Breathing for mind and body!

When it comes to breathing in running it would seem simple enough that you just breath and your breathing gets bigger as you need more oxygen through exertion.  However, how many times have you got a stitch, felt some weakness in your pelvic floor, or felt that you don’t have enough breath left in you to keep going?  These are all symptoms of a problematic breathing pattern and you can do something about it really easily.

Why is breathing correctly so important? 

1. Full breath = more oxygen - pretty obvious but the more of your lungs you use the more oxygen you get in and so the more your muscles have available to use up.  Often I find runners will breath into the upper part of their lungs and use their shoulders to heave their upper ribs up and down which creates a shallow, short breath, this is fine if you’re sprinting shorter distances but not if you’re running a 10k or marathon.

2. Diaphragm and Pelvic Floor (PF) need to work together.  Your diaphragm is a large sheet of muscle sitting and curving with the base of the ribcage and attaching into your spine, and your pelvic floor is a set of different muscles that all sling like a hammock between the bony parts of the base of the pelvis and spine.  The pelvic floor muscles and the diaphragm mirror each other and work most effectively and completely when they mirror each other exactly both in alignment (being over the top of each other on the same plane) and movement pattern.  When we breath out the diaphragm draws up and this is mirrored by the pelvic floor drawing up, and as we breath in and the diaphragm comes down opening the ribs out to the sides, the PF also draws down between the bony landmarks of the pelvis giving a feeling of expansion or release.  In this way the PF works in the most effective way, allowing for the management of pressure in the abdominal cavity - if your PF and diaphragm work in opposites to each other (with the PF pushing down on the breath out) then the pressure in your abdominal cavity is increasing and pressure going into the PF can be hard to manage possibly resulting in PF dysfunction, leaking or potential to prolapse.  

3. Breathing from the base of the pelvis helps to connect with the lower abs as well as reducing pressure in the abdominal cavity.  Place one hand on your lower abs, and one hand on your upper abs and then breath heavy enough to be able to feel the movement of your belly while your breathing.  As mentioned above, it’s important for your PF to move down during the breath in and draw up on the breath out, you want to feel that the hand on your lower abs moves before your hand over your upper abs, drawing inwards.  The cue I use is “breathing out from the base of your pelvis”.  When you do this you are helping to manage the pressure in your abdomen again so that it doesn’t get pushed out to the wrong places (forwards or down) and helps your PF to connect with the lower part of the deep abdominal muscles below the belly button.  

4. Reduce strain on the shoulders.  As mentioned in point 1, runners often breath by heaving their shoulders up and down, by the end of a run you may find you have neck and shoulder aches and strain which can be quite tiring and require you to do something to soothe your aching shoulders!

What’s the solution?

1. Think of breathing 360 degrees all the way round the base of your ribcage imagining your ribs are like bucket handles lifting up and out to the sides, so you are not just breathing to the front but sides and back of your ribs as well.  You need to also think of feeling your ribs expanding out to the back of your body as well so mobility in this area is important - how do you get that?  More back body breathing of course!

2. When you’re at rest get used to practicing the movement of your PF and diaphragm so that they move synchronously up together on the breath out and down together on the breath in.  When you feel you’ve got that well practised, use the same breath pattern in all strength exercises you do and then also when you are moving dynamically.  Running might be the last step in that progression particularly if you’re having difficulty with it.

3. As in step 2 practice breathing from the base of your pelvis when at rest, then when doing strength exercises - supine lying, on hands and knees, sitting and then standing would normally be the progression for this as standing is the most complicated, but not always with all people.  Then progress to dynamic movement, always feeling the breath from the base of the spine.

4. If you are doing all the above you will be focussing on breathing down and low which is great and will release the strain on your shoulders.  Think of your shoulders as an American Football players shoulder pad frame that sits on top of your ribcage, unconnected to your ribs and so you are able to breath underneath your shoulders without involving them.

I hope all these points help you to breath with more control and more comfortably, able to run for longer and potentially faster!  

Let me know what you think, if you have any questions and if you have tried out these points and have any comments.

“Something’s got to give"

This week a client messaged me to say she had loads of work to do, and then used the phrase “Something’s go to give” so she was cancelling her class with me that week.  When I next saw her and we talked about it she said she’d had to cancel her swimming lesson that week too and that her 4 1/2 year old had had a terrible fortnight of poor sleep since the clocks went back too, while furthermore she said he has not slept through the night yet in his whole life, and she has been up with him every single night, her husband only did 1 night when their son was 18 months old and that’s it.

It got me thinking about why the answer to the problem of terminal exhaustion, work overload, and taking the brunt of the emotional load of the household is to drop what nourishes you and makes you feel like you - why is it not “please can you help me” to a friend, or “can you give me some extra time today by taking the kids in” to your partner?  Why is it that what gives is us? We have to be the one that yields to others, that bows to the pressures of the household, and capitulates without question.  I’m not suggesting we should never yield and should make our lives even more complicated by continuing on with all the plates we have to spin just so we are not conceding to others, however, we would have a greater sense of wellbeing if, as a result of asking for help and support now and then, we were able to have 1/2 hour of breathing time to do nothing, to keep consistent with our movement and self-care practice or take some time in nature to nourish our senses mindfully.  

I have seen and taught too many women over the years who have come to class literally on the edge, tense, exhausted and anxious, who burst into tears when they can’t understand instructions about exercises because their brains just can’t take one more thing.  These are women who have full time jobs and babies and toddlers to care for then something has tipped them over like managing their baby starting at nursery, a child with allergies having reactions, their partner away on business for 2 weeks, or a sick parent some distance away.  At times like that we need to be prepared to reach out, to have a friend, colleague or relative that we have set up in better times to give us support.  Try them out on easier occasions with plenty of notice, see how it feels to ask for help and their reaction to being asked, you can then create a network - a village to help you spread the burden when the proverbial hits the fan.

You are the wonder woman who keeps the house together, don’t take that lightly, think as if you are the Queen, all those in your realm would do everything to keep you/The Crown working well for many, many years.  Wear that crown with honour your majesty!

How not to hurt yourself when you run!

I hear from many women (myself included at one point), that they are worried about running because they don’t trust their pelvic floor, or they can’t run very much before it all going a bit pear shaped.  I get that, I wasn’t sure my pelvic floor would hold either, but now I know that you can start running whenever you like or whenever you need to without worry because if you set yourself up well you’ll be using your body efficiently so your pelvic floor will be in the right place. 

“But surely my pelvic floor is always in the same place, how can it be in the right or wrong place?” - ah well that’s the thing, the way we stand, walk, go up and down stairs, get out of a chair and run can all influence whether our pelvic floor is in a position where it can do it’s job well or in a position that there’s not a hope in hell it could hold on and so most likely it won’t!  So let’s set you up right and then off you go!

• Ideally I would have you take a photo of yourself side on so you can see the curves of your spine - if not a photo, at least stand side on to a mirror and take a look.

• Our spine has natural curves from the joint between our skull and neck curving slightly forward, the area around the back of our ribs curving slightly back and then a low curve behind our pelvis which curves forward again.  In some people these gentle curves can become exaggerated and a head forward posture leads to an increased upper back curve and increased lower back curve to balance all the way through.  In others the spine can be very flat through the upper half and with a steeper curve in the low back to compensate.  In others, and this is more common in post-natal women, the curve in the low back travels up to behind the belly button and either their butt sticks out or, more commonly they tuck their bottom under to compensate for the excessive curve higher up.

• So when you look at your spine, what do your curves look like?

• When you’re standing, walking, running and all the rest of your daily movements you want to think about keeping your ribs connected to the pelvis at the front.  In 99% of my clients we focus on ribs down - this is through expanding your back as well as connecting through your front.  So when you walk and go to start running keep your ribs dropped down so you have that connection and control set up right.

• Then check in with where your pelvis is, if it’s stuck out you’re going to have problems with the impact of running on your low back, and if it’s tucked under - surprisingly common! - you’ll have problems with your pelvic floor struggling to hold strong enough with the weight of your trunk going down through your pelvis. Start from the ribs and then you may find the pelvis stacks correctly underneath.

• What about your head?  Remember your head is pretty heavy, if you run with your head stuck out forwards that’s going to increase the slump down through your upper back and make it heavy to keep picking up each step - like holding a bowling ball in your arm all the time!  So keep your chin tucked slightly and back of your neck long so your head and ribs are all in a line.

• As you start to run, make sure you drive your legs back out behind you each step instead of scooting your feet forwards.  It helps if you start from where your foot lands - make it mid or fore foot instead of heel which means you are best to strike the floor almost under your body rather than out in front.

• Last thing - arms - do they swing across your body or do you use your arms forwards and back like pistons to help propel you.  If you are doing the cross body swinging thing you are potentially lacking mobility in your upper back to get enough counter rotation to your pelvis - ie. your pelvis and ribcage should rotate opposite to each other each step - but if you don’t get enough of this then your arms have to swing to get more momentum.

Having someone take a video of you running is a brilliant tool to help you learn.  You often find that what you think you’re doing and what you’re actually doing are a world apart from each other and seeing yourself can help you close that gap.

Don’t be afraid to run, here’s my top 3 tips for starting out:

1. Go by feel not distance, speed or what your technology says

2. Walk then run, walk, run, walk, run - slow to a walk when you feel your alignment (all those points above) is failing to hold.  There’s only any point in running while you’re doing good technique rather than ending up in a sloshy mess at the end.

3. Breath into your ribs to the side and back under your shoulders - more of that in the next post - not by tightening your neck and dragging your shoulders up

Have fun, running is a brilliant way to get some headspace, take an easy amount of time out to do something for yourself and most importantly enjoy spending time in nature whatever the weather. I will post more soon about conditioning exercises for running so you can make sure you’re strong enough all over to keep going.

Happy Running!

Not just a spare rib!

Today I've been inspired by chats I've had with a few of my clients about how important the position of ribs is for working your abs more efficiently which relates to your posture and how you use your whole upper body especially in weightbearing but also in any lower body work to be able to align well for efficient movement and use of the connection between upper and lower body (pelvic floor and glutes most essentially).

In this video I talk through why rib position is so important, how to think about visual cues for correction, and ways to help your body work effectively over time to get stronger over time.

Let me know any comments or questions you might have, I hope you find this interesting.

Let's talk about self-care

Today is Mental Health Awareness Day, something I’ve been reminded about a number of times by Facebook posts and Instagram images - how ironic that I should be reminded by those methods when research shows that social media is very damaging to our mental health, something that my lot of Gen Xers I’m sure shudder to think of in our own teenage years.  But as parents some of whom work, some give time, some have 3 or more children, some have kids with developmental issues or illnesses and so on, are we really protecting and looking after ourselves in order to have enough in our own bucket to give to all those that depend on us?

As a Mum to 2 young kids I know how hard it can be to step back and think of yourself, and harder still when your kids are acting out, pushing your buttons or sleeping badly, however one thing I’ve really learnt with the benefit of hindsight is that my daughter (eldest) is a wonderful (and terrifying) reflection of myself and my needs.  When we had massive issues with her around the time our son was born and for a year or so after, the advice we received was to bring her in, get closer, love more fiercely and do whatever she wanted for as long as we were able - it’s called Love Bombing and to be honest it was harder than I thought it would be to just let go and live how she wanted us to.  When Big La La needed to be closer and delved into more deeply, I realise now that that’s actually what I needed too - she was telling me through her own childhood intuitive sense that I wasn’t looking after myself and needed to.  I was at a point in my parenting “journey” that meant I was beyond the end of my tether - that tether was so far gone I’d forgotten there even was one: I somehow expected perfection from myself and my body and I found myself lacking, I somehow expected it all to be OK and of course it just wasn’t.  What I needed was some time out, a sit down and either to cry a bucket of tears, to have a massive hug from someone that wasn’t trying to solve my problems in one go, or to give myself some consistent loving time to restore every day.  I needed to “Love Bomb” myself!

As today’s national day reminds us, we can all be affected by mental health issues, whether it’s as simple as the expression: “I’m struggling” or “I can’t cope”, or whether it’s an issue that creates more distress - a breakdown, unexplained physical issues or recurrent illness.  Although quite often it’s not as clear as that, there are no physical or outward signs and you can’t put into words that you’re not coping well.  We can all take some steps to support others by checking in, take time to listen when a friend says “urghh I’m tired”, or “I don’t know what to do” or something that gives you a sign they’re not quite OK, and also we can take time to ourselves to give us time to feel what we’re feeling without pushing it away, to love ourselves unconditionally and give time to ourselves for restoration and nourishment, to not allow being “terribly busy” to become an addictive habit, and to put down those phones and tablets to reduce the anxiety they cause. In the picture here are 50 ideas for spending time giving yourself some care - it might not cure the onset of a breakdown but it will give you some space and time to realise there might be an issue and get some objectivity on it.  

You know yourself better than anyone, if you don’t feel right, say something, to anyone at any time, people want to support you.  For me it took me totally blowing up and deciding I needed to run away to the Lake District for a weekend of walking - just the thought of a whole 4 hours on my own on the train was enough to calm me down! Enjoy nourishing yourself, you deserve it x