Working with breathing is one of the basic elements of proper weight loss. Today, there are both ancient practices from yoga, qigong and martial arts that have been tested by time and generations involved in training, as well as modern techniques developed by specialists.
The importance of breathing
The fact that free breathing is important for maintaining a healthy body is clear as twice as two. There is no doubt about it. A person can live without food for more than a month, without water - a few days, and without breathing - only a few minutes.
To be able to control breathing means to be able to control your emotions. No wonder with outbursts of anger it is recommended to count to ten, while breathing deeply.
How it works
The general principle of all breathing exercises for weight loss is enhanced oxidation of fat cells. More oxygen enters the body, which leads to an acceleration of fat burning processes.
Deep breathing is also the key to providing your body with the substances it needs. Oxygen-rich blood feeds cells better and more actively flushes decay products from them. If the breathing is superficial, then we can say that your body does not receive the amount of energy put to it.
The development of the principles of smooth deep breathing or any breathing exercises for weight loss is necessary, because by connecting the abdominal wall to breathing, you provide a constant massage of internal organs. You activate the intestines. Even if you do not want to fully engage in gymnastics in the future, the ability to breathe deeply will create conditions for the optimal functioning of the rest of the body systems.
Opponents of respiratory gymnastics for weight loss are also found. The reviews of these people claim that gaining a good figure is impossible without nutrition control and proper sports. Indeed, breathing exercises cannot replace you all at once. The slender silhouette and overall tone of the body is the result of your lifestyle, which combines the daily routine, nutrition and training.
General recommendations
Exercise either in a well-ventilated area or outdoors, such as in a park. During exercise, active hyperventilation of the lungs occurs. Imagine what will happen to your lungs and body, in principle, if you start doing breathing exercises for quick weight loss and cleansing in a dusty room or near a highway.
Consult a doctor in advance. Perhaps you have some contraindications to breathing experiments.
Be sure to do exercises on an empty stomach, preferably in the morning, when the time elapsed after eating is as long as possible. In the evening, you can engage in no earlier than four hours after a meal. By violating this rule, you risk harming your health.
Respiratory gymnastics for weight loss for beginners must be held under the guidance of a trainer in order to properly master the technique of inhalation and exhalation. You should also not train and hold your breath without the supervision of a teacher.
If during the exercises you feel dizzy or you feel worse, then you have overdone it a little. Do not deal with sports zeal and the desire to achieve complete exhaustion - breathing techniques require a more subtle approach. Exercise caution when stopping exercise at the first sign of malaise.
Training Principles
Most breathing techniques always involve inhaling through the nose. Exhalation can also be carried out through the nose, as most often happens in yoga practices. In other breathing exercises for weight loss, expiration through the mouth is mandatory. In any case, inhalation through the mouth is almost never carried out.
Regularity is a guarantee that breathing exercises for weight loss will be beneficial. To lose weight quickly, it is recommended that you practice these practices for 20-30 minutes every day. Less noticeable, but tangible results will bring classes two to three times a week. But if your workouts are sporadic and happen occasionally, don't expect quick results.
Increase the load gradually. Even if the training manual recommends a different pace of mastering and adding new exercises, focus solely on your own feelings.
It also happens (especially with rapid weight loss) that when you stop breathing exercises for weight loss, you get better again. However, such an effect is possible with a sharp stop of any exercise, especially if you are not used to denying yourself food (it will burn out in training anyway). Therefore, if you stop breathing exercises for weight loss, body flex or yoga, then replace them with any other loads.
Yoga breath
In yoga, there is a separate direction, consisting only of breathing exercises called pranayama. Prana is the vital energy that envelops and permeates all life on Earth. By controlling the breath, we learn to control prana.
It is customary to distinguish several types of breathing:
- Superficial - upper thoracic or clavicular, in which only the upper part of the chest works.
- Medium - intercostal, when the chest is fully connected.
- The lower is the abdominal or diaphragmatic, when the diaphragm is also connected to the breath - the muscle that separates the lungs from the digestive organs.
The optimal type of yoga breathing is considered lower, otherwise calling it complete. The abdominal wall is also connected to the muscles that control the process. Your yogic practice turns into breathing exercises to lose belly.
Among the yoga exercises, there is a whole series aimed at mastering the ability to consciously control the diaphragm. You can start with this simple exercise:
- put both hands on your stomach;
- breathe in and feel the abdominal wall protrude forward;
- as you exhale, feel your belly swell under your arms and your belly button is pulled to your spine.
The exhalation must be necessarily longer than the inhalation. When performing a sequence of yoga exercises - asanas - breath holding is allowed only on fixing asanas. The flow from the asana to the asana itself must be carried out continuously. Holding your breath will create additional stress for your body. Learning the right pause is only possible under the guidance of an experienced practitioner.
A separate exercise is alternating breathing through one or another nostril. It is believed that this technique cleans the airways and energy channels, brings the mind into a state of balance and soothes the nervous system. Due to the general positive effect on the body, this exercise can be included in the program of breathing exercises for weight loss. The photo below shows how you can conveniently arrange your fingers.
One cycle of such breathing looks like this:
- take a breath through the left nostril, close the right nostril with the thumb;
- change the position of the fingers - close the left nostril with the lateral side of the ring finger and exhale through it;
- inhale through the right nostril and, changing the position of the fingers to the original, exhale through the left.
Similar cycles can be made from four to twenty. After alternating breathing becomes familiar to you, you can add a short delay after inhaling and exhaling.
Also in yoga, the breathing of each nostril is practiced separately. It is believed that the right nostril is the channel of male yang energy, and the left - female yin energy. If you need to cheer up or warm up, then close the left nostril with your finger and make several cycles of complete breathing through the right. If, on the contrary, it is required to relax and drive off excess heat, the masters of pranayama recommend breathing through the left nostril. The main thing - do not practice this for too long. Still, it is natural for our body to breathe through both nostrils.
Bodyflex breathing technique
Bodyflex breathing exercises for weight loss were created by the American Greer Childers. Like most of these techniques, gymnastics is based on the alternation of inspirations and exhalations with a delay in exhalation and pulling up the diaphragm.
The progenitor of bodyflex can be called an exercise from the yoga of Uddiyana Bandha. In it, after a full breath, a complete exhalation is made with the diaphragm pulled under the ribs, and breathing is held in this position.
In bodyflex, this delay is performed in different positions of the body, thereby all your muscles are connected in a complex manner. But still, first of all, you will feel the influence of this respiratory gymnastics for weight loss. Bodyflex “brings order” from the inside, together with the muscles pulling and setting your internal organs in the correct position.
The breathing cycle in bodyflex is as follows:
- gasp;
- full breath;
- loud full exhalation - the resulting sound is similar to “ha” or “groin”. The exhalation should be maximum so that the abdominal wall is pulled inward. If you want to cough or clear your throat, this is an absolutely normal reaction of the body to exercise. Cough and start again with a pre-breath and a breath.
- breath holding, on which the diaphragm is pulled under the ribs;
- full breath.
To perform bodyflex exercises you will need considerable self-discipline. You will have to breathe in a similar mode throughout the workout, that is, at least half an hour in a row. In addition to tracking the breath itself, you will also have to control the technique of the exercise, and at first it can be difficult. That is why it is better to start mastering bodyflex under the guidance of an experienced trainer who can point you to your mistakes.
Oxysease Respiratory Technique
Oxisize breathing exercises for weight loss also came to us from America thanks to American Jill Johnson. Its basic principle is similar to bodyflex. The exercises also involve diaphragmatic breathing. However, there are several differences:
- exercises are performed without holding your breath;
- there is no active pulling of the abdominal wall under the ribs.
The order of inspirations-exhalations is also different:
- gasp;
- deep breath;
- three small breaths, while the stomach is slightly tightened, and the breath is carried out by stretching the ribs;
- exhalation;
- three little breaths.
Despite the fact that it is more comfortable to work with the oxysize program due to the lack of delay, the exercises themselves are more energy-intensive than in bodyflex. Like a competing technique, oxysize is known as breathing exercises to lose weight. The feedback from the participants states that the waist is drawn more clearly, and the press becomes more toned after a few sessions.
Breathing exercises of Marina Korpan
Marina Korpan is known to the general public not only as a presenter of television programs dedicated to health, but also as the first teacher of bodyflex and oxysize techniques in Russia, as well as the author of several books on the acquisition of a good figure using breathing techniques. Under her leadership, a weight loss center operates through breathing exercises.
Marina not only teaches according to foreign methods, but also is the creator of her own breathing gymnastics for weight loss and body cleansing called “2/4”. In this technique, inhalation is done in two counts, exhaled, respectively, in four, and the delay is present or absent depending on the level of training of the student.
Among Internet users, numerous video courses of respiratory gymnastics from Marina Korpan are popular. Despite the difference in methods, many exercises in different complexes overlap. Only the breathing technique is different.
One of the basic exercises in the Marina complex is “Diamond”:
- starting position - standing, legs shoulder width apart, stomach tucked up, tailbone tucked down;
- bring your hands to your chest, squeeze your hands into fists and rest them against each other, while the thumbs look up;
- push your fists against each other, while the elbows look to the sides - you should feel how the muscles of the arms tighten and turn on.
- your breathing will depend on the technique chosen - do a few cycles.
You can start training your legs with this exercise:
- set a chair in front of you with the back facing you;
- spread your legs wider and sit down until your hips are parallel to the floor. The knees should not go beyond the level of the heels vertically;
- at the extreme point of the squat, perform two to three cycles of breathing;
- You can do several approaches, while continuing to hold the pelvis tucked up and directing the tailbone down.
A complete set usually consists of eight to ten exercises. Initially, they can take 30-40 minutes, later it will be enough to do this breathing exercises for weight loss for 15 minutes in the morning.
Gymnastics Alexandra Strelnikova
The Soviet opera singer and teacher-vocalist is better known as the creator of Strelnikova's unique respiratory gymnastics for weight loss. Alexandra Nikolaevna early began to lose her voice, which became a key factor for the appearance of gymnastics. Together with her mother, who was also a teacher of singing, the first set of breathing exercises was developed.
The main principle and feature of Strelnikova's exercises is an active breath and a passive exhalation. This technique differs from other known ones, where the main emphasis is always on exhalation. Here, on the contrary, a breath will be noisy and puffing. On exhalation, experts generally advise not to pay any attention. It will turn out as naturally as possible. Inhalation is made through the nose, while the nostrils are narrowed - the sound is as if you are sniffing to get rid of a runny nose.
Usually the breath is combined with the movement performed. The number of accomplishments of any of the exercises according to Strelnikova’s technique should be divided into four - it is easier to count their number. Once you get used to the technique of execution, gradually increase the speed - it is believed that it is possible to reach a level where each element to be executed will be no longer than a second. The pause between sets or different exercises should last from ten to thirty seconds at first, and at a high level of mastering the technique - even up to three to five seconds.
The basic gymnastics complex Strelnikova consists of twelve exercises. They are recommended to learn from the first three, gradually adding to the exercise and increasing the number of repetitions.
The first exercise is called “Okay.” It is performed as follows:
- stand straight, bend your elbows at yourself, point your palms forward;
- with each breath we squeeze our palms;
- repeat four times, gradually increase the number of repetitions to several fours;
The second exercise - “Pogonchiki”:
- starting position - standing straight, arms extended along the body;
- raise your arms slightly to the level of the waist and while inhaling push your palms down;
- as you exhale, relaxed hands return to waist level.
The third exercise is “Pump” (slopes):
- starting position - standing, head relaxed and slightly lowered forward, back slightly bent, arms extended along the body;
- on inspiration - a smooth bend forward, exhale - return to the starting position.
The initial goal of developing this gymnastics is to restore the voice and respiratory system. Bonuses in the form of weight loss, getting rid of diseases and strengthening the body were discovered later, after gymnastics became common. Most students note weight loss, but there are exceptions to the rule.
Contraindications
With all the benefits, any breathing exercises for weight loss is not a panacea. For sharp inhalations and exhalations, people with the following diseases should be carefully treated:
- high blood pressure;
- hyperthyroidism;
- glaucoma;
- cholelithiasis.
Active work with the abdominal wall in bodyflex and oxysease can lead to unpleasant consequences in the following cases:
- cysts and myoma nodes;
- digestive system hernias;
- some kidney disease.
Avoid enhanced breathing exercises for quick weight loss during the exacerbation of any chronic diseases and postoperative recovery. At this time, you can limit yourself to calmly tracking inspiration and exhalation without forcing them. Let breathing become your meditation, aimed at a speedy recovery. The same goes for pregnancy. During this period, wait with active breathing practices. Even if you continue to exercise, use only natural meditative breathing.