Tag Archives: breathing

The Law of Threes – Part I

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In the following 3 (or more) part series I will begin to lay out the specific philosophies of training in the Warrior Fitness System.  In each segment we will examine a particular set of principles, all of which happen to come in groups of 3; thus the entire series together is named, “The Law of Threes”.  These principles are the beginning of how to teach and train technique within the Warrior Fitness System.

In additional upcoming articles, I will also begin to delineate the 3 Paths of Warrior Fitness Training, as well as the 4 Levels of Training Preparation.

Today though, let’s begin with…

The 3 Physical Components of Technique

Within the Warrior Fitness Training System, there are 3 main components which must be present in order to express the correct form for each physical technique.  These 3 components are:

  • Alignment – how the structure of the body is used for the maximum expression of stability, power and efficiency.
  • Movement – how the body moves itself, with a weight, or with weapons to express maximum mobility, power and efficiency.
  • Breathing – how the body breathes to unite movement and alignment to correctly express energy, power and efficiency.

“It is the breath that gives life to and actualizes the techniques” – Masaaki Hatsumi, Bujinkan Soke

Each of these 3 components must be taught correctly and integrated within the body of the trainee before they can be said to be executing the correct form of the technique.

The components of Alignment, Movement, and Breathing relate to both fitness and martial art techniques.  For example, skills like the kettlebell swing, bodyweight squat, or push-up in fitness, as well as martial techniques like throwing a punch, striking with a stick, or cutting with a sword.

No matter what particular outer expression of the technique takes, these 3 physical elements of Alignment, Movement, and Breathing must be united within the practitioner to create whole body power and maximum efficiency.  Only in this way can one be said to be doing the techniques of Warrior Fitness accurately.

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Why You STILL Don’t Breathe Properly

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I know, I know.  You’ve been breathing your entire life so how could you be doing it wrong?  You practice all day, every day, right?  So you’re thinking – Pretty simple stuff here – in through the nose, out through the mouth, what’s so difficult about this?  How could I possibly be screwing it up?  I mean, it’s an automatic process for goodness sake!  Doesn’t my body know what it’s doing? Continue reading →

Breathing 101

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I was planning to title this post, “Breathing for Dummies” after the famous how-to guides, but I realized most dummies aren’t interested in bettering their health, fitness, and extending longevity in their sports, martial arts, or activities.  Plus, I dislike the subtle insult of refering to my readers as “dummies”.  Nor would I want dummies for readers anyway.  So instead today we will go over Breathing 101.  These are what I consider to be the most effective ways to integrate breathing exercises into your daily training, and use them to increase lung capacity and efficiency of how your body processes oxygen.  We will look at several different exercises that will enable you to lower your heart rate, blood pressure, and stress levels, as well as to increase energy.

Breathing as a Bridge

You may not be aware that breathing is a bridge between our voluntary and autonomic nervous systems.  Meaning breath is plugged into both.  The autonomic system will keep you breathing continuously without your conscious control, or sometimes, without even your awareness of it going on.  But, you also have the power to override that control and decide at any moment to take a deep breath or hold your breath.  What does this mean to you though, right?  Well, here’s what it means, you have the power, at any time, to consciously choose to influence things like your heart rate and blood pressure which are not under your conscious control.  Now that’s fascinating to me!  Because breath is tied into both systems it can be used like a bridge to gain access to aspects of your body that you cannot directly control.  How do we do this?

Try This Experiment

Take your pulse.  Count beats for 10 seconds then multiply by 6.  If you’re sitting and relaxed, that number should be your resting heart rate.  Now, inhale as deeply as possible and hold your breath and tense your whole body for a few seconds.  Are you red in the face?  Take your pulse again.  What happened?  Your hear rate jumped up and your blood pressure spiked right along with it, right?  Now try exhaling for a count of 6, but don’t inhale yet.  Extend the pause before the inhale a little bit.  Feel more relaxed?  Check your pulse.  It should have dropped.  Pretty cool, eh?  And this is just the beginning.

The Exercises

 

Relaxing Breath (Square Breathing)

This is very similar to the experiment we did above.  The basic premise of our ability to influence the autonomic nervous system is that inhalation increases heart rate, which subsequently increase blood pressure, to a slight degree, while exhalation lowers heart rate and blood pressure to a slight degree.  During our normal cycle of breathing, these changes are too minute to register, or even notice.  But, by gradually lengthening our breath and extending the pause before inhaling and exhaling, we compound the effect.

  1. Begin by exhaling through the mouth for 5 seconds.
  2. Do not inhale.  Try to extend the breath pause for 5 seconds.
  3. Before tension begins to creep in, inhale for 5 seconds.
  4. Hold the breath on the inhale for 5 seconds.
  5. Repeat the cycle 10 times.
  6. As this becomes easier, and your capacity expands, try increasing the duration to 6, 7, 8 seconds.

 

Energizing Breath

In this breathing exercise we will utilize a protocol founded by yoga and improved upon by Russian sport science and martial art.  Here we will divide the breath into 3 levels: clavicular (upper level), intercostal (mid level), Diaphragmatic (lower level).  This exercise will focus only on the clavicular, or upper level.  I first learned this exercise, and several others including the next one below, about 10 years ago from my good friends Dave Rusin and Oleg Yakimovich who are ROSS Russian Martial Art instructors.  More information about ROSS can be found at their website here.  Check it out!

  1. Exhale through the mouth in a short, quick burst by compressing the upper chest.
  2. Do not actively inhale.  Allow the inhale to happen by relaxing the muscles in the chest.
  3. Repeat rapidly 20 to 40 times.
  4. Build up to where you can perform continuously for 60 seconds.
  5. If you become dizzy, stop and sit down!

Restoring Breath

Here again we will depend on Russian sport science and martial art for our technique.  This one is literally a life saver when doing high intensity anaerobic workouts!  It can be used in between exercises as well as in between sets, during the rest period, and at the end of the workout to normalize breathing and dramatically lower heart rate.

  1. Forcefully exhale as deeply as possible by rolling your shoulders forward, tilting the pelvis up, and contracting the core strongly.
  2. Pause before the inhale for a few seconds.
  3. As stated above, do not actively inhale.  Allow the breath to be sucked back in through the nose as your body returns to a natural standing posture.
  4. Repeat for about 60 seconds, or as long as needed.

Try these out and let me know how they work for you.  Any questions, please feel free to contact me here.