BREATHING IN RUNNING - HOW TO...
This must be a very important question for everyone who is
running, if we are returning to this topic again.
The question of how to breath is not new at all and appeared
in works of Plato and Galen, Avicenna and later E. Kant. They
emphasized the importance of breathing for human health and
particularly the way of breathing. The act of breathing was
an object of intense attention in philosophy of yoga, in religions
of ancient Egypt and in Buddhism.
We have grasped something from the past; modern science has
tried to understand the essence of breathing for our sport
performance and everyday life. However, modern science is
still far away from answering all the questions we have.
At the present time we dissect breathing on voluntary and
involuntary. Under the first term we understand breathing,
which we execute by our conscious commands and desires regarding
its depth and frequency. Under the second term we mean breathing
which happens without any control on our side.
The depth and frequency, in their turn, define the volume
of a single breath (exhale/inhale) and the frequency of these
acts.
The next characteristic is the manner of breathing: through
the nose or the mouth or using the combination of them.
Therefore the question of how we are supposed to breath in
running should discuss the following parameters. Should our
breath be:
Voluntary or involuntary?
Deep or shallow?
Fast or slow?
Through the nose or mouth?
Combining all of the above?
I can tell you in advance that the exact answer is still missing.
But using some logic, experience and science data I can think
of some acceptable way of executing a simple breathing act
in running.
The first logic comes from a general philosophy of life nothing
is free. Every event of our life can be viewed as happening
in a pendulum manner moving from one side to the other and
back. So its always good not to overdo anything to the extreme.
There should always be some good proportion. What is good
proportion is another good question.
When does breathing through the nose become not sufficient?
For everyday life activity and for slow running breathing
through the nose could serve well our needs in air and oxygen,
but for moderate speed to maximum in endurance running it
may not be enough to supply sufficient oxygen for the body.
So there are some boundaries for using breathing through the
nose, which are individual, and you have to discover them
yourself.
When we come to depth and frequency of breathing we have
to accept a science fact that at a certain point of the depth
of breathing the organism starts involving so many additional
muscles for breathing that they reflect negatively on coordination,
and increase consumption of oxygen for their own needs. At
this point the depth of breathing has no longer any physiological
sense for the given activity.
Most endurant animals are using shallow breathing during
their strenuous activity. The same behavior could be observed
among elite athletes, as well. When our involuntary breathing
becomes deep, it is a signal of strong fatigue, which we couldnt
overcome, and it also shows your current ability level. I
wouldnt advise to neglect this sign.
What are we supposed to do with voluntary-involuntary breathing?
I think we have to voluntarily develop every side and characteristic
of breathing and let our organism involuntarily chose the
best of their proportions at any given time.
One more important aspect of breathing related with our psycho-emotional
and mental conditions was left out from our discussion today,
and I hope to return to it some day if the need arises.
Dr.Romanov
Pose
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