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Breathing, diaphragm, abs, back arch. Yogic breathing

    Most CrossFit athletes are busy developing their strength and do not pay enough attention to this. important point, as a breathing technique during exercises. Dr. Jill Miller studied anatomy and movement human body over 27 years. She worked on the connections between fitness, yoga, massage and pain management. Jill is the author of The Roll Model: step by step guide to relieve pain, improve mobility and improve the life of your body."

    “The breathing process happens automatically. A person inhales and exhales about 20,000 times a day, says Miller. - Think about what would happen if you did 20,000 with bad technique in a day. What would happen in this case to your body? We are born with ideal breathing. But over the years, this technique deteriorates for most people. Breathing is a fundamental movement that provides both mental control and mental acuity.”

    Dr. Miller believes that an athlete who practices proper breathing techniques has a performance advantage. “When the crushing pressure of competition slows you down, proper breathing can help you overcome any problem,” advises Jill.

    How to breathe correctly?

    At first bad news: To breathe properly, you must inflate your belly. Shallow rapid breathing, which uses the chest rather than the diaphragm, does not provide as much oxygen as the body needs. Shallow breathing leads to an increase in heart rate, which in turn causes stress, anxiety and can increase blood pressure.

    Breathing mechanism

    When you inhale, the abdomen expands and the diaphragm contracts, creating space in chest cavity lung filled with air. This causes pressure to decrease, allowing air to pass freely into the lungs. Exhalation moves the diaphragm back to its original position.

    With shallow chest breathing, you do not free up enough space and cannot fill your lungs as fully as with deep belly breathing. We are born knowing on a subconscious level how to breathe correctly with our belly. Babies do this instinctively, expanding their belly with each breath. Watch the video of how newborn babies breathe.

    Muscle work during breathing

    Dr. Miller said that when we pull our belly in during breathing, we maintain tension in the transversus muscle, which runs along the front and side of the stomach. abdominal wall, deeper than the rectus muscles.

    The transverse abdominis muscle is sutured into the same fascial tissue as the respiratory diaphragm. So the diaphragm can be thought of as the end of the transverse abdominis muscles, says Miller. - The respiratory diaphragm is tied to these abdominal muscles and can only move as much as they allow. If your abs are constantly tense, the diaphragm cannot move through its range of motion. And this is extremely important when inhaling.

    When the diaphragm lowers, the abdomen swells and becomes like baby belly in kids. When exhalation occurs, the diaphragm rises back to the ribs and hides under them, and the stomach becomes the same.

    If you press on your abdomen or tighten a weightlifting belt, you can feel the movement of the diaphragm being inhibited. In this case, the heart “sits” on top of the diaphragm. Jill Miller calls the diaphragm a “mattress for the heart.”

    The harm of improper breathing

    Small chest breaths do not move the heart with the necessary force. Your heart and respiratory tissues are interconnected. When there is excessive stress in any tissue of the body, this interferes with its normal functions.

    A restricted diaphragm that does not move properly reduces the level of effectiveness of the natural assistance it provides to the vena cava to help improve blood flow. This is your main vein, which is connected directly to your heart.

    Chest breathing, which occurs when you raise your shoulders to your ears and do not fill your stomach, is a breathing characteristic of a person during times of stress - in fear or after difficult physical exertion. “You see this type of breathing in some athletes all the time. They run back and forth around the arena, and when they are exhausted, they kneel down and, with their heads down, try to catch their breath. At this point, you can see their shoulders rise up to their ears,” says Miller.

    This works when we are struggling to catch our breath during or at the end of a difficult workout. But this type of breathing cannot replace full movements of the diaphragm.

    During training, athletes often use chest breathing. Athletes need to constantly keep their abs tense, and belly breathing is not always possible. Imagine that you are trying to take a deep breath into your belly by pressing hard on it. At such moments, athletes must expand their chest to lift the air while supporting the spine with the core muscles.

    Unfortunately, most of us subconsciously use shallow chest breathing while hunched over a computer or phone. “This false “clavicle breathing” is inherent in all of us. Many of us breathe this way every day without even thinking about the consequences, says Dr. Miller. - But if you are a real athlete, then sooner or later you will have to think about not breathing, constantly raising your collarbones, since this type of breathing is not provided by the body the right amount oxygen."

    The effectiveness of deep breathing

    Diaphragmatic breathing helps the body by sending more oxygen to the muscles, improving muscle endurance. Another advantage deep breathing: It relaxes the body. Anyone who has tried to do something difficult gymnastic exercise or perform another weightlifting movement while under stress, knows the benefits of complete relaxation.

    But how do you break a bad breathing habit that you have been practicing most of your life?

  1. You need to start experimenting with breathing outside of the gym, or at least not in the middle of a workout. For example, you can attend a yoga class several times - this good place to learn and practice breathing techniques.
  2. If yoga isn't your thing, then as strange as it may sound, taking vocal classes or joining a choir can also correct poor breathing habits. "You'll likely discover phenomenal breathing techniques, and if you enjoy singing, you'll really enjoy it," Miller says of singing lessons.
  3. Well, you can practice, for example, by inflating holiday balloons. You just need to do this while strictly controlling your breathing movements.

How to do diaphragmatic breathing?

To practice diaphragmatic breathing, the technique of which is very simple, follow the instructions below:

  1. Lie on your back.
  2. Place one hand on your chest and the other on your stomach. Breathe slowly and deeply through your nose, making sure you feel your stomach moving with your hand.
  3. Exhale through your mouth. The hand that lies on the chest should not move much.

After you have established diaphragmatic breathing while lying down, practice breathing technique sitting in a chair. Once you've mastered this breathing style at home, start incorporating it into your workouts.

Dr. Miller suggests at least initially setting aside a portion of your workout to observe how your body breathes in response to exercise and during rest periods. You will need to use deep belly breathing from time to time for optimal results, but for some exercises it makes more sense to use chest breathing.

“Just allow yourself to practice by constantly observing how you breathe every time you do something. This is what yogis usually do during classes. It's an incredible way to sharpen your mind and become familiar with your breathing behavior,” advises Jill Miller. The doctor also recommends paying as much attention to your breathing technique as you can afford during your workout, using it to stabilize you during heavy lifting or to calm you down during rest.

At first, it will be difficult for you to simultaneously monitor the technique of performing the exercise and the correct breathing at this moment. But try to make every effort so that your breathing technique takes on a new quality.

Airway training

Another way to monitor and control your breathing is to try breathing exercises.

Simplest version breathing exercises– performing a ladder of repetitions. The idea is that each round of exercise is followed by a similar number of deep, controlled breaths.

The most commonly used exercise for such breathing exercises is, but you can choose others. The breathing ladder connected to kettlebell swings starts with one swing, followed by one inhalation, then two kettlebell swings, followed by two inhalations. You can breathe as much as you want while you are doing the kettlebell swing, but only take the prescribed number of breaths while resting. So eight repetitions are followed by only 8 breaths, and then you return to the kettlebell.

If you do enough repetitions, the breathing ladder will cause panic breathing. Becoming aware of this type of breathing and learning how to control it is valuable if you find yourself in a situation where you need to regain your breathing after intense exercise. This is where it will come in handy correct technique breathing.

Breathe deeply, using a breathing ladder, and resist the temptation to switch to shallow, panicked breathing, even when stressed. Then see if you can improve your breathing and avoid panic breathing during subsequent workouts.

And one last piece of advice: if you walk into the gym and see some terribly difficult complex on the board, don’t panic. Take 10 deep breaths, and go to battle!

How to learn to breathe correctly - have you ever asked yourself this question? Anyone who has ever attended a yoga class has learned about the enormous possibilities that such a simple and natural process as breathing gives us. Taking a long, slow breath allows your entire body to relax. Indeed, such breathing calms, helps control your emotions, reduces blood pressure, develops stress resistance and fills you with energy.

Since breathing is a natural process, we do not think about how it happens, what mechanisms are involved in it. We just breathe and that’s it. This means that we don’t try to improve our breathing technique and easily end up with incorrect breathing. But it’s worth practicing a little and working out the technique of proper breathing and you will strengthen your health, learn to relax, and activate mental activity. In addition, proper breathing can relieve headache, bloating, dizziness and give strength as the body is better supplied with oxygen. In addition, by breathing correctly, including the work of the diaphragm in the breathing process, all internal organs are massaged, and people experience constipation, inflammation and pain in the abdominal cavity. Diaphragmatic breathing has a positive effect on the functioning of the heart, lungs, stomach, liver, gallbladder, and intestines. What is correct breathing and why should we strive for it?

Breath test

First, check how you breathe. Normal quiet breathing occurs through the diaphragm. Place your hand on your navel: when you inhale, your belly should protrude forward. If this does not happen, it means that you are using the upper part of the chest instead of the diaphragm to breathe, then when you inhale, the navel may “press in”, like after a run, when you have to restore your breathing for a while.

Then, in a calm state, count how long you can go without inhaling. This time should be approximately 30 seconds. And for those who have breathing problems, this time is less than 5 seconds.

Another indicator of proper breathing is the number of breaths. It's good if you take 12 to 15 breaths per minute, but it's wrong if you take 20 breaths or more.

Frequent sighs and yawning are another indicator of improper breathing. You may feel like you are short of breath and unable to get enough air into your lungs. If you slouch while sitting at a computer, wear tight clothes– you also have breathing problems.

How to learn to breathe correctly?

Through short training, you can develop and strengthen the skill of proper breathing, and the correct breathing technique will help you with this.

Diaphragmatic breathing - exercise

So, a relaxing exercise for proper diaphragmatic breathing. Sit comfortably, choose any comfortable position in a place convenient for you. Breathe slowly and rhythmically through your nose, bottom chest. This will help you use your diaphragm to breathe. In order for you to diaphragmatic breathing exercise got it right, you can put one hand on your chest and the other on your belly button. As you inhale, your stomach inflates and, accordingly, the hand lying on your navel rises up; as you exhale, it goes down. At the same time, the chest remains motionless - the hand on the chest, respectively, too. Reduce the number of breaths you take – aim for just 8 breaths per minute. At first it may seem a little difficult to you, but with daily training, you will succeed. When you can do this without straining, try to breathe like this all the time, check from time to time whether you are now breathing correctly. In other words, diaphragmatic breathing should become a habit and occur involuntarily. You will only occasionally monitor the correctness of its implementation.

In addition to performing relaxation breathing exercises - diaphragmatic breathing, you need to pay attention to the following:

1. Find time to relax

It is very important to set aside at least 20 minutes during the day for absolute relaxation - this will help you gain control of your breathing. There are many ways to relax, choose one that will not provoke you to inhale too often and deeply.

2. Pay attention to your posture

Maintenance correct posture- the path to proper breathing. If you hunch or slouch, you strain and compress the diaphragm. Strengthen your back muscles, try to walk straight and sit straight - this will allow the diaphragm to work more efficiently. Pilates, yoga, tai chi and other techniques will help you correct your posture and teach you to relax your muscles.

3. Breathe through your nose

Breathe through your nose, not your mouth. Breathing through the nose warms the air to the desired temperature and moisturizes it and, as a result, allows you to breathe more relaxed. Breathing through the nose rather than the mouth is important factor in order to learn how to breathe correctly. If you have a runny nose and a stuffy nose, then treat it in time, do not make the disease worse, so that there are no complications such as sinusitis.

4. Avoid stimulants

If you are used to snacking on foods with high content carbohydrates, then your blood sugar levels fluctuate more intensely, which speeds up your breathing process. Stimulants like caffeine also cause the same reaction. Carbon dioxide affects blood vessels, and when they shrink, glucose metabolism, and therefore blood sugar fluctuations, increases.

5. Don't take deep breaths

After a workout or physical activity, sometimes there is a desire to relax and do deep breath. Try to overcome it. Slow, measured breaths, rather than long, deep ones, are what you want.

6. Try to yawn less

If you often have the urge to yawn, stop yourself. Try to replace yawning with swallowing to avoid releasing excess air. Frequent sore throat, as well as an irritating cough, can also be an indicator of improper breathing.

British scientists say that despite the common misconception that improper breathing prevents us from consuming oxygen, we actually lose carbon dioxide. If you breathe quickly and often, then with each breath the level decreases. carbon dioxide in the blood, and its deficiency disrupts the natural acid-base balance in the body and interferes effective use oxygen. It turns out a vicious circle - blood vessels narrow and respiratory tract, therefore, in the brain respiratory center a signal is sent that you need to inhale oxygen, so you are forced to constantly breathe rapidly.

It is necessary to break this circle in order to take the path of recovery and wellness. Master this simple technique of proper breathing and you will be able to control your thoughts and feelings in right moment. You will learn not only how to relax well, but also correct breathing more oxygen will enter your body, which means all systems and organs will be better supplied with it, which will lead to the overall health of the whole body.

Most of us are chronically deprived of oxygen. For both objective and subjective reasons. Every year we breathe is reduced by 0.002% due to industrial emissions and global warming. The number seems small, but over time it increases, and oxygen becomes less and less.

Among the subjective reasons we include stress; its amount in modern times increases every year. Due to stress, the amplitude of our breathing decreases. Studies have shown that almost 90% of the population of civilized countries breathes shallowly, without using the entire capacity of the lungs.

Why is diaphragmatic breathing necessary?

Does not provide the amount of oxygen needed for normal operation our biological system. This means that there is not enough oxygen, our body stops 100% absorbing the substances it needs, and toxins are conveniently located in the accumulated fat, because the metabolism slows down catastrophically.

Of course, for good intestinal function, you need not only oxygen, in which toxins and harmful substances, you need fiber to help cleanse the intestinal villi of any debris. But this is a separate topic.

What to do? We cannot increase the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere, but we can learn to breathe correctly so that a sufficient amount of it enters the body. This is what diaphragmatic breathing is for. If at the same time we eat right and take care of the cleanliness of the intestines (we use sufficient quantity fiber), then the body begins to work like clockwork.

Surprising results were obtained from research by scientists at the University of Los Angeles. They compared exercise on exercise bikes with And it turned out that in 20 minutes of exercise, a person using diaphragmatic breathing loses 40% more calories than someone who exercises on an exercise bike. And we still have a lot of opportunities in this regard. After all, most people only use 25% of their lungs. The rest is inactive.

Simply by using correct diaphragmatic breathing, we can lose weight, cleanse the body and become healthy. Because oxygen, supplied in greater quantities, now burns fats and toxins, facilitating the work of the adrenal glands and thyroid gland. Thus, the hormonal balance is improved, fat stops accumulating, toxins are eliminated through the lungs intensively (there is evidence that up to 60% of toxins can be eliminated through the lungs), and health improves.

Respiration rate

Of course it's difficult to an unprepared person breathe full breasts constantly. But this is not necessary. By doing several short sessions a day, you can achieve very good results. Short-term training will lead to a noticeable increase in breathing amplitude even outside of sessions. The supply of oxygen will increase significantly. It is enough to conduct three or four sessions of five minutes each day. Although at the very beginning, five minutes will seem like a lot. You may feel dizzy, but with time everything will get better. You need to judge how long you should start the session based on how you feel.

Types of breathing

They exist huge variety. Diaphragmatic breathing itself can be taken as a basis for treating a particular organ. There is a calming (even noticeably lowering blood pressure) breathing, and there is a stimulating breathing that clears the throat and nose (you can forget about sore throats and runny nose forever).

These are all varieties, first you need to master the basics. It's not complicated.

  1. We exhaled deeply. They stuck out their bellies.
  2. The belly stays that way. Let's take a deep breath.
  3. With a full inhalation, we draw in our stomach (all the air is inside).
  4. We exhale slowly. The stomach is pulled in.
  5. As you exhale completely, stick out your stomach.

All. The cycle has ended. Gradually it will begin to turn out smoothly and will not have such clearly defined boundaries. A lot depends on at what stage (point) we hold our breath and how much, how we inhale and how we exhale. Based on this principle, types of breathing are distinguished. Exercises are best done on fresh air and, of course, not on a full stomach.

In the world of health and various health systems, we constantly come across the concept of “proper breathing”. But to an ordinary person It’s difficult to define what it means to “breathe correctly”?

Belly breathing, diaphragm breathing, chest breathing, shallow breathing- this is just an incomplete list that we can meet. Basically, if you understand and study various systems healing, there is the concept of “diaphragmatic breathing”, “breathing with the diaphragm”, which is considered correct and natural, as well as “chest breathing”, which is called incorrect. Let's try to understand these two types of breathing, their benefits and harms for the human body.

So why should you breathe with your diaphragm?

Diaphragmatic breathing (belly breathing) is considered natural and innate. We can see this by observing newborns: their chest is motionless, only their stomach moves when breathing.

From the reference book:

“Diaphragmatic breathing, also called abdominal breathing, involves using the movements of the diaphragm and abdominal muscles to achieve full, deep breathing. Common problem The problem with diaphragmatic breathing is that most people try to inhale and exhale deeply too quickly. The goal of proper abdominal breathing is to slowly fill the lungs and reduce the frequency breathing movements. In addition to activating the parasympathetic nervous system Diaphragmatic breathing has another advantage - it allows you to ventilate the lower lobes of the lungs, which are usually not filled enough with air during chest breathing.”

Physiology of diaphragmatic breathing- when inhaling, the diaphragm goes down, the body relaxes, the lungs are almost completely filled with air.

Breathing top and middle part lungs is abnormal, promotes hyperventilation and oxygen starvation body. This leads to rebirth acute form diseases into chronic ones, age-related and “incurable ailments” appear. Therefore, you need to breathe at rest using your diaphragm, and breathing deeply is only permissible when you have a large physical activity, such as running, heavy physical work. Considering that the heart occupies a somewhat horizontal position in the chest and the pericardium (pericardial sac) lies close above the diaphragm, then during diaphragmatic inhalation, when lowering the diaphragm down, the most optimal conditions for the functioning of the heart and lungs

IN modern world breathing diaphragm It is used in weight loss techniques, bodyflex, and breathing methods through the Frolov simulator. And this is no coincidence.

The diaphragm has a lot of functions, For example: Pump function for the lymphoid system. The diaphragm is responsible for the movement of lymph in the body.

Also, when inhaling, the diaphragm, moving down, massages the spleen, liver, stomach and colon, and through their movement it affects the uterus, appendages and prostate gland, which contributes to their better functioning.

Benefits of diaphragmatic breathing:

  1. A heart massage occurs.
  2. There is a massage of the gastrointestinal tract which helps improve immune system, and massage of the abdominal organs helps eliminate and prevent the causes of adenoma, prostatitis, impotence in men and eliminate and prevent the causes of fibrosomatous, sclerosomatous changes in the uterus and ovaries, frigidity, early climacteric syndrome in women.
  3. Ventilation occurs lower sections lungs, freeing the lower parts of the lungs from many years of accumulation of various dusts (coal, asbestos, household).
  4. Observedlowering blood pressure.

Is it difficult to learn to breathe with your diaphragm?

In fact, a person always breathes through the diaphragm! In natural respiratory process the diaphragm is directly involved. It is she who divides in our torso internal organs, subdominal organs, lungs. The internal septum is fused to the lower part of the lungs. That is why, when it goes down, it stretches accordingly. Breathing also involves pectoral muscles.

If you notice that you are breathing through your chest, then you need to pay attention to this fact. special attention and try to fix it.

chest breathing, as we have already noted, in many health systems marked as incorrect.

Five dire consequences chest breathing:

  1. The muscles expend a lot of effort (try breathing deeply through your mouth for a few minutes - dizziness, weakness, fatigue will begin).
  2. A person's chest breathing is triggered in extreme situations(excitement, worry). Nature took care of man, connecting the chest organs to breathing in a moment of danger.
  3. It is necessary to remove the work of chest breathing. After you do this, all organs begin to work normally.
  4. During chest breathing, the diaphragm rises up, squeezing the lower part of the lungs, and blood circulation is disrupted. Bottom part the lungs do not breathe, efficiency decreases.
  5. During chest breathing there is a chain of processes leading to undesirable consequences and deterioration of health in general.

How to get rid of chest breathing?

It turned out that initially breathing with the diaphragm is characteristic of children under 3 years of age. Chest breathing occurs later, when the child discovers the world, as he experiences hyperventilation and tension appears. This means that for a person, diaphragmatic breathing is correct and innate. You should not think that diaphragmatic breathing is difficult and unnatural for a person. With constant practice and training, diaphragmatic breathing will return and become a habit.

Here are a few ways to fix this:

1. Lie on your back, put one hand on your upper abdomen and the other hand on your chest and take a very calm breath with the bottom of your lungs so that upper part the abdomen protruded forward, and the chest remained motionless.

2. Lie on your side and breathe calmly with your stomach. Lying on your side, it will be difficult for you to include your chest in the breathing process.

3. Try to relax your shoulders, neck, take a deep breath, exhale, the pectoral muscles relax, then the stomach begins to breathe.

In some traditions, chest breathing was eliminated using certain techniques, which in turn saved asthma, bronchitis and many respiratory diseases. One of the techniques was to place a bag of sand on the chest, while breathing through the chest became impossible, then the person automatically switched to breathing with the diaphragm. This made it possible to get rid of skin diseases and even cancer!

Also, for many years, mothers swaddled their babies tightly. This swaddling avoids chest breathing.

According to some modern techniques, proposed, for example, by Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko, highlight methods that involve the elimination of chest breathing at night. These techniques allow you to get rid of snoring, which can lead to fatal outcome. Buteyko, for example, recommends bandaging the chest with a corset or bandage, for women - under the breasts, and for men - exactly across the chest. As a result, the movement of the amplitude of the chest should decrease and diaphragmatic breathing will be activated.

The need for using breathing practices has been proven by many modern scientists, and the results that can be obtained by practicing proper breathing are simply amazing.

That is why we constantly conduct a 5-day course “Let’s do healthy breathing practices together.”

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There are two main types of breathing: abdominal and thoracic. The latter, in turn, can be divided into costal and clavicular.

Abdominal, or diaphragmatic breathing carried out using the diaphragm - the muscle that separates the pectoral and abdominal cavity: when you inhale, it goes down and contracts, and when you exhale, it goes up, pushing air out of the lungs. The main advantage of diaphragmatic breathing is that almost the entire volume of the lungs is used in the process, so the blood is more saturated with oxygen.

During chest breathing, only upper lobes lungs. Clavicular breathing is the most superficial - it occurs due to shoulder muscles, it is characterized by raising the collarbones when inhaling and lowering when exhaling.

Costal breathing, in turn, is carried out with the help of intercostal muscles, which expand the chest when inhaling and compressing when exhaling. This type of breathing is typical for most people.

Benefits of Diaphragmatic Breathing
As already noted, with diaphragmatic breathing the lungs are used almost completely, which allows the body to receive more oxygen compared to other types of respiration.

Oxygen stimulates brain function cardiovascular system and lungs, allowing you to get rid of shortness of breath.

The moving diaphragm performs a kind of massage of the organs: liver, adrenal glands, kidneys, spleen, pancreas.

Deep breathing has a beneficial effect on the condition gastrointestinal system. The diaphragm plays important role during the digestion process, helping to move food through the esophagus, and therefore diaphragmatic breathing serves to prevent bloating and constipation.

Correct breathing training
It can be difficult for people accustomed to chest breathing to switch to abdominal breathing - this will require special training. Be patient and do not overdo it - during the first classes you may feel dizzy and even afraid. These phenomena are associated with oxygen saturation that is unusual for the body.

Choose a quiet, secluded place where no one will distract you for half an hour.

Lie on your back and try to relax your body as much as possible. Place your right hand on your stomach, your left hand on your chest. Try to breathe so that your left hand rises and falls during the breathing process, and the right remains motionless - this is our usual chest breathing.

After this, try to expand your stomach as you inhale so that right hand rose and then fell as you exhaled. Left hand must remain motionless. This is diaphragmatic breathing.