Positional breathing has become a popular topic among coaches who believe coordinating breath with body position can boost performance in both the gym and on the field. Dr. Michelle Boland, a Boston-based strength and conditioning coach, shares her take on how to use this concept in training.
Identify
As fitness professionals, our job is to determine what truly matters for our clients. That means setting clear principles—beliefs we teach and use to guide exercise choices, training sessions, program design, and how we communicate with clients.
Here are the first two principles I rely on:
1) All movement is shape change (influenced by Bill Hartman)
2) A proximal position affects a distal movement capability
Formulate
Movement is about changing shape. We change shape by expanding some areas and compressing others. We move more where we can expand, and we encounter limits where we’ve compressed. How effectively an athlete shifts from expanded to compressed positions informs their ability to move and express different patterns.
Movement changes in many directions, depending on position and how we breathe. Certain positions let parts of the body expand more freely, increasing movement options. Breathing—inhale to expand, exhale to compress—can further support these changes.
Position is the foundation of exercise choice. Positions such as lying on the back (supine), lying face down (prone), side-lying, tall kneeling, half kneeling, staggered or lateral stances, and standing can magnify which areas are expanded or compressed. Small shifts in how we hold the body—like reaching one arm forward, reaching arms overhead, lifting a heel, or lifting a toe—can also influence movement. Pairing different breathing phases with these positions further shapes where movement is limited or freed.
The way the upper rib cage and the pelvis are held can enable or restrict movement. Stacking the thorax over the pelvis anchors movement, and how we breathe creates expansion in those areas. This can free up joints and allow the limbs to move without pain.
Heavy lifting often compresses parts of the body and reduces expansion and rotation through the trunk and hips, which can hinder performance. Expansion tends to free movement, so adding positional breathing work or pairing movement with breathing can create new opportunities.
Implement
How do you begin with positional breathing in practice? Start with what you already do, then apply this new lens to decide where you want movement to occur. Label the positions of the exercises and pair breathing with those movements: inhale to boost expansion, exhale to boost compression.
Here are examples of how I apply these principles in exercise selection. Movement in each example can be influenced by changing position, breathing, or how the movement is performed.
1) Supine Reach
In the supine position, reach both arms forward to expand the upper chest during inhalation. This position also helps teach how the thorax stacks over the pelvis by cueing a small hip tuck and a gentle exhale to move the ribcage downward. The stack becomes the setup for your main lifts (such as squats and deadlifts). Notice how inhaling expands the upper chest and exhaling creates a sense of compression.
2) Staggered-Stance Deadlift (Caporini-style)
The staggered stance helps expand the back leg’s posterior hip. The front leg pushes back and to the side, guiding the pelvis and thorax toward the back leg. Reaching the opposite arm helps shift weight, while the movement of the hip back (hinging) is expanded with an inhale.
3) Low Cable Step-Up
In this setup, the elevated leg’s hip is in a more expanded position while the leg on the ground tends toward a more compressed position. Holding the opposite arm on the cable expands the upper back. As you push the foot into the ground to rise, the hips on the lowered leg compress. At the bottom, you can enhance expansion in the back of the hip and arm while inhaling; you may cue more expansion and compression by coordinating breathing with the step-up.
4) High Hip Reverse Bear Crawl
This crawl is done prone with high hips and a reverse direction. It promotes expansion in the upper chest and the back of the hips. You can breathe continuously or pause to take in a breath at certain points. It’s a great warm-up.
5) Tempo Squat Paired with Respiration
Start standing for a squat that includes an arm reach forward, which helps cue a stacked thorax and pelvis. This movement demonstrates how positional breathing can become part of a workout. Descend and ascend against gravity while balancing expansion and compression in different parts of the body. A general guideline is to inhale on the way down and exhale on the way up.
6) Medicine Ball Lateral-Stance Weight Shift, Load, and Release Throw
In a lateral stance, you add power to the mix with breathing. Inhale as you pull the ball across the body to bias expansion on the outside leg, then exhale as you throw to bias compression to exit the move. This exercise also builds rotational strength and power by coordinating expansion and compression in specific areas. For example, to promote a certain rotation, you’ll cue a combination of expansion and compression on both sides.
Conclusion
Using positional breathing in training can improve speed, shoulder and hip mobility, rotational power, and overall movement efficiency. The two core principles—movement as shape change and the influence of proximal position on distal movement—guide exercise choice, cues, teaching, and the pairing of respiration with movement. The stacked thorax-over-pelvis position acts as a foundational setup to support smooth, pain-free movement. By applying these strategies with your clients, you can help them squat, hinge, run, rotate, and move more effectively.
