Proper Breathing is Essential for Athletes and Non-Athletes Alike
By Perry Fields, November 4, 2004
Learning and practicing the principles of good health is not an easy
process. In fact, it is a process that is overlooked by many people who
find themselves in poor health or with indications of poor health, like
that migraine you get every now and then.
I am a professional track and field athlete. I run the 800m and 1600m,
two grueling events and arguably the toughest races to prepare for and
to race in track and field. Believe it or not, I was once 50 lbs
overweight, extremely sick with a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome,
anemia, ear infections that lasted five years straight, and the list
goes on. I went to more than 19 doctors to try to get well. So when I
refer to getting or staying well as a "process" I mean just that. Even
if you are in totally good health right now, it is important to gain the
necessary knowledge and live in such as way as to ensure, as much as
possible, continued good health throughout your life.
At the pinnacle of my health crisis (three years ago) I started
searching for answers. I kept an open mind about everything and found
that conventional medicine just treated symptoms, and that many times,
at least in my case, the doctors misdiagnosed what was actually going
on. Some doctors, who didn’t have any answers at all, even went so far
as to tell me that the problems were just in my mind, implying that I
was a bit crazy. In response to this lack of real answers, I went down
several alternative paths, and the two that I found most intriguing
were kinesiology and breathing. Kinesiology made me aware of a simple
problem I had: food allergies. It helped me discover that I am gluten
intolerant and allergic to citrus fruit, and eating these foods was
making me terribly sick—a fact that had escaped the conventional doctors
that I had seen. That was the first major turning point for me. The
other occurred this past year, when I discovered the importance of good
breathing.
Yep, breathing sounds like a simple concept. Like many people, I just
took it for granted. But I suddenly discovered that that way I breathe
has a lot of do with my track and field performance, as well as my
overall quality of life. In track and field, training is high anxiety. I
get on the line at the start of the race and I have seven or more girls
who want to pound me physically. But I discovered that I could keep my
stress down simply by following the breathing principles I am about to
discuss. I now practice these principles not only before racing, but
anytime that I find myself a little stressed. The first step is to
simply concentrate on my breath, also known as the Pranayan Technique.
This simple technique, which involves focusing on my breath and learning
to listen to what it is telling me, helps me relax. I do this kind of
breathing when I am resting before a race or sitting around waiting to
compete. It has its physical benefits as well.
Most of us simply don’t breathe deeply enough. Breathing using all four
stages: inhaling, full pause, exhaling, and empty pause helps increase
oxygen in the blood. The more oxygen in your blood, the less fatigued
and more mentally alert you are. There is a strong connection between
respiration and one’s mental state, so it is obviously beneficial for
everyone to start working with their breathing. Shallow breathing does
not exercise the diaphragm and lungs enough and most people only use a
small portion of their lung capacity. In learning to breathe more fully,
you will see many benefits whether you are an athlete or a not.
Oxygen in the blood is critical for ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate). ATP is
how your body makes energy. Before I do any kind of hard practice, I
always make sure to practice healthy breathing to get my body ready to
perform. Good breathing is far more important than stretching before
running. One misconception about stretching is that it reduces your
chance of getting injured while running. The truth is that this has
never been proven. Of the studies done on stretching, all of them are
inconclusive as to the prevention of injuries, in spite of the fact that
you see every sports team on the planet stretching before their games.
Warming-up is the key. Warming-up can be done simply by jogging and
doing exercises like jumping jacks. Warming-up the muscles is vital; you
can have a successful warm-up just by breathing well, walking, and
jogging. Breath comes into play because by breathing deeply and using
relevant breathing techniques you are oxygenating your cells. What the
heck is more important than oxygenating your cells before a work-out,
or, for that matter, before and during a stressful situation in your
life? Nothing! It is a very powerful and simple concept, and yet I hear
very little, if anything, about it. Knowledge about health issues and
creating good health is a journey, a process. You have to be determined
to find it.
Many runners and non-runners breathe by expanding their chest, which is
sometimes referred to as “high breathing.” This kind of breathing isn’t
as effective as relaxed diaphragmatic breathing. When inhaling fully,
you should relax your belly so that it can move outward on the in-breath
and your diaphragm can expand and move through more of its full range of
motion. When exhaling fully, you should allow your belly to retract
toward your spine, which supports the diaphragm’s upward movement to
help empty the lungs. This is sometimes called "low breathing."
So, let me briefly tell you how I begin my workouts. If you are a runner
or participate in any kind of athletics, try this before you begin your
game or work-out. I start by walking before my track workouts and before
runs. I usually walk anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. During the walk I
breathe deeply in a steady rhythm, making sure during inhalation that I
keep my belly relaxed and allow my diaphragm to expand to its fullest.
On the exhalation I breathe out slowly and allow my belly to fully
retract. Then, after walking, I begin jogging, but I make sure to jog
slower than someone walking. (This type of jogging is an African
approach I picked up from my fellow Ethiopian and Kenyan training
partners. They do this as a ritual before any type of workout). The two
slow movements of walking then slow jogging gives my body time to
prepare on a cellular level.
It is important to note that I breathe only through my nose, which as
some of you may know filters impurities from the air and can help
regulate body temperature. Only during intense track sessions or intense
long runs will my mouth ever be open. Even during hard workouts and long
runs, I breathe only through my nose for as long as possible. Then,
right after a hard interval on the track, I close my mouth and force
myself to breathe through my nose using "low breathing." This helps me
recover before I begin another interval, leaving my cells better
oxygenated.
In beginning to work in this way I discovered that as the season
progressed I was able to run my long runs at a six minute/mile pace (for
those who don’t know this is a pretty brisk pace) for up to ten miles,
with my mouth closed almost the entire time using "low breathing”!
Though you may not be used to it, your body will adapt to breathing only
through your nose. By just breathing deeply through your nose, you are
decreasing your stress and allowing your body to progress physically on
its own. So each time you run or work out in this way, you will notice
yourself progressing in your own proper and unique way. Many people have
the tendency to over train, which can actually undermine their
performance. By practicing breathing through your nose and the other
techniques I have described in this article, you are allowing your body
to improve its performance in a healthy way that won’t lead to crashing
later on.
Breathing properly is so vital to decreasing stress and promoting proper
physical stamina and development, that you would think that more people
would practice it. It is simple knowledge like this that can keep you
fit and healthy for a long time.
Even if I win a gold medal in the 2008 Olympics, it might just be icing
on the cake. No one can take my pride away for the determination that I
had to search for these types of answers that promoted my health and
changed my life forever. It can be a long, intense journey to find the
perfect answers, but no one should give up. The information is out
there. A smart man or woman knows that their body really is their
temple, their foundation; so do everything you can to promote it. Do
it---even if it is "simply breathing."
Breathing will not only make your ride easier but also allow you to keep
energy to go faster, longer. Some of this is unnessesary but still is
very useful just for breathing and war-ups and whatnot.
--
Catboy - I enjoy the taste of dirt!
'I have the amazing power to talk to cats! =^.^='
(http://gallery.unicyclist.com/Catboy) <--- Gallery
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му οиℓу ωιѕн
τнιѕ уεαя...
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