This is the second supporting article for my free ebook called The Respiratory Revolution’s Quick Guide To Breathing For Runners. The ebook is literally a quick guide so I’m expanding on each topic with these articles, and then I go into more detail and teach the whole system in my Respiratory Revolution Course.
You can find the first supporting article on the Muscles of Inhalation here.
As a reminder, we look at the biomechanics of breathing, we really need to be looking at:
- The muscles of inhalation
- The muscles of exhalation
- The skeletal components such as your rib cage
- The integration and control of all of the above, and you ability to effectively use them under different conditions
This article takes a brief look at the muscles of exhalation.
Exhalation
Exhalation, or breathing out, involves a number of muscles including:
| Muscle Name | Primary Function |
| Diaphragm | Relaxes and returns to its dome-like shape |
| Rectus Abdominis | Pulls the sternum down and raises the pubic bone |
| Transverse Abdominis | Narrows the breathing cylinder when contracted, and forms a lot of the abdominal cylinder |
| Internal Obliques | Lowers the ribs to help reduce the size of the cylinder |
| External Obliques | Lowers the ribs to help reduce the size of the cylinder |
| Quadratus Lumborum | Lowers the 12th rib |
| Serratus Posterior Inferior | Lowers ribs 9 to 12 |
| Internal Intercostals | Lowers ribs 2 to 12 |
Some of the muscles of exhalation
As with inhalation, exhalation involves a lot of muscles that need to contract to help change the size and shape of the breathing cylinder. As important though, and often overlooked, is the ability of all of these muscles to relax.
For the rib cage to expand up and outwards during inhalation, the muscles of exhalation need to be in a relaxed state to allow this to happen. Equally, for your rib cage to come down and in, the muscles of inhalation need to relax.
It is this coordination of tense/release that allows fluid movement of the breathing cylinder, helping to form the foundation of efficient and functional breathing. It is always my starting point when working on improving someone’s breathing, as even if they don’t get some of the other techniques right away, I know they will have good quality movement in this area.
High quality movement is amazing for reducing the overall threat that your brain experiences in every moment of every day. And given that you can only handle a certain amount of threat before you begin to experience undesirable outputs such as pain, panic, anxiety, fatigue and a whole host of other stuff, deliberately practising high quality movement throughout your body is an essential element of achieving and maintaining a high level of health and wellbeing.
To experience the muscles of exhalation, you can use the same exercise from the first article (see below) as it is a fantastic awareness exercise. Just shift your focus to the exhalation aspect, making relaxation a deliberate action. This can seem a bit strange at first as focussing internally can result in more tension in your muscles. One way to get around this is to close your eyes and imagine the contraction of some of the muscles of exhalation while also allowing a smooth relaxation to occur. This takes a bit of practice but is worth doing.
This is also a fantastic mindfulness exercise that can help calm and settle you.
- Stand or sit with your back straight, shoulders relaxed.
- You may find that lying on your back can be a useful position for this version of the exercise.
- Place your hands around the base of your ribs.
- Inhale slowly through your nose.
- Exhale slowly, feeling your ribs come down and in, reducing the size and shape of your breathing cylinder.
- Repeat the exercise a number of times to get a good idea of how well you are activating and relaxing the muscles that help your rib cage to change shape and position.
- Do you notice a difference between your right side and your left?
Now change the position of your hands so that they are half way up your rib cage and repeat the deep, slow exhalations. Do you feel your rib cage moving at this level?
Now move your hands to your upper ribs, just below your collar bones. Repeat the inhalations and observe how well your rib cage is moving.
What’s Next?
Take some time to practise both versions of the awareness exercise: inhalation and exhalation. Doing this daily is a great way to add some mindfulness while at the same time bringing in body awareness. It’s absolutely fine if you can’t move smoothly at the moment as it takes some deliberate practice and good coordination between relaxation and contraction.
And this coordination skill is the subject of the next article as we look at the role of neuromechanics and your brain in helping you to breathe better and more efficiently.
