At J Critchlow Performance, I believe in a holistic approach to treating all clients. There are five main pillars I look at and right at the top of that list before water, nutrition, movement and sleep, is breathing!
Breathing is the power to life
We take around 26,000 breaths a day and this involuntary action has a direct response on how our bodies function and feel. I’m going to write in short about some of the mechanisms that breathing has a huge impact on and how it relates to all other pillars of health, fitness and performance.
So how should we breathe?
Good breathing habits should be exclusively through the nasal pathway, this is a great place to start and something a lot of people have trouble with. Breathing nasally will help you to breathe purer cleaner air, produce nitric oxide, lower blood pressure and assist with the next key component and that is diaphragmatic breathing. Take a moment as you read this to pay attention to your breath, place one hand over your stomach and one hand over your chest. Feel for the movements as you inhale and as you exhale. As you breathe in I want you to feel your soft belly rise and fall as you breathe out. Let go of any tension that resides all the way from your pelvic floor to your neck whilst you breathe in. Then as you breathe out, your rib cage should drop and your belly draw in. As you breathe in, If you are feeling any aggressive chest movement or even neck this is incorrect so challenge yourself to minimise any chest movement during your breathing cycles.
An important misconception of breathing
Next I want to touch on an important misconception of breathing highlighted in great detail in the book ‘oxygen advantage’ by Patrick McGowan. He emphasises the point that most people believe that more air in leads to a greater oxygenation of the muscles and therefore better performance, however this is actually wrong. As the key to higher levels of oxygen being processed and delivered to the muscles is to have a greater tolerance and level of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the blood because CO2 is required for this process to take place. As we know we breathe in mainly oxygen and breathe out CO2 so by breathing heavier with higher volumes and higher frequency we are reducing C02 levels within the blood and therefore impeding oxygenated blood being delivered via haemoglobin to the muscles. It is about utilising the oxygen we have in our blood better by breathing lighter and breathing less.
So less is more in the case of breathing. People who sigh, yawn, snore, pant, breathe heavy through the mouth are signs of poor breathing habits and an intolerance to CO2. Some of the greatest distance runners of the world mainly come from countries like Ethiopia and Kenya, watch these guys as they run, how relaxed they are you will barely notice them breathe, as they run great distances at a pace most can’t begin to dream of running.They demonstrate an incredible tolerance to CO2 and maximise the oxygen delivery to their working muscles under great stress. They are not taking massive gulps of air in and out and most of the top guys will breathe through the nose.
Breathing and hydration
A quick note on breathing and its relationship to hydration and also bacterial and viral infection transmission. Breathing through the mouth expels 40% more moisture than breathing nasally and offers no protection to air inhaled. So therefore mouth breathing will lead to greater levels of dehydration and an increased risk of catching and spreading disease. An important thing to note nowadays wouldn’t you agree.
Now we know how you should be breathing, lets discuss further some of the mechanisms it has a direct influence on in terms of our health, fitness and performance.
I want to highlight the importance of our breathing when it comes to quality and quantity of our movement. Something which at J Critchlow Performance we are particularly hot on. Those of who have worked with me know when it comes to core engagement which is something that should be practiced whilst performing exercises in the gym, breathing correctly is essential.
The diaphragm forms part of the inner unit of deep lying core muscles that help to stabilise and protect our spine. On inhalation the diaphragm needs to be able to contract and relax on exhalation to enable the other deep lying core muscles, pelvic floor, transverse abdominus and multifidus to function as these muscles are all part of a chain and cannot be isolated. Proper core engagement relies on creating intra abdominal pressure and stiffness into these muscles to create stability, by breathing into these muscles listed in and around the abdomen. Without this stability, you will be weaker, more prone to injury, muscle spasms, joint aches and this is all because of an incorrect breathing pattern.
Breathing and our nervous system
Next I want to talk about how breathing effects the state of our nervous system. An incorrect breathing pattern, that is someone who is breathing into the chest and other respiratory accessory muscles which includes the muscles in the upper chest and neck will be in a sympathetic state. A sympathetic state is your fight or flight mechanism, this is a heightened state associated with intense exercise. This is ok if that is what you are doing at the time but to be in this state for too longer periods is a recipe for burnout, poor digestion, poor sleep, fatigue, anxiety, poor metabolic health and other mental emotional issues.
It is extremely important for us after exercise to ensure that we return back to a parasympathetic state, that is the state of rest and digest. Returning to this state only takes a few minutes and all you need to do is return to normal breathing.
A breathing bombshell
On a final note and bombshell for some. Most people are after the latest fat burning fad diet or workout regime, diet pill or some sort of shortcut. Well how do we actually burn fat, we physically remove fat from our bodies through breathing. Yes that’s right you heard me learn to breath correctly, increase levels of CO2 and burn more fat. James Nestor in his book breath quotes ‘the lungs are a weight regulating system of the body’. Therefore your breathing quality is a big indicator of metabolic health and in his book he also highlights some quite striking scary facts which suggest breathing could be at route cause of practically all disease.
I could go on and on how breathing is vitally important for our health fitness and performance. Hopefully this shorty article has given you a good level of understanding and food for thought. If you’d like to learn more on breathing a couple of fantastic books that I have referenced are: ‘The Oxygen Advantage’ by Patrick McGowan and ‘Breath’ By James Nestor.
By Jamie Critchlow
J Critchlow Performance