{"id":463,"date":"2015-10-05T09:14:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-05T14:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=463"},"modified":"2016-04-19T18:01:14","modified_gmt":"2016-04-19T23:01:14","slug":"diaphragmatic-breathing-is-the-key-to-your-skeletal-and-muscular-systems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/diaphragmatic-breathing-is-the-key-to-your-skeletal-and-muscular-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"Diaphragmatic breathing is the key to your skeletal and muscular systems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want better athletic performance? Want fewer injuries? Want to walk taller, feel stronger and move more easily in everything you do?<\/p>\n

You can have it in a breath. But it\u2019s got to be the right kind of breath.<\/p>\n

\u00ad<\/p>\n

Your body is a soda can<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ever seen a skeleton stand up by itself? Outside of horror movies, it doesn\u2019t happen. Your individual bones may be strong, but your skeleton as a whole is relatively weak \u2013 it will collapse in on itself if you let it. The skeleton needs something else to support it, to keep every bone in the place that it belongs so your body keeps a base of strength. Something has to keep the skeleton in place.<\/p>\n

That something is pressure.<\/p>\n

\"soda_can2\"<\/a>
\nHere\u2019s an analogy developed by the brilliant Dr. Mary Massery<\/a>: Your body is like a can of soda. Aluminum cans have very thin walls; if the can is open and empty, it\u2019s very easy to crush in your hand. But what makes the structure strong and keeps the can straight isn\u2019t the thickness of the aluminum \u2013 it\u2019s the pressure inside the can. If the pressure inside the can is about equal to the atmospheric pressure outside the can, the aluminum stays straight and the can stays strong. If you change the pressure \u2013 say, by opening and emptying the can \u2013 you weaken the whole structure.<\/p>\n

Your body is more complicated, but it works on the same principles. There are a couple key pressure cavities in your body: The thorasic cavity in your chest and the abdominal cavity above your legs. You have a built-in pressure regulator for controlling pressure in these cavities and keeping the whole structure strong: A dome-shaped muscle right in between them called the diaphragm.<\/p>\n

\"breathingdiagram\"<\/a>
\nHere\u2019s a picture of how your diaphragm works. We tend to think about the diaphragm as controlling respiration, but it\u2019s doing even more than that. If your diaphragm is strong, you\u2019re regulating pressure well in your whole body \u2013 improving your posture and keeping you strong and balanced. If your diaphragm is weak, so are you.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s a pretty easy way to engage and strengthen your diaphragm: the Be Activated approach to\u00a0<\/strong>breathing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your diaphragm starts up your core<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But it gets even better. Not only is the diaphragm your ticket to better posture and stability \u2013 it\u2019s your ticket to better movement and flexibility, too.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"diaphragm\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Meet your psoas. It\u2019s one of the most important muscles in your body, because it\u2019s essential to hip flexion \u2013 if your psoas is doing its job, you\u2019re moving, running and jumping with power from your core.<\/p>\n

The location of the psoas no accident. It\u2019s just below the diaphragm. Muscle fibers from each are closely connected on similar regions of the spine. When you breathe deeply from the diaphragm, you directly activate your psoas \u2013 releasing muscle tension and preparing your body for easier movement.<\/p>\n

Posture muscles like the psoas are always \u201cslow twitch\u201d
\nfiber, which means they require a lot of oxygen to work well. They hold up the body for sustained periods of time with minimal movement. If you\u2019re breathing correctly, they\u2019ll do that job. If you\u2019re not, these muscles\u2019 continuous fight against gravity is impaired.<\/p>\n

Breathe right, and you\u2019re reinforcing your body\u2019s core strength with every breath. You\u2019re improving posture and empowering yourself to move well and with less chance of injury. All it takes is a breath.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s got to be the right kind of breath<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Want better athletic performance? Want fewer injuries? Want to walk taller, feel stronger and move more easily in everything you do?<\/p>\n

You can have it in a breath. But it\u2019s got to be the right kind of breath.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/activateanddominate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/activateanddominate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/activateanddominate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/activateanddominate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/activateanddominate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/activateanddominate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/activateanddominate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/activateanddominate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/activateanddominate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}