People always want to know what the “best” exercises are. Usually they think the best thing you can do is the thing that burns the most calories or gets you to sweat the fastest, but that’s not the right way to think about this question.

The best exercises are the ones that make every other exercise better. They enhance your entire workout because you set your body up for success.

One of the most powerful tools you have to improve your workouts (and your overall health) is your breath.

If you breathe correctly, you will improve your:

• Movement
• Strength
• Stamina
• Resilience to injury
• Overall health

If you breathe poorly, then the opposite is true.

If you haven’t ever thought about how you breathe, don’t worry, you are not alone. Most of us take it for granted. But in reality, there are two main types of breathing:

1) Vertical breathing: This is the breathing pattern that we see most. It is where your shoulders and chest move a lot each time you take a deep breath. This is a problem because it gets all of your neck and shoulder muscles involved every time you breathe. This will destabilize the spine in exercise, and also lead to neck and shoulder pain.

2) Horizontal breathing: Also known as diaphragmatic breathing, this is the type of breathing that will help support good movement and health. In this type of breathing, your abdomen expands in all directions when you take a deep breath.

If you want to know what type of breathing you tend toward, simply take a deep breath and see what moves! Is there more movement in your shoulders and chest, or your abdomen?

If your shoulders and chest move up at all, then today’s video is for you!

This is something that you can do every morning, night, and before and after workouts. The more you practice, the more it will become second nature.

Now, I know that breath work does not sound like exercise. What about all these HIIT workouts that everyone is talking about??

But think about it this way. If your car has a flat tire, the harder you push on the gas, but more likely you are to do damage.

If you are not breathing correctly, then your high intensity workouts are going to be less effective (because you will not have as much stamina) and will lead to issues down the road from overuse of the shoulder and neck muscles.

That is why this is so important.

But, of course, you cannot only focus on breathing if you want to get fit. There are great exercises that you should be doing to look and feel your best.

If you want help knowing what those are, we can help.

Right now, we are registering people into our 28-Day Kickstart Program where you will get the exact exercises you need to get the results you want, while having a coach to keep you accountable to your plan.

In this program you will get:

• Full fitness and goals assessment
• Personalized fitness coaching to teach you the exact exercises you need to safely and effectively move better and build stamina
• A simple meal plan to help you decrease inflammation
• 1-on-1 success coaching to help guide you as you work to change your diet, exercise, and lifestyle habits

You can move better, get stronger, and have more flexibility and energy, you just need a program that can show you what is right for you.

Click here to learn more and take back control of your health and fitness today!

Mint Condition Fitness empowers people to take control of their fitness and fully enjoy the life they have built.