ATHLETIC BREATHING

For athletes it’s very important to have a great stamina and endurance.

When breathing this way, the muscles of the torso “hold” the chest lifted. When inhaling, both the abdomen and chest expand. The air is being kind of compressed and thus helps to distribute the load evenly, protecting the spine.

If you ask an athlete to relax their torso muscles and touch them, the muscles don’t feel relaxed at all, although they actually are.

This way of breathing is one of the best and efficient though. Both abdomen and chest are mobile and flexible, and diaphragm can move through its full range of motion.

People who breathe like this are most often either athletes, lovers of active lifestyle or manual workers. Sometimes we start to automatically breathe this way when carrying something heavy in both hands, because our body feels the need to support the spine.

If a person stops regularly working out or doing a lot of physical work, they usually also stop breathing this way because the muscles don’t “need” to be as strong anymore. The same happens if the person gets ill and needs to spend several weeks in bed or just goes on a vacation and takes a pause from working out.

People who breathe this way have a good posture, straight back and, as I call it, a “heroic-looking” chest.