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Barbell How to breath during a deadlift?

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Pnigro

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I was wondering what's the proper way to breath when deadlifting heavy.

Mark Rippetoe recommends holding the breath throughout the whole rep, exhaling until you put the bar back on the floor.

How is it recommended here in StrongFirst?
 
You want to breath to maximize intra-abdominal pressure. There is more than one way to do that, but it has to include holding your breath as you begin your pull. Good explanations can be found in Power To The People!

-S-
 
Using the valsalva maneuver helps create tension and tension= strength it also creates intra abdominal pressure in all directions and helps protect the low back.
If you use a lifting belt you and push against it you can create even more tension.
A loose body will have power leakages and will not allow you to lift at your heaviest potential.
This is one reason why stopping the bar on the floor for each rep and resetting and and getting a new breath are important.
For me personally on a max attempt i let air out only if the bar movement starts to get really slow.
And then i only let a little air out like a tea kettle as i keep the bar moving.
This works for me.
In all big lifts and especially going heavy breathing is very important.
 
I think the answer is very individual specific. What I mean by that is none of us have the same flexibility in our blood vessels that is necessary to counteract against blood pressure, cardiovascular efficiency and tolerance to high-levels of blood pressure. Some people may handle it, some may not. Some may even be tolerant to very high-level of blood pressure. I think before ever attempting to Valsalva, one should prepare his body such that side effects associated with high blood pressure won't harm the individual in serious ways. If you have weaknesses in some part of your vessels, such move can end up with internal micro bleeding(s) without you ever noticing them. I can never tolerate upside-down shoulder press for example. It makes me feel like as if my brain is gonna explode. But some people seems to be very fine with it.

It is also important to keep intra-abdominal pressure high as well. I think you should start by keeping your core tight and exhaling through a narrow opening like pursed lips. I wouldn't start with holding breaths right away. Give your body some time to adjust to increased levels of pressure. Or start with light weights if you'd like to feel how holding breath affects your body.
 
@Bill Been Very interesting article. Although you would expect this source to be pro Valsalva, as that is what they teach at their organization, the article makes more sense than "Valsalva will kill you" does. I look at my 6 year old daughter and what does she do when she has to exert any kind of significant force? She takes a big breath and holds it as she pushes, or whatever she is doing. She does that instinctively as I never taught her to do this. She might have learned it from seeing me deadlift or squat, but she doesn't have the patience an interest to look at me train that often. At most, she saw me a couple of times moving weights over 80% of my 1 RM. If it's a reflex, or at least innate, it probably will not kill you, or at least not very often, as the benefits of Valsalva must be larger than the risks. Of course, if you have a very specific medical condition, Valsalva may be risky, but your days may be counted anyways. As the article says, you can blow an aneurysm when sneezing.

I wonder if the risks change once you get to very large weight or when using gear. We have all seen powerlifters bleeding from the effort when squatting a very large weight. That is surely not very healthy. In any case, I don't expect squatting 1000 pounds any time soon, so this is mostly theoretical for me.
 
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