BREATHING BEFORE BRACING

One should never underestimate the power of breathing as the first cue. Training strength related skills can only progress so far (if it all) if a person is unable to breath correctly. 

I've been training my friend Demitry Genin on and off for around 7 months. There have been long gaps due to his work schedule and back related tweaks. Being into RuckFit and Spartan race type challenges, Demitry is pretty damn strong. He'll easily walk 2 miles twice a day with a 40lb bag of bricks on his back a few times a week. However, he'd also easily pull a muscle his back lifting a relatively light weight. Quite frankly, Demitry really couldn't get his abs to contract to support himself correctly.

What was the missing key? Demitry had been unable to brace. And why was he unable to brace? Because he has been unable to dial in diaphragmatic breathing first. 

Many of us StrongFirst, FMS and DVRT types have used crocodile breathing to help people acquire the diaphragmatic breathing pattern. I went through a large barrage of drills to help Demitry feel what we were looking for, but it just wouldn't connect. We would make progress on his skill technique from a mechanical level, but could not load it due to the lack of proper abdominal tension protecting his back. As a Paramedic, Demitry would often over think"belly breathing" from a medical standpoint. I actually referred him to our mutual friend and fellow Paramedic, Mitch Schwartz, RKC to help. Mitch hit similar roadblocks. 

Enter the Original Strength workshop at Five Points Academy. During this incredible one and half day  workhsop, Tim Anderson and Joe Sansalone went over a wide variety of breathing progressions and regressions. It really upped my arsenal and gave me some great ideas to help Demitry out.

 At the start of our next session, I had Demitry try a few prone breathing positions. Instead of lying completely flat on his stomach, he rested on his elbows. Something started to click. I then had him move into a rocking position. That's when the lightbulb lit up. For the first time, he was able to breath in and out of his diaphragm. 

We then moved into deadbugs and he was finally able to feel his abs naturally fire up. After the deadbugs, I had him stand up and continue breathing. Proving that he could still maintain the pattern while standing, I then had him tense everything after every third inhale, then relax and start over. This was a huge moment. He was bracing. 

Next, we walked over to a 20kg kettlebell (heavier than he would normally use), he'd breath and then brace on the third breath, hold it and pull himself into the deadlift. The kettlebell came up with ease, and more importantly no pain. 

A huge smile came over his face. In his words, "Zero on the back. That was perfect. Not a twinge, nothing. That's the breakthrough right there."

It was one of my prouder moments as a trainer. I was so happy for him. For the first time, you could see that Demitry finally saw a strong future ahead of him. A future that wasn't going to be hampered by the same repetitive injures. All he had to do was learn to breath (and then brace).

-Fury out.


Steve "Coach Fury" Holiner is a Strength Coach at Five Points Academy in NYC. Coach Fury is an Original Strength Specialist, a DVRT Master Instructor and a StrongFirst SFG II, SFL and SFB Instructor. Fury is also involved in hosting workshops at Five Points. You can visit www.coachfury.com, facebook/coachfury or @coachfury to get in contact or learn more about Steve.