Awareness and control of the breath is a critical part of everything we do, but during our method of training it is a foundation.
Unlike a one rep max effort or explosive lift where you may brace, hold the breath, and then forcefully exhale, during a HELIMO strength training session you are focused on continuing to breathe and ventilate freely throughout the entire movement, avoiding breath holding.
One reason is that this extended breath hold while exerting muscular effort can bring blood pressure to extremely high levels. When the exercise becomes more demanding and you come closer to momentary muscular failure the natural tendency will be to kick into fight or flight mode by holding the breath, grimacing, tensing the entire body, moving the head and neck arbitrarily. These actions can result in becoming disengaged from mindful movement and losing proper form.
If you focus on controlling your breath you will learn that you can calm your mind, remain focused on the task, and put more effort into mindful action resulting in a safer, more efficient, and effective training.