Which muscle in the human body is the main breathing muscle?

To all who picked lung- key word here is muscle and the lung isn’t a muscle. Having sung opera in my youth, I know a good deal about the diaphragm. 😜

I once saw somebody who, having been punched in the mid area, could hardly breathe for a little while & I realised this was what is called being "winded". I didn't know until this question & answer what the reason for the breathing difficulty was.

I was always told not to sung from my throat but from my diaphragm to save my voice

Rib cage and intercostal muscles are a major part of breathing

Maestra, I love your profile photo. That movie with Bette Davis is fabulous!

Maestra & Lionessa, In our youth, our director/conductor, would have us use weight to help us build up our diaphragms for proper singing. There were two variations of breathing excersizes they had us do. The first was to lay flat on our backs and weight was added to our diaphragm area and we were to deeply inhale and rapidly exhale. The second was the same with the exception of the way of breathing, we were to hold our breath for as long as we could and pause for as long as we could before inhaling again.

Olly, Are the gut and diaphragm the same, just wondering?

I read these answers & thank all of you. I had a car accident in the 90’s, a hole in my diaphragm, collapsed lung. After reading some comments after all these years I had no idea that’s what’s causing my breathing problems. Agin thanks FB😊

I have a hiatal hernia, which is a hole in my diaphragm. The trouble comes when my stomach tries to come through the hole into my chest cavity. When that happens, it's hard to breathe, there's no position that helps, and the pain is awful.

Artie, You're right. Diaphragmatic breathing is necessary in singing so that your voice is full and rich, without sounding "breathy." Singing without proper control of the diaphragm causes extra tension on the throat, especially at volume. Over time, nodules can form on the vocal cords, making the voice raspy, rough, and severely reducing range.

Maestra, actually, all organs, including the lungs are made of smooth muscle

Good question and nice explanation. thank you.

soo funny i dont think much to select Diaphram insted of lungs