I have to admit, that I have been slow to really enthusiastically grab onto the concept of retraining an athlete’s ability to breathe. It is something that I honestly have been pushing back against, because at the end of the day, does an athlete’s breathing technique really mean that much? What kind of impact can breathing really have on an athlete’s health and performance?
The truth is, I’m officially sold. It really does have an impact on athletes and their ability to compete. I have seen it improve shoulder stability in injured athletes. I have seen how retraining an athlete’s breathing technique can help athletes recover faster and easier during a high level collegiate competition. I have seen it decrease pain and dysfunction that is otherwise “unexplained.”
Does that mean that simply performing breathing exercises is the magic bullet for everyone? Absolutely not. But, it is often a piece of the puzzle that has been ignored for years. It aids in stability, recovery and can simply serve to re-set the system as a whole. The hardest part of diaphragmatic training is helping athletes to bridge the gap from lying prone on a table and using it in competition. We have begun to train breathing during many of our “traditional” strength and conditioning exercises to help bridge that gap. Take a look and give it a shot with your athletes.
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Do you have progressions from the crocodile breathing to the standing kettlebell press or just move right into it? Also, is there another appropriate starting position if I have a patient who cannot acheive full shoulder flexion/abduction (ie post surgical) to get in that prone position, and how would you coach that?
You can progress this in a number of ways. I actually wouldn’t go directly from the prone position to the kettlebell press. I was presenting the overhead press as an example of how you can take a more “traditional” exercise of an overhead press and integrate some breathing technique into it. I would likely work on more simple movements, such as planks and stability exercises and eventually move into dynamic patterns. Keep in mind, though, that just about any movement can be used as an opportunity to train breathing.
You can regress a crocodile breathe by placing them supine with their hands on their stomach and have them push their hands towards the sky. You can also play with some breathing positions on their knees in full triple flexion and their arms in front of them. This position is great because they can feel their belly push out against their legs and gives them great feedback. This position may also be difficult for the post surgical athlete to get into, but it may be a variation to try.