Better for your lungs, but I do not see how it is better for your heart.

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Reverend Dr. Jay
Lake of the Pines Triathlon fastest bike course record holder - Golden State Super Sprint fastest tri course record holder - Wildflower Long Course slowest run course record holder (4:46:32)

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"If you have a body, you are an athlete." -Bill Bowerman

I've been to one spinning class in my life. That instructor told me that I didn't know how to ride a bike. The comment was something like "you and all your triathlon buddies don't know how ride." That same instructor showed up at a group ride. I showed the guy how to find his max heart rate repeatedly. I also showed him what it was like to get dropped.

I'm not normally that nasty, but, I don't do well with arrogance.

What was he instructing her in? I can see this might be an approved method for some things :)

I hope you made sure he remembered you from class. What a total jackass.

That's good advice for your lungs because the nose hairs partially filter pollutants from the air. I'm not sure it is possible when one is hammering. :)

Indoor and outdoor air pollution can wreak havoc on your lungs, particularly if you have asthma, chronic bronchitis, or emphysema.

-Robert

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"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank

Isn't that yoga breathing? My girlfriend goes to spin classes also. I would rather be outdoors and I tell her she needs to get out and ride and not hang out with the "gym people". A few weeks she said she went on a ride with her spin instructor and the instructor didn't know how to change those "gear thingies".

Oh, I am not liking this at all.

Spin "Instructors" go to a one-day seminar taught by Schwinn. It's all about how to create a Reebok step class using a v-bike, and it's basically BS.

I led spin sessions for triathletes, and now I lead a spin group thrice weekly at my club. I get all the cyclists, and the step ladies go to someone elses "class." You can't get enough O2 through those tiny holes in your nose to stay with my spin sessions.

Breathing through your nose is a good way to keep yourself in zone 2 on long rides during base building season. If you need to open your mouth to get enough air, then you're hammering too hard. Spin is about anaerobic hammering 1,2,3,5 minutes at VO2 max. No way nose-breathing works for that.

Glad you taught that boy some humility. Spin can be a great strength and speed booster, but not the way most teach it.

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Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

[reply]...her spinning instructor told her that she should breath in through her nose and out through her mouth. ... he insisted that breathing in through your nose is better for your heart. [/reply]

Perhaps by "better for her heart" he meant that it could help her to keep her heart rate down? I know that slow, deep breathing can help keep the lid on if you're climbing out of the zone too fast, or if you're going to blow...

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<If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough>
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Proud member of the Smartasscrew, MONSTER CLUB
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Breathing through your nose isn't better for the health of your heart, HOWEVER, it can actually increase cardiac output by decreasing intra-thoracic pressure (compared to breathing through a wide-open airway...your mouth), which facilitates venous return to the heart from the lower body. Really.

The heart acts as a sort of sump-pump in most normal situations...pumping out whatever is returned to it....if you return blood to your right atrium more rapidly by the "sucking action" of a more negative intra-thoracic pressure, your stroke volume will increase for a couple of beats. Exhalation should be done as non-obstructed as possible, for similar venous return reasons.

If you don't believe it, try this. Exercise at a steady state that requires breathing at a rate and effort that makes it hard to carry on a conversation. Note your HR. Now, suck air in through your nose instead of through your mouth. You'll see your HR drops a little...maybe 3-4 beats per minute. Your cardiac output hasn't dropped, but your stroke volume has increased.

As long as you aren't exercising so hard that you cannot get enough air exchange by inhaling through your nose, your heart will beat slightly less per minute by doing so compared to being a wide-open mouth-breather. Really.

But, it isn't "better" for your heart from a health standpoint.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

thanks for taking the time to write this, one learns something new every day (esp. here on ST, man, this forum is great!)

For those of us with allergies, sometimes those tiny holes don't do much at all.

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_________________
Dick

Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I know nothing.

Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that the spin instructor was not thinking about venous return when dispensing his advice... ;)

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jhc wrote: Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that the spin instructor was not thinking about venous return when dispensing his advice...

100% totally agree! They are paid to spin, not be physiology professors!

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

This has been a very informative thread. Thanks for all the replies. I think I'll tell my wife her instructor is "full of it". She needs to spend more time outdoors anyway.

Thanks,
Victor

Sadly, people with allergies have a tougher time working out. You also have to find your zone 2 for LSD rides and runs by a more precise means than "can I breathe through my nose?"

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Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

that may explain why I have so much trouble staying there.

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_________________
Dick

Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I know nothing.

I've read and we all know that our ability to exchange oxy is limited by our bodies ability to do this exchange, not by how much you breath. The sensation to breath like a madman is more of a brain function to lessen CO2 in the body than what your actually using. Though it might not "feel" like it, your nose may supply the air you need. Perhaps this is what he's getting at and theory at some point may run out of air. Try it sometime, when you feel like opening the mouth, keep er closed and try long deep breaths and see what your heart and body is actually doing. Balls out top of the hill thigh screaming--mouth wide open.

You're kidding... Right???

My opinion.

With the serious, Kool-Aid drinking Spinning folks you'll see a lot of Johnny G's influence on the program... Heavy emphasis on eastern philosophies (yoga, martial arts, mind/body emphasis kind of stuff). Some seem to treat riding an indoor bike as almost a religious experience.

An example of a disciple...

http://www.plhb.com/index.html

From all the years of studying physiology, this seems far fetched to me. I could nuke you with scientific literature, but since you guys are all so hands on, I tried the experiment you suggested:

Suffice to say I came up with the opposite effect. Maybe there is something wrong with me?

I have to agree that sometimes deep breathing through my nose has a calming and relaxing effect and lowers my heart rate. But only when I sit in my office-chair and have to calm down.

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adrialin

(BOMK, racing drug and supplement free since 1985)

No, I'm not kidding. You don't recognize the effects of intra-thoracic pressures on rate of venous return and therefore stroke volume?

Inhaling (with sufficient force) through your nose (rather than your mouth) is achieved by increasing the negative intra-thoracic pressure, which facilitates extra-thoracic venous return. Increasing venous return increases stroke volume in a mild-moderately exercising upright person.

One of the reasons CPR works is the change in thoracic cavity pressures in relation to extra-thoracic pressures. The valves in the heart keep the blood moving "forward", but, it isn't just the pressing and removing pressure on the heart that causes circulation during CPR.

If you still don't believe it, try it. It's not hard to demonstrate.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

Let's hope.


Read the reply to JustCurious. You two amaze me.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)