Yes, you're breathing wrong...let's fix you.

Most people have been taught that the proper way to breathe
during an exercise is to inhale during the negative (lowering)
phase and exhale during the positive (lifting) phase.

But is this the best way to breathe in all exercises?

Nope.

When training your back (lats especially), you actually need
to breathe BACKWARDS to this pattern in order to fully
activate the lats.

I'll use the pulldown to demonstrate this.


Fact #1:

The pulldown movement is more effective when done with an
arched lower back and puffed-out (expanded) chest.

This body position more fully activates the latissimus dorsi
muscles. If your lower back isn't arched, it's more difficult for
your lats to contract. A straight-back position throws more
tension onto the biceps.

Purposefully expanding your chest helps to accentuate this
arched-back position.


Fact #2:

Exhalation (breathing out) makes your chest contract while
inhalation (breathing in) makes your chest expand.


Fact #3:

If you follow the "normal" breathing pattern when doing the
pulldown, you'll be breathing OUT as you're pulling the weight
down and breathing IN as you're letting it back up.

What this means to you is that the typical breathing
pattern is caving the chest in when you should be
puffing the chest out!

Right now, take a deep breath in and notice what happens
to your chest. It puffs out and expands. This is the optimal
position for your torso during the pulldown exercise.

Now carry this logic over to the pulldown movement. As you
pull the weight down, take a deep breath in. Your chest will
puff up to meet the bar automatically and your lats will
engage strongly.

If you've ever had a hard time feeling your lats working when
you do back exercises, use this technique and you will
feel an immediate difference.

This simple technique can be applied to almost any back
exercise from pulldowns to chin-ups to seated cable rows.
Try this technique the next time you work your back and
you'll see just how powerful breathing backwards can be!

And if you're interested in more back training info like this,
I've got a full book on the subject called "The Best Back
Exercises You've Never Heard Of"...got tons of great training
tips and exercises just like this in it.



Let me know how this breathing backwards works for you,
especially if you've ever had a hard time feeling your lats
kicking in on pulldowns or rows!

Nick Nilsson
The "Mad Scientist of Muscle"



P.S. If you know anybody else who might benefit from this
information, feel free to forward this email to them!