Breathing

I asked Carolyn about how to breathe during our classes. Now that might seem like a dumb question from yours truly but here is what she had to say:

During most exercise routines, there's a tendency to breathe in and out through the mouth as opposed to in and out through the nose, which will basically oxygenate your body more efficiently and utilize less CO2.  Keep in mind that this is for more strenuous cardiovascular routines as opposed to weight lifting... Here's the deal in a nutshell for both running and cycling (which you'll appreciate since you were a marathon runner). According to most fitness experts, they say that to fully oxygenate the muscles and clear the body of carbon dioxide you should breathe a 3:2 inhale-to-exhale ratio (i.e., full inhales and full exhales). This means you INHALE on the LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT foot strikes and EXHALE fully on the RIGHT, LEFT foot strikes. This pattern is not that hard to turn into a habit, but it may require you to slow your pace down for a few runs or during spin class in order to master the technique.  Most people will notice a lower heart rate since they're able to get more oxygen in and more importantly, push all the carbon dioxide out of their bodies.  You might notice that you will naturally drop to a 2:1 ratio when you are really pushing it to the finish and that's fine...but it is difficult to maintain a pace that requires you to breathe at a 2:1 ratio. The CO2 in your body will increase if your breathing patterns are short and hurried. This will increase your heart rate and lactic acid production, and decrease your endurance in any cardiovascular event whether you're running, swimming, biking, etc.  I hope this helps!