Imagine: you’re at the gym, doing squats with great form - when suddenly an unintentional contraction not from your legs or glutes, lets a small wind escape from your behind. You’ve just farted. Oh, the shame !
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But let's be realistic. Are you really not allowed to fart at the gym? Is it dangerous to hold it in? Are not we all humans after all? Relax (but not too much), we have the answers to all these questions.
It happens more often than you think
Admit it! You’ve farted at the gym more than once. The scenario at the start of this article aren’t so imaginary. And that's normal. If you feel alone, take a look around some forums, and you’ll see that this happens to almost all of us.
If we are to believe Women's Health magazine, breathing heavily during sport allows air into our digestive system. And guess where this air exits our bodies? Not from the mouth in any case. Just as all these movements that one makes during the exercise activates the digestive system. We don’t need to spell it out for you, especially if you had beans for lunch.
So is it ok to fart, or not?
Yes - and for several reasons. The first, which is scientific, explains that holding in a fart is very bad for your health. Controlling the muscles that prevent you from letting go of the wind coming out of your buttocks, while contracting the muscles you are working on, can cause injury and a spike in blood pressure. The cause ? Your body is neither used to, nor made for, this double contraction. Either you wait and do your set after, or you let it out, never mind!
After that, we’ll just have to stop acting all innocent. Farting is natural, and it happens to everyone. So it doesn’t matter if it happens, at the very worst it will cause a little embarrassment, of course. All that’s just as long as you’re careful not to fill the whole room with the sweet fragrance of protein shake (you know the one). There is a limit to everything. And then in terms of noise, today almost everyone wears headphones, so problem solved.
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