Core Training Basics Part II: Breathe Right, Move Right
- Ben
- Jul 6, 2018
- 9 min read
“Breathing control gives man strength, vitality, inspiration, and magic powers” – Zhuangzi
This post is going to be a sequel to the last post on core training so if you haven’t already read that post I would suggest reading it here. In the last months post I briefly alluded to the importance of the core musculature on rib cage and pelvic control as it relates to spinal stability and strength. This post is going to go into more detail of just that as well as make a case for the importance of learning and training proper breathing mechanics. The majority of this discussion will focus on how dysfunctional breathing patterns can cause problems up and down the kinetic chain. If you are at all familiar with the Postural Restoration Institute (PRI) then this is my attempt to spew out as much information that I have retained from them and their philosophy around breathing. I also have been fascinated with the breath having had experience with meditation and I’ve found that the breath can have lots of influence on many different daily activities. If you have ever looked into the practice of meditation you will know the power of the breath to help control our mental state and help keep us present and I think there is a huge carryover of the ideas of meditation and breathing practices on athletic performance and general well-being. In this post I will make the case for why, if you aren’t already, you should be incorporating some type of breathing practice into your strength and performance training.
Since I went through the important core anatomy in my last post, I won’t spend a whole lot of time on it here. That being said, it is important that I briefly go through the functional anatomy of breathing before we dive too deep into why the breath is so important. I’m sure most people are familiar with the diaphragm but aren’t totally sure where it is located and/or how it works. The diaphragm is a dome-like muscle that sits on top of the abdominal cavity and at the bottom of the rib cage. It is the main muscle of inspiration and when contracting flattens out to increase the volume and decrease the pressure in the chest cavity which in turn sucks air into the lungs (think of what happens when you expand an accordion and it pulls air in to generate sound). A couple other muscles assist the diaphragm in inspiration such as the scalenes and sternocleidomastoid of the neck and the external intercostals (see image below). These muscles of inspiration work to raise the rib cage (I will refer to this going forward as external rotation or ER of the rib cage) in order to let the lungs expand. Exhalation, on the other hand, can be done both passively and actively. Take a deep breath in and let the air out and you will find it relatively easy to breath out without much effort. This is because of the elastic coil of the rib cage, the pressure gradient created during inspiration and the fact that gravity is helping to pull the rib cage down (I will refer to this action as internal rotation or IR of the rib cage). When respiration starts to increase, or when we want to get more air out during an exhale, a couple more muscles come into play. As briefly mentioned in my last post, the rectus abdominis, internal/external obliques and transversus abdominis are all important muscles of expiration and help to internally rotate the rib cage and compress the abdominal cavity. During forceful exhalation and as the respiratory system gets taxed more, these muscles become more and more active. So now that we’ve covered both the muscles of inspiration and expiration, lets take a deeper look at the diaphragm and why it is crucial in understanding breathing and breathing dysfunction.
The diaphragm is not a symmetrical dome. Due to how the organs are arranged in the abdominal and chest cavities the right side is actually more of a dome than the left side. The liver sits beneath the diaphragm on the right side of the body which props up the diaphragm a little bit higher on that side. On top of this there are several other differences between either side of the body like the fact that the heart sits on the left side of the chest cavity and the left and right lungs are different sizes. Just to be clear, these asymmetries are perfectly normal and not something to worry about, but they do affect a number of things upstream and downstream when it comes to breathing. These asymmetries tend to lead to predictable movement and posture patterns that can eventually be problematic if done over and over again. The things that are affected by these asymmetries are pelvis and hip position, rib cage position and shoulder and scapular position. Spending lots of time throughout the day in bad positions in these areas can cause a whole host of issues including back pain and breathing dysfunction. Probably the most impacted place that can be observed in people who present with these asymmetrical postures is at the hips. Typically, the left pelvis will be tipped forward into anterior tilt and the right pelvis will be more posteriorly tilted. This causes the left hip and femur to be positioned in slight flexion and abduction. Another way to identify this posture is to notice people who tend to rest with most of their weight on their right leg. You will see that the top of the left pelvis appears to be lower than the right one (anterior tilt) and the left hip will be bent with the left knee pointing outward slightly (hip flexion/abduction). This can become a problem because the left hip flexors and hip abductors are constantly in a shortened position. The left adductors, hamstrings and abdominals are in a constant state of stretch. It doesn’t take a genius to see that if you’re standing in this position for large amounts of time it could lead to some problems in these areas. Not only is the pelvis effected by these asymmetries, but the left rib cage tends to be more flared (externally rotated) than the right rib cage and the right shoulder tends to be more internally rotated. Now there are many other small asymmetries that can arise from poor breathing patterns at the thoracic spine and shoulder girdle, but these are the biggest and most common issues. I’m not going to get too much farther into any of the asymmetries here, mostly because it gets very convoluted and I’m still learning more about all of this as I write. I think one of the most important things that you can do to prevent falling into these patterns outside of doing breathing exercises is to be aware of your posture and notice when you start to get into these positions. Start to be aware of which leg you favor, whether your pelvis stays in a neutral position when you stand, and if you feel like your left rib cage is flared out more than the right.
Check out this video for a more in-depth explanation of the asymmetries of the body when applied to breathing:
It might not make a lot of sense why your breathing would affect something like back pain until you understand the role that the muscles of respiration play on lumbar stabilization. If you are familiar with the core musculature’s role in creating intra-abdominal pressure you should know that the core is a key player in keeping the spine safe. Aside from the four main muscles of the core, research has also shown that the diaphragm plays a role in lumbar stability (1). This makes sense looking at the anatomy of the diaphragm. Part of the origin of the diaphragm is on the 1st through 2nd lumbar vertebrae and it actually attaches all the way down to the 3rd vertebrae on the right side. Knowing this you can start to see why it might play a role in lumbar stability. This same research also found that with increased demand on the breath (think endurance type activities) the role of the diaphragm on lumbar stability decreases (1). On the other end of the spectrum, in a one rep max deadlift, the diaphragm still plays a somewhat important role in lumbar stability (on top of helping create intra-abdominal pressure). Other research has gone farther to investigate just how important the respiratory muscles are on lumbar stability and low back pain. One study found that when the muscles of respiration were fatigued, individuals started to present with similar postural control and lumbar stabilization strategies as individuals with back pain (2). In other words, people who had no previous back pain started to use posture and stabilization strategies resembling that of people with a history of low back pain. This research suggests the importance of looking into the breathing patterns of individuals with low back pain and questions whether a lack of strength and endurance in the muscles of respiration might be attributing to some of their pain. Now there is no guarantee that having people with low back pain do a bunch of breathing exercises is going to completely relieve their symptoms, but it offers another possibility on how to help treat it. There have also been documented cases of improvements in patients with sciatica, thoracic outlet syndrome and asthma with the inclusion of breathing exercise. So, this would seem to suggest that incorporating breathing training into rehab protocols could be an effective strategy for a number of things.
Now that we know about the problems that can arise from poor breathing mechanics and what those look like, what’s the fix? Like I mentioned earlier, the first fix may just be becoming more aware of breathing, posture, pelvic and rib positioning during daily activities and when working out. Start to pay attention to how you breathe and if you tend to breathe into your stomach or if you feel a lot of tension in your upper chest and neck when you breathe. Ideally you want to use your diaphragm more effectively when you breathe and think about filling your stomach with air. If you are more of neck breather, start to be more cognizant of what’s going on when you’re breathing and work toward being able to breath into your stomach more. You can also look into incorporating some re-positioning breathing drills into your workouts during the prep, during rest intervals, or at the very end of the workout.
Here are a couple examples of some common and simple re-positioning breathing exercises:
I personally like to include them before and after a workout. I find that using them after a workout is a great way to wind down, get the heart rate back to resting and relax before getting on with your day. Using them before a workout or during a rest interval is also a great way to set the body in a neutral position and get some core activation before adding load during your actual lift. In certain cases, and when the symptoms may be more severe, incorporating asymmetrical exercises where one side is targeted more than the other might be a viable and necessary option. In general, I don’t know that this is entirely necessary, however, you may come across someone that has such a big difference from one side to the other that this would be a good option.
The discussion around the breath and training could go on for days, but I can’t fit it all in a short blog post. If there are any big takeaways from what I have discussed I think they are as follows:
1) Our bodies are naturally asymmetrical and that is fine. Be aware of how this may lead to certain compensations and movement patterns and how that may lead to problems down the road if not corrected.
2) Learn how to breathe into your stomach. This is called diaphragmatic breathing and it uses the muscles of inspiration more effectively.
3) Try to notice your breath and how you breathe more. Being aware of your breath is the cornerstone of meditation and it allows us to be more present and focus on what is going on in the moment. You may not be into meditation, but I believe doing this one thing will help more than you can imagine.
As always, thank you for reading this and please let me know if you have any questions. Like I said earlier, I am still learning about all this stuff and would love to hear other opinions and takes on this topic. I think the topic of breathing when it comes to strength and conditioning seems so simple on the outside but can be very complex when you examine it closely. There is just so much to talk about so I would love to hear your feedback. So with that being said, start focusing on your breathing more and look out for another post soon!
References
1) Boyle, K.L., Olinick, J. & Lewis C. (2010). The value of blowing up a balloon. North American Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, 5(3), 179-188.
2) Janssens, L., Brumagne, S., Polspoel, K., Troosters, T. & McConnell, A. (2010). The effect of inspiratory muscles fatigue on postural control in people with and without recurrent low back pain. Spine, 35(10), 1088-1094.
Comments