Skip to main content

Reply to "Breathing while hitting"

{lurk. . . . lurk. . . lurk. . lurk}BANG. Just kidding.

I believe proper breathing technique is a very misunderstood but necessary component of an athlete's repertoire. When I first went out for track many, many, too many years ago, I was told by the best sprinter on the team that he took a deep breath and held it for the first 20 steps before exhaling and breathing in and out as his body demanded. His theory was that it was more efficient to have the oxygen remain in the lungs for as long as you could stand it than to exhale most of the oxygen and CO2 out, thereby "emptying" your lungs and then filling them back up over and over again. I have no clue whether he was right or wrong but he won quite a few 100 yard dashes. But that might have been in spite of and not because of his breathing theory.

In the Army when I was going through rifle training, we were taught to take a "normal" breath, exhale half of it and then focus on placing the gun sight on the center of the target. I don't know what the scientific theory behind that was but it worked for me by helping me relax, focus and, most important, hold the rifle steady for the few seconds it took to find the center of the target and squeeze off the round.

My point with all this ancient history is that there is a lot of "breathing theory" out there and has been for years but I wonder how much of it has been proven by scientific studies.

I think PG's loose mouth idea makes sense if for no other reason than the less tension a runner has in any part of his body at start, the better. For the hitter, for years it has been hitting gospel that the best way to hit is to get relaxed and loose until the decision to "launch" and then all muscle groups needed in play get the brain's message and "twitch" at the same micro-second. There is even a big scientific sounding word for it which George Will likes to use often that I cannot remember right now.

What I hope is that some of the knowledgable guys that frequent the Strength & Conditioning site get on this thread and tell us all what the most recent scientific evidence is regarding athletes and breathing and show us what is myth and what is reality. JasonTX and Coach Doyle, where are you?
×
×
×
×