Diaphragm strength training

The core of diaphragm strength training is to activate the "elastic canopy" between the chest and abdominal cavity that many people ignore. Its essence is to improve core stability and improve oxygen uptake efficiency by adjusting the breathing pattern. Whether you are learning to sing and want to stabilize your high pitch, do fitness and want to squat more weight, or you usually get out of breath when climbing stairs or suffer from back pain after sitting for a long time, practicing it is useful. It is not a metaphysics, and it does not require fancy courses and equipment.

Many people’s first reaction is, “Isn’t this what vocal music students need to practice? ”, I thought the same thing when I was not involved in sports rehabilitation before. It was not until I went to physical therapy for my lumbar protrusion that I was awakened by the rehabilitation therapist: I have been relying on chest breathing all year round, and my diaphragm is so weak that I haven’t even laid a solid foundation for core stability. No wonder I can’t hold a plank for 20 seconds. After sitting for two hours, my waist hurts so much that I need to use a pillow. Speaking of which, I would like to mention the differences in training in different fields. The traditional training method in the vocal circle often requires students to exert force against a belt and rely on external force to forcefully open the abdomen. It is believed that this can force the diaphragm to exert force. However, current research in the field of sports rehabilitation generally believes that this method of deliberately pushing the abdomen to exert force can easily cause the rectus abdominis to compensate, but instead limits the range of up and down movement of the diaphragm. I used to help a school girl who had studied bel canto for three years adjust her breathing. She had been holding the belt the old way for more than a year. When she sang high notes, her face turned red and her neck became thick. Later, she changed to a lying position to find the strength to yawn. After only two weeks, her stability in singing C-sharp improved. She could now complete the part where she had to breathe in half a sentence before.

Want to know if your diaphragm is fishing? There is no need for complicated medical examinations. You sit upright now, place one hand on your chest and one hand above your belly button, and breathe naturally. If your chest is lifted first and the hand on your stomach barely moves, or even your stomach is pulled in during breathing, then there is no doubt that your diaphragm is now in a state of being fished for pay. It exerts up to 30% of the force for daily breathing, and the rest is made up by the intercostal muscles and trapezius muscles. No wonder you always feel that your shoulders and neck are tight, and you are out of breath after climbing two floors.

You really don’t need to devote a large amount of time to training. You can practice while fishing at work or waiting for the bus. I often practice blowing paper towels. Don’t laugh, it really works. Just take a piece of ordinary tissue paper, stick it on a flat wall, and blow on the paper at a constant speed to prevent it from falling off. At first, you may only be able to blow for 10 seconds before you gasp. If you can stabilize it for 30 seconds after practicing for a week or two, your diaphragm strength will basically pass. Of course, some people say that this method is too gentle and requires weight-bearing. For example, while lying down, press a barbell plate on the abdomen and take a deep breath. This method is really useful for advanced fitness people. My powerlifting friends will practice this before the competition. It can improve the core rigidity and make it less likely to shake when squatting and deadlifting. But novices should not try it blindly. I had a student before who pressed a 5kg barbell just after training and suffered from pain for two days after the training. It is completely unnecessary. There is also a more lazy method, which is to pause deliberately before coughing, feel the tightening of the muscles under the chest, remember the feeling of force, and look for it more often when breathing, and you will get better slowly.

The pitfalls I stepped on also serve as a reminder to everyone. Many people deliberately hold their breath during practice, or bloat their stomachs like they have a rubber ball. This is all wrong. The force exerted by the diaphragm is elastic, just like the feeling when you press down and then bounce up when you are on a trampoline, not a hard top. There are also people who find it useless after practicing for two or three days. Please, please, you have been breathing through the chest for more than ten years, and your diaphragm has been paralyzed for more than ten years. How can you start practicing in two or three days? I practiced for almost three weeks, and then I gradually felt that my waist was not sore after sitting for a day, and my voice was not hoarse even after talking for two hours. Oh, by the way, if you have friends with basic respiratory diseases such as COPD and emphysema, don’t just follow the exercises blindly. It’s best to seek evaluation from a doctor or professional respiratory rehabilitation practitioner first and adjust the training intensity to suit you, so as not to burden your lungs.

In fact, to put it bluntly, diaphragm training is really not as mysterious as everyone thinks, and there is no need to spend a lot of money to buy some "breathing master class". To put it bluntly, it is to find the abdominal breathing pattern you were born with when you were a child, and to wake up the diaphragm that has been lazy for many years. Pay more attention to your breathing, blow on a tissue twice when you have nothing to do, and you will feel real changes in two weeks. Whether it is talking without straining your voice or exercising without panting, it is a sure profit.