to train something that I do automatically.” Yes, your breathing is usually automatic. And, it is controlled subconsciously by the respiratory centre at the base of your brain. Furthermore, your breathing works in tandem with your heart, making sure that your body receives the oxygen-rich blood it needs to function properly. However, you are able also to control your breathing if you need to. For instance, during singing, playing a musical instrument or when exercising.

You may also ask why you should train your breathing muscles as opposed to your lungs. This is because your lungs are a pair of spongy, air-filled organs, and not muscle. You cannot train them to become stronger like you can your skeletal muscles. Your lungs supply your body with oxygen and remove carbon dioxide, but your breathing muscles influence how well you are able to breathe.

So, training your breathing muscles is hugely beneficial, whether you are fit or unfit, active or inactive, or have a medical condition or not.

Breathing training with drug-free POWERbreathe devices will help you to:

• Strengthen your diaphragm.
• Slow down your heart rate and reduce your work of breathing.
• Reduce your demand for oxygen during exercise.
• Decrease the amount of effort and energy you need to breathe.

Benefits Of Breathing Training

Training your breathing muscles with POWERbreathe breathing trainers will help you to:

• Reconnect with your diaphragm, targeting it like a “dumbbell for your diaphragm”.
• Improve your energy levels and sports performance by improving your breathing strength and stamina.
• Reduce your heart rate and blood pressure.
• Recover from exercise faster.
• Improve symptoms of medical conditions, such as COPD, heart failure, asthma, long-covid, stroke.

Where Are The Breathing Muscles?

Basically, when you inhale you are utilising muscles in your thoracic (chest) cavity. Your diaphragm muscle, however, separates your thoracic cavity which houses your heart and lungs, from your abdominal cavity. When you exhale you are using the same muscles, except during forced exhalation when you also use your abdominal muscles too. This may occur during high-intensity exercise, if you have a severe cough, or if your use a wind instrument.

You have 3 groups of breathing muscles:

1. The diaphragm, your main inspiratory muscle.
2. Rib cage muscles, external intercostal, internal intercostal, and innermost intercostal muscles.
3. Abdominal muscles.

The diaphragm is your main inspiratory muscle. Your rib cage muscles, which include the intercostals, are both inspiratory and expiratory. Finally, the abdominal muscles act on the abdomen as well as the abdominal rib cage and are expiratory.

Your Inspiratory Muscles

Breathe in and your diaphragm, your main breathing muscle, moves down, pulling in air and expanding your chest cavity.

Your Expiratory Muscles

During passive expiration, your diaphragm moves up and your external intercostals also relax and return to their resting position, pushing air out. However, during forced expiratory breathing, you utilise your thoracic and abdominal muscles to contract your chest volume.

So now we know more about your breathing muscles and where they are, let’s read on to see how you can target them and train them to become stronger and more efficient.

How Does Breathing Training Work?

POWERbreathe breathing trainers use the same principles as resistance training to improve the strength and stamina of your breathing muscles.

Your diaphragm, rib cage muscles and abdominal muscles are all skeletal muscles. Therefore, just like any other group of muscles, they too can adapt to become stronger and more efficient. However, unlike other muscle groups, they are more difficult to target and train. This is where POWERbreathe breathing training excels. To train your breathing muscles, POWERbreathe breathing devices use the same principles as resistance training. You breathe through the device against an adjustable resistance which makes it harder to breathe in (Inspiratory Muscle Training) or breathe out (Expiratory Muscle Training).

Breathing Training for Your Inspiratory Muscles

Inspiratory Muscle Training (IMT) is one element of Respiratory Muscle Training (RMT). It specifically trains your inspiratory muscles by providing resistance as you breathe in through the IMT device. POWERbreathe IMT devices provide this type of training and are scientifically proven to improve breathing strength and stamina and reduce breathing fatigue.

Breathing Training for Your Expiratory Muscles

Expiratory Muscle Training (EMT) is also an element of RMT. It trains your expiratory muscles by providing resistance as you breathe out through the EMT device. POWERbreathe EMT devices provide this challenge to your expiratory muscles, making them work harder to improve expiratory muscle strength, function, and endurance.

Want To Know More?

If you would like to know more about what makes up your respiratory system, you can find it here in, How Breathing Works. Our blog, What Happens When You Breathe explains what physically happens when you breathe. We also talk more about breathing and exercise in Breathing Facts. Finally, if you’re wondering, Which POWERbreathe Should I buy? then this blog will be of help.