Recover Faster, Perform Better: Learn to Breathe

Let’s talk about breathing!

Imagine you start a workout, start out great, things are feeling good, you think to yourself “oh, this is going to be a walk in the park.”

Then you start to feel it….

Your breathing is getting heavier, you feel your muscles working hard, your brain starts to spiral, you start to panic. And then the biggest downfall of them all…

You start doubting yourself.

Sound familiar?

Many times our mind is getting in the way of us continuing over our body. It’s a mental game, the drive to keep going. Most of the time our body is totally fine. We are still standing, taking step by step. We are actually breathing still, (even if it’s labored) and I bet if I asked you a question, you would still be able to answer it.

We talk about breathing in the sense of yoga, meditation, relaxing and reseting our nervous system. We talk about breathing during lifting, when to inhale, hold, and exhale. Even running we talk about breathing. All of the techniques not only literally regulates your physical ability to get air in and out, but it also calms your mind and activates your parasympathetic nervous system. Your “rest and digest” lifeline.

It takes effort though. To actually allow yourself the moment deeply breathing in and out feels like it is making the physical effort harder. Truthfully, it kind of does in the moment. However, the extra effort and discomfort is very short lived and it makes a huge difference in the overall effort in the end. Even just three really intentional deep breathes through your nose and out your mouth in the heat of a workout will allow you the stamina you need to keep going.

Here’s a challenge to practice…

Even before incorporating your breathing practices in the middle of the workout, when you are finished with the WOD instead of dropping to the floor, I challenge you to not allow yourself to sit down. Walk around taking deep inhales and slow exhales. It feels panicky at first. Like all you want to do is collapse and take short fast inhales because it makes you feel like you’re gettin allllll the air (spoiler alert, you’re not.)

But, fight the urge. After breath five you will have completely calmed your breathing, your mind, and can proceed to calmly finish recovering from the workout. You won’t even feel like you need to sit down….. well, maybe 😉

It’s a bit of a double challenge. It challenges you to force yourself not to collapse and fight the urge of feeling empty. (You aren’t empty, you have more in you and you need to remember how strong you are.) It also allows you to practice and use your breath for relief and recovery. Giving you solid proof so you can quiet your mind while it is telling you “you are dying.” (You are not dying, you’re standing, breathing, probably picking something up.) The only downfall is you will have to give up your daily drama practice 🤭

If you can recover that quickly after the workout is over, imagine how you can incorporate those mini recoveries during the workouts! Your game will change forever! Give it a try this week and let me know how it goes.