“I never know how to breathe” is a common thing I hear when coaching. Each movement may require a different breathing strategy for the client. It’s your job to assess that, and coach them on how to breathe. How much tension do they need? Is the movement compound or isolated? How heavy? Any physiological considerations? There are a lot of considerations that can easily muck up how a person’s form is translating. As the coach, we are trying to say a long complicated process in a layer of cues that can easily be processed in the moment.
If either, thinking about breath is too complicated in the moment or the movement itself doesn’t require a great deal of tension, “exhale through the hard part” has been an easy cue for comprehension and quality movement.
The Break Room 