In my last blog, I gave you guys a quick introduction to the wonders of the ORIGINAL STRENGTH system and why we use it at Mark Fisher Fitness. Most importantly, I explained the idea behind the OS RESETS. Moving forward, I’m going to break out each reset for you. My dream would be for you to wrap your head around the “idea” of the resets and then put them into everyday practice.
Which is why we’re starting with not only the first reset, but the one thing you already do every day… breathe.
If we’re living, we’re breathing. If we were to breathe better, would we live better?
Hell yeah we would!
DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING is the key. In daily life, we should naturally be breathing in and out of our nose, into our belly, expanding and contracting the diaphragm. This is how we are ALL meant to breathe. Sadly, most of us don’t breathe in this pattern. We may inhale or exhale out of our mouth. We may breathe into our chest. We may not breathe enough at all. We may do any combination of all of that stuff. This type of breathing stresses the F’ out of our nervous system. It’s how we breathe in panic mode. Neck tension, fatigue, mobility issues and an increase in body fat all come from this type of stressed breathing pattern. Wait… did Fury just say how we breathe can make us fat? Yup, this type of stress will play havoc with your body’s hormones. TRUTH!
Stress or sympathetic breathing
In my opinion, I think our breathing pattern gets wrecked in grade school, when we’re initially taught about how the lungs are used for breathing. I’m not knocking them, but all of the anti-smoking PSAs always focus on the lungs too. I believe on a subconscious level, that we start to rely on chest breathing at an early age this way. Bummer.
On the bright and shiny side, we can totally get better at breathing and live a WAY better life.
On the flip side of stress or “Sympathetic Breathing”, we have diaphragmatic “belly” breathing (Parasympathetic Breathing). This breathing pattern is our “rest and digest” breathing pattern. It’s how we’re meant to live and breathe under normal situations. The body and the brain chill out as a result. Those tension headaches may go away and you may find that some of your “flexibility” issues dissolve once you start breathing properly.
Diaphragmatic or parasympathetic breathing
On the gym front, proper breathing let’s our smaller muscles, our stabilizers, do their job. This takes the chains off of the big guns and let’s you actually lift more! We call that BREATHING GAINZ son!
Alright already, I’ve read your words Fury! What do I do now?
Ok, I gotcha.
Start with this:
- Lie flat on your back with your knees bent.
- Keep your arms out at your sides with your palms up.
- Be sure your tongue is behind your front top teeth at the roof of the mouth. *That’s your tongue’s natural happy place.
- Breathe in and out of your nose.
- Think about breathing low into your belly.
That’s all you need to get started. Please allow yourself AT LEAST 2 minutes to breathe every day. So simple. So easy to blow off.
Ninjas, we are scratching the surface here. Stay tuned for more OS tips and video!
Drop us a comment and let us know what you think.
Thanks for the read!
-Fury