“Knowing how and when to breathe will definitely improve the overall quality of one’s martial arts skills …”
One of the fundamental skills and focuses of martial arts is learning how to breathe. I know it sounds awkward right, you might have expected me to say that something like striking, kicking, punching, discipline, courage, or something of the like to be fundamental to the martial arts. However, all those things grow as the martial artist grows; there are kicks that beginners learn and there are kicks learned by advanced practitioners. Yet, one thing that all martial artists learn regardless of art or proficiency is learning how to breathe. From the Kiyaps of Taekwondo, to the Oss’s of Karate, to the small, short bursts of breath of boxing, there are a variety of breathing techniques taught throughout the arts. I know this sounds bizarre, isn’t breathing supposed to be as simple as inhaling and exhaling? Why go through all the trouble of teaching students how to breathe, something that should be natural anyways (I mean, do babies not come out of the womb knowing how to breathe?). Let’s explore some reasons why knowing different breathing techniques can be beneficial to the martial arts and why some schools and arts may have a focus on breathing as they have with punching, kicking, throwing, and the like.
Before we start, I want to make note that this isn’t a science article. I won’t be presenting the biological reasons why things are the way that they are. Instead, I will be discussing various points I have learned throughout my years of martial arts either from experience or from what I have learned from other instructors. Now let’s get into it, one of the reasons breathing is taught in the martial arts is because knowing how to breathe can help prevent you from getting the wind knocked out of you. The idea is for every technique you do you exhale so that if you are hit with a counter technique, the impact is not as significant. You can’t get the air knocked out of you if there is no air in you.
I have actually seen this play out in real life. I was sparring a friend of mine and he usually wins every match we have (if not all of them, actually the matches were pretty one sided as he was pretty much guaranteed to win every time). This one time we were sparring I found an opening to his chest, and I roundhouse kicked him dead center in the chest and he just dropped. Not going to lie, I was afraid that I significantly hurt him for a bit. I checked up on him, helped him up, asked him what happened – as you can imagine this isn’t my first time roundhouse kicking him in the chest – and he told me he was fine, he had just forgotten to breathe. Because he had forgotten to breathe (i.e., exhale), his lungs were full of air and my kick forced that air out which was not comfortable for him. Had he timed my kick and decided to exhale when I kicked him, the force of my kick wouldn’t have been as impactful and he most likely would have beaten me just as he usually does.
Another reason we are taught how to breathe in the martial arts is that our breathing is related to the amount of power our techniques can generate. We all have seen that martial artist that breaks through several planks of wood or concrete blocks who screams excessively loudly right before making contact with the target or right at the point of the contact. When exhaling with techniques, techniques in general become more powerful than if you had not exhaled. If you don’t believe me, stand up and throw a few jabs or crosses in the air right now, and then throw a few more with a focus on exhaling with each jab or cross, and you’ll feel the difference. I have students do this exercise when I am teaching to help them understand the importance of breathing with techniques. I am not sure what the exact science is behind this, but my understanding is that it is related to muscle tension. Either way, this is something that you can try on your own and feel the difference for yourself.
The last reason for being taught how to breathe is it helps with focusing and controlling your energy in fighting. I have noticed that when I am controlling my breathing through the fight, I tend to last much longer in the fight than when I am not. I am not the only martial artist that shares this experience, I have met plenty of others as well. I don’t know the biological reasons for this, but if anyone here knows feel free to share in the comments or contact us and we can share with the others on your behalf. These are just some of the reasons breathing is taught in the martial arts; there are many more. I didn’t even go into detail about things like using Tai Chi techniques to catch your breath when extremely tired, or just general breathing techniques to strengthen your core and make your stances stronger. The main idea I want to get across is though, from the surface, learning how to breathe doesn’t seem to be as important as other aspects of martial arts; yet, breathing is a fundamental skill that every martial art will take the time to improve. Knowing how and when to breathe will definitely improve the overall quality of one’s martial arts skills … KIYAP!
