But I PROMISE I am going to 1) be brief, and more importantly 2) showcase why it’s important and why it will help you feel better, move better, perform better, and likely turn you into a Jedi Master Spartan Sex God of Minas Tirith.[footnote]Results may vary.[/footnote]
To be clear: This post has nothing to do with oxygen exchange.
I’m going to assume that if you’re reading this you’ve got that part nailed down, because, you know, you’re not dead.
Rather, the main objective is to shed light on HOW you breath and how, if it’s “faulty,” it can have ramifications up and down the kinetic chain.
To keep this as succinct as possible, I want you to take a moment to take a deep breath in and to note what happens?
Did you notice your chest move up or out?
Did you notice your belly move out or maybe it didn’t move at all?
How about your ribs? Did you notice any movement there?
What about in your mid- back? Anything?
Eyeballs? Anything there?[footnote]I hope not, that would be weird.[/footnote]
The reason I ask is because, ideally, you want to see a 360 or 3D expansion of your ribcage when you take a breath in.
In other words you want to see a little of everything move – chest, belly, back, sides, not eyeballs.
Unfortunately, for the bulk of people out there, this isn’t the case. Many tend to be just be
“chest breathers” or just “belly breathers,” and what ends up happening is a poor Zone of Apposition.
A Zone of Appo Come Again Now?
Zone of Apposition can simply be referred to as alignment. Or, more specifically, it can be described as the act of bringing together or into proximity.
Photo Credit: Postural Restoration Institute (<– AKA smart mofo’s)
If you take a gander at the Optimal ZOA picture (middle) you’ll see a diaphragm that’s domed out as well as aligned (stacked) above the pelvic floor; the ribcage is connected to the pelvis.
Conversely, in the Sub-Optimal ZOA picture (right), the diaphragm is flattened out and the ribs are in a more flared position; they might as well be located in Mordor in relation to the pelvis.
In non-nerd speak: Shit’s all out of whack.
At this point you may be thinking to yourself, “fuck outta here Tony. Who cares? Zone of Apposition sounds more like a term accountants use than anything I need to be worried about. Squats.”
Well, after listening to my colleague, Dr. Sarah Duvall, speak on the matter, here’s why it matters.
A Loss of Zone of Apposition Means:
Decreased core stability, control, respiratory efficiency, and exercise tolerance under fatigue…in addition to postural ramifications.
Increased accessory breathing muscle activity (scalenes, traps, levator), paraspinal activity, lumbo-pelvic instability, low back pain, SI joint pain, and even headaches.
A Quickie Breathing Assessment
Sit down in a chair and place your hands so that your fingers sit underneath and go around the sides of your ribcage.
Inhale.
What happens?
If an alien explodes out of your chest, that sucks.
You should feel LATERAL (into your fingers) expansion of the ribcage with a some motion in your chest and belly too. To steal another train of thought from Sarah, you should think of your breath as the handle at the side of a bucket.
As you take a breath in the handle should move out – LATERALLY – away from the bucket. This is a brilliant analogy for your ribs expanding.
Too, another overlooked aspect of the breath is what’s referred to as the High Hinge Point. This is the area that’s just underneath the bra line.
Can you (or your clients) expand air into this area.
Normal ZOA. Uncanny Jackedness.
Sub-Optimal ZOA (High Hinge Point). Still Uncanny Jackedness
Breathing into the back is an arduous and foreign task for many people, but it’s a key element to improving the ZOA.
Here’s a nice drill to help with that which I’ve used many times with my postpartum clients (as well as those attempting to resolve nagging low back or shoulder issues; encouraging the ribcage to move/expand works wonders for many people).
And That’s That
I suck at writing conclusions. To summarize:
1. Work on LATERAL rib motion.
2. Consider a high-hinge point in people and work to promote back-body expansion as well.
3. My wife and I bought the yellow chair on Wayfair in case anyone’s wondering…;o)
I always like to say the progress you make in the gym are the direct result of how well you allow yourself to recover.
As counterintuitive as it sounds you break muscle down in the gym, and it’s the time away from deadlifts, squats, and daily WODs that your body recovers and bounces back stronger than before.
Today’s guest post from TG.com regular, Dr. Nicholas Licameli, expounds on some of the best (and simplest) ways you can get a little more recovery in your life.
It’s not as easy as telling someone to “go to bed.”
As soon as a training session ends, the goal should be to start the recovery process.
In order for us to consistently make improvements in our bodies and our training, we need exercise that overloads our current tolerance AND adequate recovery. In other words, we need to challenge, break down, and fatigue our muscles as well as recover from that challenge, break down, and fatigue.
There are many ways to look at fatigue. One common breakdown is peripheral fatigue and central fatigue. Peripheral fatigue is simply the physical stress, break down, and depletion of glycogen that muscles experience during training. This decreases strength, power, and performance and causes muscle soreness.
Central fatigue is a bit different.
Without going too in depth (that’s for another article), I introduce the autonomic nervous system, made up of the sympathetic (SNS) and parasympathetic (PNS) nervous systems. The SNS controls our stress response, or “fight or flight.”
SNS controls our bodies when we come face to face with a grizzly bear. We’re going to sweat and our heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate will increase. During this state, we are essentially mentally and physically breaking down our bodies. The PNS controls the recovery response, or “rest, digest, and recover.” During this state, our blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rates all decrease.
It is in this state that we mentally and physically rebuild and recover.
Interestingly enough, the brain’s mechanism for learning works similarly to the mechanism by which muscles grow and become stronger.
Muscles do not grow in the gym.
Training causes muscles to be broken down. It is during recovery and sleep that muscles make adaptive changes.
Similarly, we do not learn while we attend a lecture.
The lecture is like a training session because we do not make adaptive and lasting breakthroughs while in class. Our brains make new connections and truly absorb new knowledge during the rest, digest, and recover phase, which occurs after the lecture and usually during sleep.
I Sleep Every Night, Isn’t That Enough?
Not quite.
Imagine this sample day:
Alarm goes off (for the 5th time…thanks a lot snooze button) and you jump out of bed feeling like you’re running late. You go into the bathroom, get washed, get dressed, sprint down the stairs, grab some coffee and a quick to-go bite to eat, and you get into your car.
Some traffic, nasty drivers, and frantic lane changes later, you make it to the office a few minutes late. With no time to prepare, you dive right into your daily work duties.
After a stressful day at work (and getting yelled at by your boss for being late) and four cups of coffee, you rush to get home to pick up the kids from school. The commute home is no better than the morning, but you manage to get there on time. You make it home, give the kids a snack[/footnote]As if I know anything about childcare. Sorry parents, this article is written by a young man without children…yet.[footnote] and head out to the gym.
After taking a pre workout with enough caffeine to give heart palpitations to a Clydesdale horse, you manage to get psyched up for your workout. After a great workout, you jump in the car newly energized and ready to make dinner for the family and help the kids with homework. After collapsing on your bed and staring blankly at your Instagram feed until you can’t keep your eyes open, you manage to somehow fall asleep.
What’s the point of this example?
This is an entire day spent in a sympathetic state!
Remember, the sympathetic system is the fight, flight, and physical breakdown system. There is no time allotted to the parasympathetic system: rest, digest, and recover.
Things like stress, caffeine, and training are all highly sympathetic.
Here’s the good news!
A day like this can be easily changed for the good. All it takes is a few minutes of actively disconnecting from the grind. My favorite (and in my opinion, the simplest) way to accomplish this is simply breathing.
That’s right. Good ol’ breathing.
Inhale deeply and exhaling slowly. Let your shoulders drop down on the exhale. Redirect your mind away from the day-to-day and focus on your breathing (more on this below).
In my office, we set an egg timer for one hour. When the timer goes off, everyone stops and takes a deep breath. It takes maybe 6 seconds and has had a significant impact on staff and patients alike. No egg timer? Every time you slip away for a bathroom break, try making it a point to take a deep breath. It may even be a good idea to bring along loved ones. What could be a better way to end the day than a couples breathing session in bed?
Actually, don’t answer that.
Note From TG: BOM, CHICKA BOM BOM
It seems logical that a proper recovery plan would target both types of fatigue. The following is a list of some recovery techniques that research has shown may be effective.
The techniques will target both types of fatigue and keep you on your way to achieving and surpassing your goals. Before we go on, it is important to note that no recovery technique, including the ones below, will be effective without proper sleep and nutrition. Getting your Z’s and eating properly to fuel and refuel our bodies are most important.
That being said, let’s get to it!
In an already packed schedule, it is not feasible to think you will be able to set aside time to do each technique, so I’ve numbered them from 1 (most important) to 4 (least important), in my opinion of course.
My opinion is based on the current research, effectiveness, convenience, and anecdotal experience both personally and professionally. It should be noted that although there is some research supporting the use of these techniques, many of the mechanisms and overall effectiveness still warrant further study.
For more information about specific parameters and references (and if you want to feel really insignificant about yourself and the quality of your own content), be sure to check out Chris Beardsley’s work at strengthandconditioningresearch.com right here.
1. Deep Breathing and Meditation
What Is It?
Using deep, controlled breathing and meditation to induce a state of physical and mental relaxation.
What Does It Do?
Deep breathing and meditation increases parasympathetic nervous system activity (rest, digest, recover) and decreases sympathetic nervous system activity (fight or flight).
How to Do It?
Choose a relaxing environment (an empty room, out in nature, etc.) and position yourself in a comfortable position (I prefer lying on my back with a pillow under my head and a pillow under my knees). Breathe in deeply through your nose and imagine the breath filling up and expanding your abdomen and lower back.
Hold for a few seconds and then exhale through your mouth in a controlled manner (don’t just blow the air out). With each exhale, imagine your body melting into the floor. Keep your mind focused on your breathing. “Is this an ‘in’ breath or an ‘out’ breath?” is the only thinking that should be happening.
If you hear a car horn and your attention goes to the car, redirect your mind back to your breathing. If your mind drifts to that report you have to write at work today, redirect your mind to your breathing. Some types of meditation actually involve allowing those intrusive thoughts in, and accepting their presence. If they are of significance, take moment to write them down.
If they are insignificant (be honest with yourself), push them away and redirect your mind to your breathing. Meditation takes practice, but as you train your brain to control intrusive thoughts and focus on the moment, you’ll see drastic changes in your recovery as well as your life.
2. Active Recovery
What Is It?
Active Recovery involves performing light resistance training or cardio either immediately following a workout or between workouts.
What Does It Do?
May reduce muscle soreness, limit strength losses, and even improve mood.
How to Do It?
Perform active recovery by using a light load (30% of 1 rep max) for about 20-50 reps for less than 60 minutes or using an active cool down such as a stationary bike for roughly 15 minutes.
Note From TG: Check out my Bloop, Bloop, Bloop Workout HERE which touches on the same idea a Nicholas describes and gives you some ideas on what to do.
3. Foam Rolling
(For an in depth look at foam rolling, be sure to check out my previous article here and my podcast here, which are much more comprehensive than what is described in this article.)
What Is It?
Foam rolling involves lying on a roller and using gravity to apply pressure to a muscle. The roller is pressed into the muscle belly and the user rolls up and down the length of the target muscle.
What Does It Do?
Like deep breathing and meditation, foam rolling can tap into the parasympathetic nervous system (rest, digest, recover) and reduce sympathetic nervous system activity (fight or flight) by inducing a global short-term decrease in muscle tone.
Muscle tone is the continuous passive contraction of a muscle controlled subconsciously by the brain. In other words, it’s a muscle’s resistance to passive stretch.
Tone is created by a constant subconscious message from the brain telling a muscle to contract. Many times the sensation of muscle “tightness” has more to do with tone and less to do with actual muscle length.
How to Do It?
1. View video above.
2. Or, if you learn better by reading:
Start off with a slow, steady roll covering the entire muscle group, scanning the area for tender spots. Think of scanning the area as a blind person would scan a new environment. Once you find a tender spot, pause and hold on that spot until a release is felt and the tenderness lessens. Add some deep breathing while holding on the tender spot to further assist in the release. Follow this up with another slow, steady roll over the entire muscle, just like how you started. It is true that foam rolling should be a bit painful, but too much pain will cause an increase in muscle tone, which, as previously mentioned, is exactly the opposite of what we want to do. More pain is not better.
Better quality is better.
4. Water Immersion
What Is It?
Water immersion is the use of ice baths or hot tubs.
What Does It Do?
May reduce muscle soreness and limit losses in performance.
How to Do It?
Use cold-water immersion (8-15°C/46°F-59°F) for 5-15 minutes or alternate 1-4 minute bouts of cold and hot water (38°C-42°C/100°F-108°F). Be sure to be submerged to shoulder height.
Where to Start?
A great place to start is with (1) deep breathing and meditation.
Start small.
Try devoting a few minutes each day to disconnecting and breathing. Work up to longer durations as you start to get the hang of it.
This will help in all aspects of life.
Once you’ve successfully made it a habit to disconnect and breathe for a few minutes each day, try adding in some (2) active recovery days.
After you have a solid daily breathing and meditation routine and you’ve managed to add in some active recovery to your week, consider using a foam roller combined with deep breathing for a few minutes after training and maybe even before bed. Once you have all these in place, feel free to give (4) water immersion a shot if you have the time and resources.
Use these techniques, along with proper sleep and nutrition, and you will soon reap the physical and mental benefits of proper recovery!
About the Author
Nicholas M. Licameli
Doctor of Physical Therapy / Pro Natural Bodybuilder
Every single thing he does, Nick believes in giving himself to others in an attempt to make the world a happier, healthier, and more loving place. He wants to give people the power to change their lives. Bodybuilding and physical therapy serve as ways to carry out that cause. Nick graduated summa cum laude from Ramapo College of New Jersey with his bachelor’s degree in biology, furthered his education by completing his doctoral degree in physical therapy from Rutgers School of Biomedical and Health Sciences (previously the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey) at the age of 24, and has earned professional status in natural bodybuilding. His knowledge of sport and exercise biomechanics, movement quality, and the practical application of research combined with personal experience in bodybuilding and nutrition allows him to help people in truly unique ways. Love. Passion. Respect. Humility. Never an expert. Always a student. Love your journey.
My wife gave birth to our son on January 31st, which was a Tuesday. She was back in the gym that Friday. Although, admittedly, all she did was a few easy bodyweight exercises and listened to my advice on hammering drills like deadbugs, birddogs, and anything else that would help to build back her core strength and integrity.
Postpartum training is a very tricky topic, and a serious one. Many women make the mistake of jumping back into (aggressive) exercise before their body is ready and sometimes suffer the consequences.
In today’s guest post, Dr. Sarah Ellis Duvall, helps shed some light on a delicate topic.
Recently, I saw an awesome Instagram post by Tony of his wife, Lisa. She was maxing out on bench press when she was only a few weeks postpartum. Go Lisa!
She is kicking butt and taking names and I was totally impressed.
Note From TG:THIS is the post Sarah is referring to. It was an awesome lift. What was not so awesome was how another trainer came in to highjack the thread and grandstand about how “dangerous” it was that Lisa was lifting so heavy so soon after giving birth, despite, you know, Lisa having been training all through her pregnancy, taking her time after giving birth to get back up to that point, AND being cleared by her doctor.
Since she has an awesome coach, her programming is perfect, but what if you are postpartum, headed back to the gym and not being trained by Tony?
Well, your life is probably a little less fun and devoid of Star Wars humor but here are 5 things to keep in mind before maxing out on your lifts postpartum.
#1. Do You Have Full Core Strength Back?
Start by checking for a diastasis. This is a thinning of the fascia (think shiny layer when you pull the skin off a chicken) that connects the front of your abs. It should feel like a trampoline when you lift your head and poke it. If your finger sinks in, that’s telling us your core is not connecting yet.
Lie on your back, knees bent
Place your fingers in the middle of your stomach
Lift your head just a little and push
Do they sink or do they spring?
Check halfway between your ribcage and your belly button, right above your belly button and halfway between your pubic bone and your belly button.
Anything that sinks in or is more than two-fingers wide is considered a diastasis. I consider the sinking part more important than the width.
Think about this as how well your core is transferring a load or pressure. It will not transfer well if there is a gap or hole in the system.
#2. Check for Doming.
When you do a crunch, sit up or plank your abs should flatten, they shouldn’t dome out in the front.
Doming tells us that your abs aren’t firing together correctly.
Along with not supporting the spine and pelvis enough, doming can also lead to hernias. Prevention is definitely the best medicine when it comes to hernias!
#3. Is Your Deep Breathing System in Place?
Does your inhale reach your pelvic floor or is it all upper shoulders or belly?
This is also part of building correct core strength.
Your diaphragm is the top of your core. Think about it as the top of a pressure cooker. We use pressure to help support our spine. If your diaphragm and core muscles are not firing correctly, it can either create too much or too little pressure. The pelvic floor really hates both those scenarios because that can lead to leaks and prolapse (months and months down the road).
I love the umbrella analogy. If you breathe up into your neck and shoulders, you will never open the umbrella. If you only belly breathe, that’s like opening a broken umbrella where only one side works. Aim for your back, sides and front around your ribcage to expand with every breath.
#4. Make Sure Your Pelvic Floor is Timed With Your Diaphragm
A long pushing phase or holding too much tension in the pelvic floor can disrupt the natural movement of the pelvic floor. Make sure you can feel your inhale pushing down on your pelvic floor – pelvic floor responds by relaxing down, then naturally recoils up on your exhale.
#5. Be Aware of What Happens Under Exertion
The more demand, the harder the exhale, the more your pelvic floor should contract. Sometimes this gets mixed up and instead of your pelvic floor contracting it bears down in response to pressure.
Bearing down is a great way to cause leaking and pelvic organ prolapse.
I’ve seen many women in person and received many, many more emails from women that have gotten pelvic organ prolapse 3, 8, and even 10 months after having a baby.
They thought things were going well.
They thought they were in the “clear.”
Then they tried some new crazy bootcamp class with lots of jumping or they maxed out on a lift or they simply lifted something heavy over their heads. Getting prolapse at anytime can be very heart wrenching and frustrating, but getting it months after you thought you were fine is the worst.
I’m not saying, don’t exercise hard.
I’m simply saying be aware of what’s going on and make sure you have the groundwork laid before pushing your body. If you don’t know what your pelvic floor does under pressure, that’s the same thing as not knowing your knee caves in during a squat. If any professional saw you, they would immediately fix the knee caving in issue and tell you how they just saved your knee from years of pain.
Pelvic floor prolapse is a real issue with real consequences, and it’s crucial to take the requisite steps a head of time to (hopefully) prevent it from happening.
About the Author
A wife, mom and adventure sports athlete, Dr. Sarah is a women’s health specialist that believes in teaching. Helping women understand how the body works is the basis for her results-driven online program. She focuses on issues from the pelvic floor and diastasis to building strength injury free. When she is not hanging off the side of a mountain, Sarah enjoys writing and presenting at Core Exercise Solutions and figuring out how her patients can continue to pursue their dreams and lead a strong, adventurous life.
1. It’s a message that needed to be said. Breathing drills (and to be more specific, diaphragmatic breathing drills) aren’t going to add 50 lbs to your deadlift, nor improve your vertical jump, and they certainly aren’t the “x-factor” when it comes to improving one’s sex appeal.
Last time I checked no one ever thought to themselves, ” Whoa, that’s one sexy Zone of Apposition goin on there. I need to get naked with that person, like, right now!”
I’m sure there’s someone out there with some sort of creepy ribcage/thorax re-setting fetish, but for the sake of argument lets just agree that breathing drills won’t land you on the cover of People Magazine anytime soon.
2. Jordan gave props to Cressey Sports Performance in the article. What what!
There’s no denying that “breathing” is all the rage right now – especially in the fitness industry. And more to the point, there’s no denying that the peeps over at the Postural Restoration Institute (PRI) are leading the charge.
Funnily enough: while the breathing hype has gained momentum in the last 2-3 years, PRI has been around for DECADES. I guess it just goes to show there’s a tipping point for everything.
One of my biggest pet peeves is when trainers and coaches forget that they’re trainers and coaches and stop training their athletes and clients. Instead they start treating them, which isn’t their scope of practice in the first place. Worse is that their clients rarely (if ever) get a training effect!
I’m sorry but if your client is 30 lbs overweight or just interested in going to a Bootcamp class, they don’t need to be breathing into a balloon for 20 minutes.
Having Said That…..
At CSP, because we work with a lot of athletes who live in a constant state of (spinal) overextension, in addition to general fitness clients who come in with a wide variety of movement dysfunctions, we have found that these drills are a nice fit for our demographic. It’s borderline voo-doo(ish) how much improvement we can glean – both from a postural standpoint and pain reduction standpoint – from having someone focus on their quality of breathing for a few minutes.
There’s a bit of self-auditing required, though. I.e., It’s not going to be an ideal fit for some coaches and trainers.
Take for example a trainer who, while attended mine and Dean Somerset’s workshop in LA last weekend rolled his eyes and made the off-handed comment, “if I did this stuff with my clients, I’d be fired” as I was taking the attendees through a few drills.
1. No shit Sherlock! If the bulk of your clients are celebrities more interested in shadow boxing and looking good for the camera, then of course you’re not going to place a premium on alignment and how breathing mechanics play a role in improving it.
2. So, yeah, placing some emphasis on breathing and breathing mechanics isn’t a good fit depending on who you work with.
Thanks for the insight, dick.
I’ve stated this in the past, but it bears repeating here: GETTING PEOPLE STRONG IS CORRECTIVE!!!!!! This happened to be the larger point I was trying to make which said trainer seemed to overlook. Or maybe he missed it because he was too busy texting on his phone the duration of my presentation.
Okay, okay….not a big deal Tony. You know, people are busy and need to keep in touch with their clients. It’s not th end of the wor…….GODDAMMIT!!!!!! [punches wall].
Why I stress this point is important, because when I do talk about breathing drills and how we incorporate them with our athletes and clients at CSP (regardless of sports played, injury history, and postural imbalances), it’s important to understand that it takes up roughly 2-5% of the total training volume.
That’s it.
Call me crazy, but that’s a pretty awesome minimal investment of time given the profound effects it can have!
Which begs the question: What effects DOES it have?
From my perspective here are a few bullet points.
NOTE: a MAJOR shout out to Michael Mullin, ATC, PTA, PRC, Mind-Jedi Level II for much of what follows. He’s visited the facility a handful of times to enlighten the CSP staff on some PRI basics.
1. Airflow drives the nervous system. More importantly, the respiration you learned about in school is gas exchange. BREATHING is movement.
2. Taking this a step further, much of the advantage of the PRI approach – and why addressing breathing patterns is important – is that it leads to better outcomes for clients and athletes. Teaching and grooving more efficient breathing is every bit as important as teaching and grooving a proper hip hinge or squat pattern.
3. People who present with a more scissor posture will have a harder time recruiting and using their diaphragm.
In short, the diaphragm is kind of a big deal, and because many of us are locked into a scissor pattern in conjunction with a left rib flare – what PRI refers to as a Zone of Apposition – we have a hard time breathing correctly.
Ideally the diaphragm will act as a superior and inferior “canister,” descending/compressing when we inhale and elongating/doming out when we exhale….which in turn provides optimal stability up and down the kinetic chain.
Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned scissor posture (to the far right in the pic above), we tend to see more anterior translation of the diaphragm locking us into more extension, which in turn doesn’t allow it to perform optimally.
For the more visual learners out there, here’s how the diaphragm should work:
4. All of this to say: these drills help to “encourage neutral.” The body WILL NEVER by symmetrical due to our anatomy, but when someone lives in extension these drills help to get someone closer.
5. Likewise, the brain wants efficiency and will do whatever it takes to get you there. If you watch how most people stand, they’ll revert to what’s known as a Left AIC (Left Anterior Interior Chain) stance, like this….
The right side of the pelvis will be more internally rotated and ADD-ucted and the left side will be more externally rotated and AB-ucted. This, too, causes all sorts of wackiness and effects posture all up and down the kinetic chain. PRI helps to address this and tries to “encourage neutral.”
6. Lastly, if nothing else, the real benefit to all this is that it helps people to chill the eff out.
Exercise drives the sympathetic nervous system and put people on “alert.” I like to incorporate basic breathing drills to engage the parasympathetic nervous system and help people to tone it back down closer to homeostasis.
In addition, anecdotally, so many people are type-A, live in a sympathetic state, and are always “switched on” that they’re unable to relax. Breathing helps to turn on the parasympathetic nervous system and allows people to smell the roses so-to-speak.
There’s obviously A LOT more to all of this and I’m only scratching the surface with this post. It’s a topic that requires a bit more time (and I encourage you to seek other resources if it interests you). That said, everything I alluded to above hits on a few BIG ROCK points that I hope resonates with everyone.
Whether it’s a good fit for YOU and YOUR clients is a discussion that needs (and should) to be considered. In the end, like anything….it depends
Nicholas M. Licameli
