Now that we are in season, once a week we focus half of a workout on mobility and breathing. The two go hand in hand. If you cannot breathe through a range of motion, you simply do not own that range and will not be able to use it in your golf swing and daily life.
Most people breathe a certain way, typically either with their belly, or with their chest. Most of us never get a full breath in nor a full breath out. Doing so requires you to use your diaphragm. This muscle’s main job is to help you take a full breath in and out. And just like any other muscle, if you don’t train it you can’t use it.
Let’s go over how to train it! Try this out yourself. Lie flat on your back on the ground. Take one hand and place it right above your navel, take the other hand and place it right below your neck, on your upper chest. You are now going to take a breath in through your nose only and start filling up your whole upper body, as if there was a balloon in it. Start the air at the lower hand and slowly bring it up to the highest hand. Hold it there for a second or two and breathe out slowly through your mouth, get all the air out!
I’m sure that was hard for most of you, as it was for me! You may even feel like the air gets stuck or stops completely.
This type of breathing is training your diaphragm to be the main muscle that drives the breath. This is big time when we want to access ranges of motions that we do not have access to. The breath tells the nervous system it’s ok to be in this new position, that you won’t get hurt during it. We will get into why this phenomenon happens in a later article! Now that you know how to breathe, add this to your daily routine and watch this breathing exercise get easier and easier, as your body gains more access to new ranges of motion!
