late-night thoughts on breathing

So I did the full workout this AM, as always, plus 8MA+ as always, too. Then at lunch I hit the gym for some more jumps and a good long stretch session, and for fun I did 5 1-minute leg-ups: just lying there with my legs stretched out, heels about 20cm off the ground. Hurt. Like. Hell. Lower abs are weak and need work.

But it got me thinking about breath. I am not a yoga-dude or anything, but have been doing martial arts for quite a while, and breath is pretty key. Most beginners inhale at the start of something, and then hold their breath through execution, usually unconsciously, probably because it feels like a good focus; chest and abs tight, body tensed, all powered up.

Actually muscles are just starving for more oxygen, and of course breathing in to get more oxygen means breathing out first. So those who have a bit more experience in sports or whatever usually figure out or are taught to breath out when exerting. This is what Patrick told us as the basics for our reps.

The really fun stuff is doing partner work, kokyu-awase (breath-matching or synchronizing breathing) whereby you really get in sync with a partner, matching breaths in for in and out for out. A bit more advanced is getting into a push-and-pull; one breaths out whilst the other breaths in. From there, really advanced techniques are about controlling the opponent's breath; forcing them to breath shallow, or gulp for oxygen, or even stop breathing. Some of this is generally written up as pure, straight up magic, or at least hypnosis. It certainly IS possible to control someone else's breathing to some extent, especially in a heated exchange where both are trying to match, sync, and overcome the other.

Anyway regarding PCP, I found it interesting that the real key to all the ab work, especially planks and leg lifts and kung-fu sits, is breathing. The joke is, the poor diaphragm that controls inflating and deflating the lungs is often fighting against the abdominal muscles trying to hold the plank or get those legs up. Having strong abs is the point, thus working the muscles, but getting the breathing right is so critical, too.

So some fun techniques to make things interesting:

• During planks, break it down into breaths, 10 seconds (5 in, 5 out -- Patrick goes for WAY longer, but come on he is a Yoga Ninja and us mere mortals cannot keep up) each, so a one minute plank is 6 breaths. And push out the breath HARD, work the stomach!
• Don' worry about breathing OUT on the crunch, when the abs contract to bring the upper and lower body together, try focusing on breathing IN when the body extends again; get oxygen into the blood and feed those muscles.
• In through the nose, out through the mouth. Try different mouth shapes; tight 'oh', wide open 'ah'. Try not to clench the teeth closed, but if it's unavoidable, do a big, hissing exhale. To avoid clenching, try pulling the lips back off the teeth, don't close the teeth, and exhale a nice big 'huh' ala Incredible Hulk.