Functional breathing is a critical component in optimizing athletic performance. At Academy West Performance in Bend, Oregon, we emphasize the importance of functional breathing techniques through physical therapy to help athletes achieve their peak performance levels.
Understanding Functional Breathing Techniques
Functional breathing involves using the diaphragm first, chest second, shoulders staying still. This means that we save energy, maximize lung volume and gas exchange, maximize pumping action for all fluid based systems including blood, lymph, and guts. We literally pump our entire body with our breathing. Simultaneously, functional breathing keeps the calm, relaxed and focused.
Unlike dysfunctional breathing, which is often shallow and inefficient, functional breathing focuses on maximizing how efficiently one can breathe - no matter what. This method supports the body’s movements and activities, significantly enhancing an athlete’s stamina, reducing fatigue, and improving overall performance.
Functional breathing not only benefits physical performance but also impacts cardiovascular health, efficient oxygenation, and stress management. Engaging in functional breathing can enhance endurance and coordination, and promote emotional regulation and cognitive clarity.
Components of Functional Breathing
In The Nose - Nasal breathing is a vital aspect of functional breathing, filtering, humidifying, and warming the air before it reaches the lungs. This process optimizes oxygen absorption
Diaphragm First - The slowest and most efficient muscle in your body must be trained to also be the strongest muscle to maximize breathing performance.
Chest Second - The chest wall is crucial for posture and power, but it is way faster than the diaphragm. We want the chest wall to expand after the diaphragm has had a chance to start moving so these two muscle groups can work together like hands pumping a pair of bellows.
Shoulders Stay Still - the neck and shoulder muscles use lots of energy, cause chronic pain, and are extremely fast. They are wired into our emotions (think of when you get scared) so we want to avoid using these.
Let Go - Exhaling by letting go is crucial since exhale is how a human spends most of it's life. People are often trying to squeeze air out instead of letting it go.
Slow Down - Exhaling is about efficiency, so slowing down with the lips or better yet using our glottis can unlock new levels of performance and emotional regulation.
Impact on Fitness
Functional breathing maximizes oxygen delivery to muscles, enhancing endurance and reducing fatigue during workouts. It strengthens core muscles, improving stability and reducing the risk of injury.
By activating the parasympathetic nervous system, functional breathing promotes relaxation and mental well-being, and cultivates awareness, enabling better control during exercises.
Incorporating Functional Breathing into Fitness Routines
Incorporating functional breathing into your fitness routine can be transformative. Practices like yoga, Pilates, and mindful stretching emphasize breathing control and can significantly improve movement of fascia in the body as well as stretching muscles. We can also calm the nervous system down which allows for more global relaxation.
Even dedicating a few minutes each day to functional breathing can yield substantial benefits for both physical vitality and mental well-being.
Whatever your existing breathing practice may be, incorporating functional mechanics will enhance this.
Box breathing involves inhaling for a slow count of four, holding the breath for four seconds, exhaling slowly for four seconds, and holding the breath out for four seconds. However, we can achieve the same response but a better experience if we instead just eliminate the counting and cue someone to simply keep slowing down. Counting inherently makes us use our fight or flight response, so anytime we are counting to calm things down we are working against ourselves a little bit. Instead, just focusing on slowing breathing allows us to really focus on what matters.
Coherence breathing involves inhaling deeply into the belly for five seconds and exhaling for another five seconds, repeated for three to five minutes. This method activates the body’s relaxation response, reducing stress, improving mood, and enhancing cardiovascular wellness.
Focused functional breathing during strength training or cardio workouts involves paying attention to breathing first and aiming for deep breathing that complements movements, both coordinated and uncoordinated.
Functional breathing is often overlooked but essential for fitness. Mastering breathing performance and optimizing strength and range-of-motion in all breathing structures can yield significant benefits that are physical, chemical, mental, emotional and even spiritual.
At Academy West Performance in Bend, Oregon, we specialize in helping athletes achieve their peak performance through functional breathing and other advanced physical therapy techniques for breathing in Bend, OR.
Q: What is functional breathing?
Functional breathing involves using the diaphragm first and most and other breathing muscles efficiently to ensure optimal oxygen intake and carbon dioxide removal, supporting the body's movements and activities. It regulates the nervous system and helps manage every system in the human body.
How can functional breathing improve athletic performance?
Functional breathing maximizes oxygen delivery to muscles, trains core stability and strength in a variety of positions , reduces oxidative and emotional stress, improves gut motility and control, reduces chronic pain, guides activity progression safely and increases the mind-body connection, all of which contribute to improved endurance and performance. Simply put, imagine breathing slowly and deeply through your nose while running at top speed or climbing up a hill. By training consistently, functional breathing is like subtle super power.
What are some techniques for incorporating functional breathing into fitness routines?
Once you have an understanding of where you breathing anatomy is and how to move things, you simply spend time feeling, seeing and suing your breathing.
Why is nasal breathing important in functional breathing?
Nasal breathing filters, humidifies, and warms the air before it reaches the lungs, optimizing oxygen absorption and promoting efficient respiratory function. The nose adds Nitric Oxide which dilates blood vessels and lowers heart rate as well as improving oxygenation and boosting immunity. In fact the movement of air through the nose keeps it more open, so more nose breathing leads to more nose breathing.
Can functional breathing help with stress management?
Yes, functional breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting relaxation and mental well-being, which helps manage stress effectively. Quite literally, every human being breathes how they feel and feels how they breathe. Mastering your breathing performance means you can influence how you feel when you need to the most.
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