Ground Up Strength

Reverse Breathing

Previously I've called upper chest breathing either inverted or paradoxical breathing. In case you haven't gotten the news flash, it's bad. Now, I'm seeing something called 'reverse breathing' being promoted for martial artists. Wikipedia says that it is "Ancient Chinese Secret".

The practice appears to be an almost perfect instruction on incorrect breathing. The idea is to expand your abdomen while breathing out and pull your stomach in while breathing in. Absolutely ridiculous and a good way to 'gas out' for a martial artist. Here is a some excerpts from an article at DragonDoor. It's full of nonsensical gobbledygook but these are the highlights of the instruction:

Continue Reading » Reverse Breathing

Getting in the Zone V: Relaxation

Part IV of Getting in the Zone described arousal regulation and the effects of anxiety and anger on performance. At the end of that post I left you with this:

"There are those who will need to focus on energizing techniques. Rather than controlling excessive arousal, they will need to develop strategies to increase arousal. But in my experience, most lifters have more of a need to control anxiety, apprehension, and anger, and thus regulate excessive arousal. Therefore the next post will focus on regulating over-arousal."

Continue Reading » Getting in the Zone V: Relaxation

Breathing Exercises for Relaxation

This article is a simple explanation of several breathing exercises for relaxation. It is meant as related companion to the Getting in the Zone series of blog posts or for anyone interested. However, before we get into the breathing exercises you should have already read Paradoxical and Diaphragmatic Breathing which will have introduced the basic concepts and techniques of correct diaphragmatic deep breathing. That article contains an exercise meant to help you practice deep breathing but it should also have you well on your way to achieving a relaxed state through breathing.

I also encourage you to read the Getting in the Zone series which will provide a broader context for what we are trying to achieve. The benefits of proper breathing are obvious but many strength trainees may not see the point of "relaxation". The Zone series provides that point of context and much more.

Continue Reading » Breathing Exercises for Relaxation

Paradoxical and Diaphragmatic Breathing

Or..high chest breathing, chest breathing, thoracic breathing, accessory breathing

I began to hit on this in a previous post, On Breathing.... The purpose of that post was to introduce the fallacy of "expanding the chest". To do so I focused on strongmen of old and their ideas about ribcage expansion. Indeed, that was a fetish that followed into the early bodybuilding days and beyond.

Continue Reading » Paradoxical and Diaphragmatic Breathing

On Breathing...and Strongman

The Getting in the Zone series has been on hold while I waited for info on relaxation techniques, first of which will be breathing techniques since proper breathing is the foundation. The next post of the flow series will be an introduction to breathing and breathing techniques pursuant to an explanation of several exercises I will provide.

Continue Reading » On Breathing...and Strongman