Breathing for Golf: I can finally breathe properly!
Well I'm now into week three of my diet and exercise programme and it's going really well. Not only am I feeling a lot healthier I'm definitely feeling less tired with fewer aching muscles after a round of golf. This week golf fitness expert and C.H.E.K practitioner Scott Bryant has focused on my breathing. Did you know that we take 25,000 breaths a day? That's a ridiculously high number if you are breathing incorrectly and I was one of those people. I've never been shown how to breathe correctly before but then again who has? When Scott first assessed me he discovered that I had an inverted breathing pattern and he explained how this was harming my golf.
"Most people have an inverted breathing pattern," explains Scott. "What this means is that you are breathing into your chest and not into your belly. Being a belly breather stops 'brain fog' for golf. It releases trigger points in the lower back preventing pain and injury and helps with flexibility in the golf swing. Many golfers turn up to the course stressed because of their busy working lives, an inverted breathing pattern will only stress you even more. Watch yourself breathing in a mirror and check to see if you have an inverted breathing pattern. If you are breathing correctly your belly should fill up like a balloon when you breathe in and then your belly button should suck in as you breathe out.
Breathing is very important for all aspects of golf particularly when you are under pressure in a competition. Your breathing affects your nervous system and your balance. Poor breathing can inhibit performance and is particularly noticeable on the putting green when you are trying to hole a pressure putt."
Scott identified that one of the reasons for my poor breathing pattern was that my diaphragm muscle was tight and restricting the passage of air into my lungs, so this week Scott performed a diaphragm release on me. It was a rather uncomfortable procedure and I did feel a bit sore around my rib cage for a couple of days afterwards but the whole experience was quite amazing. For the first time ever I feel as though I can take a proper breath in and fill my lungs. This is something I'd just put down to my mild asthma which I have had since childhood and I'd accepted that I would always struggle with breathing - it was simply not the case!
Now that my lungs are free to fill I have to retrain myself to breathe properly. Like any bad habit that will take time and it's something like 20,000 repetitions before it becomes natural. So Scott has set me a couple of simple breathing exercises to perform at home once a day which you can all do.
Breathing exercise 1: Horse stance
Not only is this a great exercise to help train me to breathe through my stomach but it will also help to strengthen my lower back as well as turn on my abdominal wall, the one muscle that really niggles me after a round of golf. All I have to do is set up on all fours like a dog with my hands positioned underneath my shoulders and a slight bend in the arms. Then I have to really focus on getting a straight spine (Scott is checking that here with a pole) and then practice breathing in so that my belly goes big (pic 1) and then breathing out so that my belly button pulls in tight. I repeat this exercise 20 times, slowly and with control.
Breathing exercise 2: TVA
TVA stands for Transverse Abdominal Muscle; this is the muscle that stabilises the lower back, like your natural weight lifting belt. If you have a weak TVA consequently you'll have a weak lower back. As well as a great exercise to strengthen my back muscles this exercise is a fantastic test of my new breathing pattern. I have to lie flat on my front with my head tilted to the side. I then get someone to slide a blood pressure gauge (the sort used to check your blood pressure) under my tummy. I hold the monitor in my hand and pump it up until it reads 40mm. The challenge is then to breathe into my belly so that I increase the pressure down on the cuff so that the reading rises to 50mm. I then breathe out pulling my belly button in tight so that the dial drops by 15 mm (5 below where it started). The skill then is to hold this position controlling my breathing and keeping the reading constant for 120 seconds. I have to practise this once a day.