How to Breathe When Lifting Weights

With our archives now 3,500+ articles deep, we’ve decided to republish a classic piece each Friday to help our newer readers discover some of the best, evergreen gems from the past. This article was originally published in September 2018.

When I started lifting weights back in high school, I was told that the proper way to breathe when doing it was to inhale while going down on the lift, and to exhale on the way up.

So when I squatted, I’d breathe in while I lowered my thighs to parallel to the ground, and breathe out as I rose up and straightened my legs out again.

I was told that it was important to breathe like this because it ensured my blood pressure didn’t get too high while hoisting all that weight, thus preventing me from passing out or having a stroke.

And so I thusly breathed while lifting weights for over a decade until I started working with Matt Reynolds, owner of Barbell Logic Online Coaching.

Instead of exhaling on the way out, he wanted me to hold my breath for the entirety of the rep.

“What in the name of Eugen Sandow?!” I exclaimed. “Won’t that cause me to black out?”

“No, and it protects your back when you’re performing heavy lifts,” Matt replied. “Breathing like this is called the Valsalva maneuver.”

“That’s a funny name, but tell me more.”

He did. I absorbed it all, changed up my breathing pattern, and have been a better lifter for it. Today I’ll pass on this know-how to you.

How to Perform the Valsalva Maneuver

Illustration inspired by Starting Strength

Before you can understand the benefits of the Valsalva maneuver (which was named for a 17th century Italian physician), you need to know what’s involved in doing it. So let’s tackle that first.

1. Take a big belly breath. When you take your big breath, you want your belly to expand, but you don’t want your chest to get big. Think “breathe into my belly.” You’re not really breathing air into your belly. That’s just a cue for you to get the deep breath we’re looking for.

2. Close your glottis and exhale against it. The glottis is what allows air to go in and out of your windpipe when you breathe. When you close your glottis and exhale against it, air can’t escape your lungs, which in turn elevates intra-abdominal and intra-thoracic pressure. This provides your “core” the stability it needs to perform a heavy lift.