A Breath of Fresh Air for these Crossfitters

Categories: Stories Jul 17, 2017

Our friend and Original Strength Level 1 Coach, Sergio Jaimes-Vigaray told us this awesome experience:

A few days ago I had a couple of potential students come in for a Complimentary Session. Let's call them, "Sandra" and "Alice". After talking about their goals and what they want to achieve, Sandra mentioned, "I want to learn about proper breathing. I feel like when I do high-intensity work or when I run, I feel like my body is in a panic, and my breathing seems out of whack."

My eyes lit up because, as you know, diaphragmatic breathing is one of the OS "Big 5". This was a perfect chance to transition into the Original Strength Resets. 

As we spoke more about proper diaphragmatic breathing and posture, Sandra mentioned she had extremely tight chest and shoulders. She especially feels it when her arms are up in an overhead position like when doing snatches and overhead presses. And Alice feels tightness at the top position when she paddles (Dragon Boat).

I then had them do a self-assessment by raising their arms over head. This was followed with supine breathing (I emphasized keeping their mouth closed, breathing through their nose and playing with the tongue on the roof of the mouth), Wall Supine 90/90 (I emphasized each time they exhaled to press the feet into the wall) and lastly Beast Pose (quadruped) with Alternating Wall Press (again I emphasized they exhale strong while leaving a hand imprint in the wall).

After 2 rounds of the 3 breathing resets, we did a re-test.

Booomshakala!

Their range of motion increased and "tightness" decreased. Their faces were priceless!! Sandra said, "OMG this is amazing. We didn't even have to do any band mobility exercises or anything else we do at the Box."

I smiled and said, "That's the beauty of these Resets. They're so simple, but so powerful."

We then went into some Hardstyle Kettlebell swings. The goal was to get some higher intensity cardiovascular work so they can practice being mindful of their breathing, especially during the rest/recovery phase. I had them do a couple rounds without reminding them about their breathing and kept note of it. They then did two more rounds, but this time I reminded them to be mindful of their breathing. "Play with your tongue on the roof of your mouth and bring your breath back to your belly during your rest."

Afterward I asked them how the last two rounds felt compared to the first two. They both said even though they felt tired, breathing during their rest felt a lot better. Both felt that they recovered faster and were ready to do more work, in comparison to the first 2 rounds.

After the session, they were excited to come back for another. I also mentioned that I am having a Press Reset To Be Clinic next month where we'll dive more into the OS Resets. Needless to say, they are all in for the clinic!

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