Breathing technique in larger sets

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

So when doing 5 reps or less I tend to do the valsalva maneuver and hold my breath throughout every rep. Sometimes I will exhale a little with every rep but not take in more air…

Is this right?

I have watched one of Alan Thrall’s videos and he seems to reset the breath on every rep. At least in this one video.

Also this tends to be difficult when lifting for more than 5 reps.

Should I be resetting the breath for every rep?

With larger sets like 10 reps or so as in the beginner program resetting the breath seems very cumbersome…

But holding for 10 reps leaves me light headed.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Kevin

2

We would recommend taking a breath on every rep for your work sets of squats and deadlifts (or variants). You can probably string a number of reps together for one breath on bench press. A lot of this is personal preference too.

3

Thanks!

Kevin