“Remember to breathe.” It sounds like the end to a good dumb blonde joke.
Last time I checked breathing is a survival mechanism. It’s reflexive and shouldn’t have to have an
external background voice reminding your brain to stay alive.
Yoga folks have always told us to breathe and strength
coaches usually responded with, “I know because if I don’t, I will die. Thanks
for the tip. Namaste.”
 |
| 1 of 2 yogi's I trust. The other being Yogi Berra, of course. |
I was apart of
this mindset and didn’t really see the value in coaching breathing. Then I learned a little about DNS and
developmental kinesiology. Dr. Mike
Rintala was kind enough to allow me to watch him and some other DNS
practitioners workshop the methods and even use me as a guinea pig.
Listening to them explain how our breathing can control so
much, and how it can become dysfunctional, really made me appreciate what those
Yogi’s were saying. Then I got a hold of
Charlie Weingroff’s DVD, Training=Rehab,
Rehab=Training, and it put everything together. Charlie connected the dots for me, using
simple movements and exercises and combining the principles from DNS into
training.
What really stuck with me is using the breath to prevent
high threshold strategies. When someone
is in a high threshold strategy, they are in a survival mode, where the
perception is threat. Training is about
creating improvement in a thrive mode.
Allowing the body to look for a little bit more, and the breath is key
to allow the brain to relay that message.
You can always tell if someone is high threshold by looking
at their face. Constipation is the first
word that comes to mind… Here's my best rendition of the "face."
For a while I gave up on how to incorporate these breathing
ideas into training. It really didn’t
have much place. I can’t do what the DNS
people do, and I’m pretty sure all my athlete’s were breathing because they
hadn’t passed out yet. However I noticed
during stretching, mobility, stability, and core work, I was often cuing to
breathe or relax.
After watching Charlie’s DVD, he was going over planks and
used head turns instead of timed reps. It hit me, why don’t I just have them
count breaths instead of using stop watches?
Anything previously timed would immediately use a set number of breaths instead. In a group setting, the
quality of work improves instantly. I
work with high school athletes, and ‘taking your time’ isn’t in their vocabulary
yet. So, let me build into the structure
a little bit and have them use 10 breaths instead of 30 seconds. This way they can’t be in a high threshold
strategy, and will naturally take their time through very important mobility
and stability drills.
A solid deep breath is usually between 2.5-3 seconds so I
typically use 5, 8, 10, or 15 "b's" depending on what they’re doing. I use this for anything I previously timed
including.
Plank variations
All Stretches
Mobility drills (goblet squat holds, spiderman’s)
Below is a quick video demonstrating each for 3 breaths (notice around 8 seconds for each)
