Holding Breath With Exercise?

Breathing is all the rage in pelvic health, and for good reason.

Our breathing is very powerful, and we can use it in many ways to manipulate how we feel and perform.

But today, I want to talk about holding your breath.

Holding your breath is a performance tool.

People do it during exercise to be able to lift more and do really hard things that require increased intraabdominal pressure for stability.

That means it’s NOT necessary but also NOT inherently harmful. 

What can be harmful is doing it too soon after surgery.

Most people are not ready for a hard breath hold + abdominal brace as soon as they’re cleared after surgery; it’s something to build up to. 

If you’re not interested in higher-level athletic performance, you can probably get by just fine without ever using a breath-holding strategy in exercise.

If you already have pelvic floor issues that you're trying to heal, such as pain, pressure, leaking, etc., you may want to focus on breathing through exercises because it is safer for your pelvic floor. 

Here are some signs you’re not ready for breath-holding during exercise yet:

• Chronic swelly belly

• Pelvic pain after exercise

• Lower abdominal pain after exercise

• Leaking urine

• Heartburn or reflux during exercise

• Back pain after exercise, especially after axial loading

This is not an exhaustive list, but these are the most common ones I see.

Do you have questions about breathing? I’d love to hear from you!