[emilieskadi]

I thoughti would start a topic on this since it just came up on another thread and I’m really curious about it!

Breathing… Basically, what is the right way?!

I’ve been trying to teach myself to do diaphramatic breathing and it’s been a huge struggle to let my stomach be loose enough to allow the breathing but to engage my stabilizers and feel smooth and stable while running!

As it sounds like a few of you I have asthma as well (always had the exercise induced version and never had a scary experience with it so I would rather avoid any inhalers if I can – I’m not out to have by peak performances these days so no need to use inhalers if I can just slow down!)

Anyway, I have also noticed I really struggle with altitude (Rainier was doable for me this spring but man it wasn’t fun!). I don’t know if the two are related at all but I figure it can’t hurt to really learn how to get that oxygen all the way in and benefit from it!

However, like I said, my form feels so much better when I suck in my gut, pull my navel up my spine stand really tall and stretch out my back… I feel smooth, my hips feel good and supported, my low back doesn’t feel crunched… But in that action I pull my breathing up into my chest.

Any thoughts on how to practice diaphramatic breathing, and how to also still keep form? Or how to still elongate my spine and stand tall? (and maybe I’m the only one with this issue and it’s just my problematic low back).

Curious to hear all of your thoughts! I sure could have posted this in general but I swear the men I talk to seem to just automatically belly breathe. And many of the younger women are the same. I suppose I’m self conscious of my belly and I don’t like feeling like it’s not sucked in, breathing in extends it and makes me feel fat, I know silly me, I’m working on getting over my issues!

Topic

[Emil]

Emil on December 9, 2020 at 11:58 am #48077

Maybe practicing breathing and form separately, and going from there? In addition, note that all breathing uses the diaphragm. There is/there are correct ways to breathe but oversimplifications such as belly button are just that – oversimplifications for convenience. So if I were you I’d find a good breathing teacher (yoga teacher) and start practicing, and not overthink it 🙂

[kamal753]

kamal753 on December 9, 2020 at 5:34 pm #48094

Greetings,
Here’s what I firmly is the right way to breathe:Conscious deep breathing pattern. Now this hold good irrespective of whether you’re an athlete or not. That’s because most of the people are usually ‘shallow breathers’. This fundamental deep breathing pattern is more important when you are an athlete.

Regarding diaphragm breathing, as the fellow athlete pointed out: Yes, every breath that you take involves the diaphragm. The ‘Diaphragmatic Breathing technique’ only makes sure that the diaphragm stretches completely (through belly breathing), allowing the lungs to expand to their full capacity. But please note that in order for this technique to work, both the inhale and exhale phases have to be complete. What I mean by this is that yes people do inhale deeply, but seldom focus on the exhale aspect, often leaving it incomplete.

Engaging your stomach can happen multiple ways: sucking the stomach (belly button to spine) & bracing, breathing in full & bracing and also while breathing. Yes the level of the ‘brace’ depends on the activity. If you’re walking a tight rope: stomach sucked in gives the best results, if you’re olympic lifting:stomach filled with air and if you’re running:breathing while keeping your muscles engaged gives the desired results.
In my opinion the way you feel with your current form is just a result of the mental perception due to the physical conditioning that you’ve put in all these years. It just requires de-training/un-learning.

Elongation of spine/standing tall: A strong core is your answer to this question. We’re talking about a 360-degree strong core! The exercises posted on the UA website are more than enough to get you there.

How to put all the above to practice?
Ans: Work on your core. Practice deep conscious breathing while doing simpler workouts like: brisk walking or easy hikes. You will observe how you will start engaging your core, inspite of ‘belly breathing’. The trick it is to start slow, be conscious and slowly build up on volume.

Hope this helps. Looking forward to see what the coaches at UA have to say about this.

[emilieskadi]

emilieskadi on December 15, 2020 at 1:40 pm #48279

Great input guys! Thanks!

I agree that it doesn’t need to be over-thought… but, I’m an engineer, I like to over-complicate things! ha! All joking aside mostly I was just looking for little things I could say to help get stuff to click in my head and get the pathways forming. I really dislike breathwork for breathwork’s sake and yoga… I know both would be HUGELY beneficial for me but I have been struggling to implement them into my routine for years now; and they just don’t stick.

Anyway, I get the idea that I need to work on breathing separately from my running and then try to implement them. I’ve been working on bringing it into my running for a few months now, just slowly, being conscious about it and how it feels and what it does to my form, etc. Now that I’m working in Z1 for 90% of my work-outs I have a WHOLLLLEEE lot of time where I’m ridiculously bored. I used to be focused in my work-outs because the pace and level of effort demanded it. Now I find I’m bored and struggling to ‘find things to do’ while I plod along in Z1. So, I thought breath work was something I could add into my tasks in Z1. The one pitfall is when I start focusing on my breathing and my form I start flowing cleaner and running faster and start popping into the bottom of z2 and my ‘fun police’ (what I have nicknamed my heart rate monitor) yells at me to slow down! hahahahaha.

Anyway, I picked up a few ideas from the above responses (mostly that with breath types it’s that ‘diaphragmatic breathing’ seems to be a trigger phrase -I joke!) and I’m slowing working on putting them in place while I also work on slowing down and getting my ego and body adjusted to that Z1 work!

Always open to hear other thoughts/ideas on breathing, it seemed like someone else had a question on it so I thought it would be a worthy topic!

[steffie]

steffie on January 8, 2021 at 11:41 am #49011

Hi! I had a baby a few months ago and am currently working with a PT to try and put my body back together. Breathing technique is a big thing we’re working on. Here is a link to a helpful post (with some easy drills) about breathing. https://www.alignforhealth.com/self-care-for-pain/breathing-for-a-healthy-core. I know you said you’ve had trouble with doing breathing exercises for breathings sake (I’ve definitely struggled as well) but I found the drills really helpful. Even just doing them a few times can give you a really good sense of the ‘feel’ of the breath. Most of us having been breathing ‘incorrectly’ for so long that it can take a while to change how we breath. Some good cues that I’ve started using as I’ve been trying to change my breathing while exercising is ‘low and slow’ and thinking about using my diaphragm as opposed to my shoulders.