When we exercise, trainers and coaches frequently stress the importance of breathing and not just holding our breath in. Is it correct to say that one of the reasons they stress the importance of breathing because proper breathing can provide more oxygen for the body thus allowing the body to undergo aerobic glycolysis as opposed to anaerobic glycolysis yielding more ATP for exercises in the 30-50 second time range. Obviously there are other reasons such as avoiding the overuse of secondary breathing muscles, leading to avoidable tension in muscles/joints...
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I don't understand your question. Are you just asking if it is correct to say that you need oxygen to do aerobic exercise, which is the definition of aerobic?– Thomas Markov ♦Commented May 6, 2023 at 22:26
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Let us say that person A was doing pushups and they held their breath in for the entire workout. In contrast, person B performed proper breathing (inhale on eccentric, exhale on concentric). In that case, would person B be able to generate more ATP via aerobic glycolysis?– coderhkCommented May 6, 2023 at 22:28
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@coderhk Why would holding your breath mean you can't generate ATP aerobically? Inhaled breath has about 21% oxygen, exhaled about 16%. You don't use all the oxygen available in each breath. Some trained people can swim and dive for many minutes. Your body will continue to use whatever available oxygen from the blood there is. As I referred to in my answer, your body is always producing ATP via a few different pathways at the same time. Anaerobic is simply faster, which is why it is the first place the body goes.– JohnP ♦Commented Nov 29, 2023 at 14:09
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3 Answers
Yes, that is what anaerobic means.
Anaerobic glycolysis typically happens when the energy demand placed upon the muscle exceed your body's ability to deliver oxygen to the muscle. If you artificially restrict oxygen delivery by holding your breath, anaerobic glycolysis will occur sooner than it would have if you were breathing.
answered May 6, 2023 at 22:32
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Holding your breath in would be an extreme example of "poor breathing". Would there be a substantial difference in the ATP production between two people if one person focused on their breathing to ensure proper technique contrasted against an newbie who does not pay attention to their breathing when working out?– coderhkCommented May 6, 2023 at 22:35
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@coderhk I don't think there's any basis to your assumption that a newbie's intuitive breathing pattern is "poor", and that there exists some superior, "proper" breathing technique that can only be achieved with practice and focus. The newbie who is breathing intuitively is the one breathing properly, and the person focussing on their breathing technique is wasting their time and effort. Commented May 10, 2023 at 2:33
Your question isn't clear about what you are asking. Yes it's important to breathe during your workout as holding your breathe for too long is clearly not a good idea. It is also important to hold your breathe during a valsalva which is a bracing technique for lifting. This helps prevent an orthopedic injury. You still need to breath in between reps and sets as should be common sense.
You are way overthinking this.
It's not a switch, you don't suddenly go from anaerobic to aerobic. Both pathways for energy are working, it's just that in short burst, high intensity activity, the anaerobic path takes priority. As the effort continues, it shifts more towards the aerobic pathway.
Why coaches generally tell you to breathe and not hold your breath is because if you hold your breath, you run quickly into oxygen debt, and there are other physiological reactions (such as increasing heart rate) that occur that have a negative effect on later efforts.
All the rest of your analysis is way overthinking it, and isn't really a relevant concern.
