exhale

Feel Sluggish, Hot, & Tired?

Movement can be fun, playful, & silly

Feeling sluggish, hot, & tired? Let’s blame it on the previous year we all survived living with and in COVID-19. And now, as we step out of the tunnel into the light, let’s find tools to help ourselves. Here are some tips from Maggie at Personal Euphoria:

Have you been feeling sluggish?

You aren’t alone. It’s guesstimated that we put on 2lbs a month (on average) this year. I know I put on 8 and my doctor told me that was less than half what she’d seen this year. It can feel disheartening and putting on weight that quickly can slow you down. But you can make a change at any time. You can say, “Enough is enough. I’m getting back on track.” And this time of year is the easiest and best time of year to do so.

Get outside. Take walks. Exercise doesn’t have to be grueling. If you feel like you’ve fallen behind where you were a year ago, give yourself time to get back to where you want to be. These changes didn’t happen overnight (though it may have felt that way a […]

Feel Sluggish, Hot, & Tired?Maggie Downie2021-06-07T16:24:09-04:00

Should i exhale on exertion?

You hear so often that you should exhale on exertion when lifting or exercising, but is it true? Ultimately, the answer is yes, but it may depend on what your goal is in a particular movement. And other breath patterns can be helpful, too.

Holding your Breath is the Worst

When exercising you definitely don’t want to hold your breath. Easier said than done, I know, but breathing really makes a difference. When you hold your breath, you reduce the amount of oxygen that flows to your muscles. Your muscles need oxygen for strength or endurance movements. Also, holding your breath while exercising can increase blood pressure, sometimes to dangerous levels, and it can lead to light headedness.

In addition after holding your breath, when it is finally time to breathe, it’s more vital that you expel carbon dioxide than that you take in oxygen. That means you will blow out before you inhale, which just delays your ability to get oxygen to the muscles even further.

Holding your breath can easily become the Valsalva Maneuver. You may never have heard of that, but you’ve probably done it. If you’ve ever held your nose while […]

Should i exhale on exertion?Maggie Downie2020-07-23T16:21:11-04:00

A Good Exhale

Sometimes even a pilates instructor needs to be reminded about the basic principles of the pilates method.

One day when Matt and I were in Switzerland we walked a half an hour from one village to another. The walk down was fine, it was downhill, but coming back up was a struggle for me. It was a short walk and roughly at 5,000 or 6,000-feet of elevation so I was surprised to be struggling, but I just couldn’t catch my breath. I’d even stop walking and couldn’t quite catch my breath.

Finally Matt said to me, “Stop trying to inhale and exhale as hard as you can three times.” I did it and after the third exhale automatically took in a huge, deep breath that made me feel better. (Matt had terrible asthma as a kid so he’d learned some tricks.)

In classes I will sometimes tell people to worry about the exhale because your body won’t let you die and will eventually inhale. Joe Pilates emphasized the exhale more than the inhale and tried […]

A Good ExhaleMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:49-04:00