Why do you exhale when doing abdominal crunches?
Do you work out either in a gym or at home? Have you ever done abdominal crunches? Do you wonder why you are supposed to inhale (breathe in) before the crunch and exhale (breathe out) during the crunch? You are about to find out.
Breathing results from a change in pressure between the lungs and the exterior of the body. There are several muscles that contract resulting in the pressure changes.
The main muscle involved is the diaphragm. During quiet inspiration (breathing in), the diaphragm contracts pulling the lower surface of the lungs down expanding their volume. The pressure inside the lungs is lower than the atmosphere so air "rushes" in from atomosphere to lungs. The external intercostal muscles also expand the lung volume by raising the rib cage.
During quiet expiration, the diaphragm relaxes, pushes up agains the lungs, decreasing lung volume, increasing lung pressure which is now higher than the atmosphere so air "rushes" from lungs to atmosphere. Watch animation. You can see the diaphragm contract and relax and the lungs decrease in size(exhale) and increase in size (inhale).
So what does all this have to do with abdominal crunches? Well, in forced expiration (what you do when you crunch) relaxation of the diaphragm doesn't create enough force to cause necessary for rapid expiration. Guess what? The extra force needed comes from CONTRACTION of the abdominal muscles. So when you crunch, you are contracting your abdominal muscles (what you want to do) and exhaling. If you inhale (or try to) at the same time you are contracting your abs, you are working at cross purposes.
Now aren't you glad you know this? You probably could have gone all day without this information. On the other hand, think how you can impress everyone by giving them this information.
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