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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