Nsima Inyang

But many times when you start learning how to lift weights in a gym setting, a lot of breath holds tend to happen.

right?

There's a lot of like the Valsalva maneuver, which is, you know, you create extra intra-abdominal pressure, you hold your breath, you do your lift.

That is something that is used to lift heavy loads.

And it makes sense.

When you're lifting the heaviest loads, the Valsalva maneuver is going to be the safest maneuver.

It braces your core, right?

Yeah.

So that your spine doesn't buckle when a bar is on your back.

And so maybe you don't curve when you're trying to pick up a barbell from the ground to do deadlifts.

But the pattern that this causes people when they're doing the Valsalva maneuver all the time is they create excess tension for the low that they're trying to lift.

So instead of creating just the correct amount of tension for the demand of what they're trying to lift, maybe when they're lifting a 200 pound barbell, they create the tension that they would be using when they're lifting a 400 or 500 pound barbell.

More tension than needed.

And it's because the maneuver, the Valsalva maneuver, this is its inherent function, to increase the pressure you create so that you don't buckle under load.

But that's why in traditional martial arts, boxing, karate, you hear people in boxing, when they throw a punch, it's a .

It's not a .

They breathe, they exhale, and they .

They throw that punch.

And when you exhale and do movements, that exhale allows you to create a level of bracing.

Right?