Breathing (while punching/kicking)

[Pennywise83]

Ok so I finally, after a few years, had a revelation and realized that I'm a huge idiot. I gas out terribly when I'm throwing punches, etc during classes. My face is beet red after just 15-30 minutes and I lose all of my energy. I'm not exhaling while striking. At all. In fact I tighten up my whole body while holding my breath. Then after throwing a combo I take a huge breath in before repeating. This is probably bad. The whole not getting oxygen efficiently deal.

What do you guys do? I know a lot of boxers make a "sssstt" sound in order to exhale but I'm not sure what to do. I try to breathe out of my nose most of the time but my nose/sinuses are.... narrow, tight, I don't know. It's a physical problem that is just my genetics/biology. Basically it's more difficult for me to breathe out of my nose at all times.

Any advice?

 

[j123]

Ok so I finally, after a few years, had a revelation and realized that I'm a huge idiot. I gas out terribly when I'm throwing punches, etc during classes. My face is beet red after just 15-30 minutes and I lose all of my energy. I'm not exhaling while striking. At all. In fact I tighten up my whole body while holding my breath. Then after throwing a combo I take a huge breath in before repeating. This is probably bad. The whole not getting oxygen efficiently deal.

What do you guys do? I know a lot of boxers make a "sssstt" sound in order to exhale but I'm not sure what to do. I try to breathe out of my nose most of the time but my nose/sinuses are.... narrow, tight, I don't know. It's a physical problem that is just my genetics/biology. Basically it's more difficult for me to breathe out of my nose at all times.

Any advice?

Breathing in is more important, just breathing out without getting any intake is the surefire way to kill your tank.

Say I throw 1,2,3,kick. I always do best to keep the rhythym the same for that, but I'd take a breath on the 3 right after the 2. As you would probably think, take breaths in when you're out of range, but for the future if you do decide to compete (or already had) don't show you're gassed, their corner will see it and press their fighter to throw heat.

If you're doing Muay Thai and you hold your breath while clinching + going against a resisting opponent, that's going to end up feeling like hell after 30 seconds.

If you don't know how to breathe during the recovery rounds, here's how. If you do, feel free to skip it

Spoiler

• Take a deep breath in as much as you can
• do your best to slow your exhale down, somehow it will help slow your heart rate down. What I like to do is very small short exhales holding most of the initial large intake slightly
• Fight every urge to hyperventilate! If you do hyperventilate during the entire break, you've done nothing and if your opponent has recovered properly, you are fucked as you'll still be gassed
• About 40-50 seconds in, you'll feel ALOT better, and you can recover about maybe 60-70% of your tank this way.

 

[Sano]

Find a rhythm of breath that works for you while punching. Don't overthink it too much.

The "sssst" or "tsss" sound you make with your mouth, not your nose. Forcefully exhaling with your nose while punching I don't think works. The mouth sound is just a powerful, yet small, exhale with your tongue kinda obstructing the air like a valve. If that makes sense.

Remember to be relaxed and don't hold your breath generally when punching and moving about. Then find an exhale that feels right.

 

[ARIZE]

If you go to a Muay Thai gym, you will think that you stepped into a zoo...
Imagine dozens of guys making those sounds:



Every time he strikes, he yells... But that sound is produced because he is exhaling from the guts, with his mouth. Not only you must breath out when you strike for stamina reasons, but it helps with power.

In TMA, one of the benefits of katas, is that you learn the importance of breathing properly when striking.

But both in MT, and TKD, i was told to breath out from the mouth. They sound differently (Ha-ush vs Tsss) but the purpose is the same...

I have heard only one guy from boxing, that explained to me that he prefers to breath in/out from the nose, because if you get caught with a counter on the chin, while your mouth is open, it's a guarantee KO. But i have no idea if thats broscience, or if its a legit teaching thing in boxing. But even he, on the later rounds, his mouth is wide open gasping for air...

 

[Pennywise83]

If you go to a Muay Thai gym, you will think that you stepped into a zoo...
In TMA, one of the benefits of katas, is that you learn the importance of breathing properly when striking.

But both in MT, and TKD, i was told to breath out from the mouth. They sound differently (Ha-ush vs Tsss) but the purpose is the same...

I have heard only one guy from boxing, that explained to me that he prefers to breath in/out from the nose, because if you get caught with a counter on the chin, while your mouth is open, it's a guarantee KO. But i have no idea if thats broscience, or if its a legit teaching thing in boxing. But even he, on the later rounds, his mouth is wide open gasping for air...

Just to be clear I didn't mean exhaling heavily through my nose when I strike. I understand I need to exhale though because, well, exhaling is half the part of breathing. It expels the CO2 from your body, which I'm not doing. I used to be in TKD when I was much younger and we would make a loud kiya or whatever. This is a very small gym and no one actually yells but I some people make a small noise or breath so I know they know how to breathe. The last time I went (about 5 months ago, but I'm starting tonight again) was when I realized I wasn't breathing. I am an extremely anxious/tense person so I hold my breath WAY too much during the striking phase. Even when I'm holding pads. Anyway, the last 15 minutes of that class I started just doing a "whhhh" blow out of my mouth but I realized I was spraying sweat all over the poor girl holding the pads for me. Maybe I just have to aim my flying sweat better lol.

I guess I was just wondering what you guys do when you're striking specifically regarding exhaling. I'm not worried about inhaling in the least bit. I really need to relax more. I'm on klonopin for that but that can only take me so far.

Thanks for the replies guys.

edit:

Don't overthink it too much.

This is the bane of my life.

 

[freaky]

As with everything, start slow. Shadow box slowly and learn to breathe. I take a deep breathe and go "tsst" as I throw a punch. Do it slowly and time it. Slowly get faster. And eventually, it'll be second nature. As natural as breathing.

I also throw short combos and take another deep breathe in between. Breathe deep with nose and exhale little bit with each strike.

 

[Paradigm]

I've been told that I sound like a possessed shaman when striking.

Not really...was just looking for an excuse to post this Pakorn vid.

 

[CFGroup]

I know I'll get a ton of back rage...

But take some Tai Chi classes!

Breathing is their bread and butter and you can apply those techniques into combat sports.

I'm kind of joking but those guys are the best in the business because their focus is internal bio rhythmic meditation. Plus the side benefit is the relaxed training was awesome for me after long camps and comps where I still was itching to train and recuping from surgeries or injury.

As Arize said you have to learn to exhale from your diaphragm and train yourself to maximize your breathing to stabilize our cardio.

The exaggerated exhale is projecting power out of the whole body in focused bursts. Even when you're doing drills breathing should be regulated. It can get as comical but focused as after long sets of reps I still am counting my breaths as I regain my aerobic balance.

Count breaths while warming up, count breaths while drilling, count breaths while sparring, count breaths while cooling down, count breaths while stretching, count breaths while walking to the car....

Every exertion should be and exhale, every retraction or neutral should be an inhale.

 

[ctrlaltdelete]

Run with a mouthguard.

Try to keep your mouth closed as much as possible.

If you must use your mouth, use it to exhale ONLY.

This will help your cardio and teach you to breathe through your nose.

It has certainly helped me. Also, props to @j123 and his little bullet point about slowing down exhales... Practice this while running also.

And again, focus on diaphragmic breathing. Don't breathe with the top of your lungs, pull air deep into your stomach.