Performance breathing in Crew

[sin_goodfellow]

Coach Sonnon,

I've been reviewing Body-Flow and I have a question about enacting performance breathing. I know you are supposed to exhale when your body is crunching up and then inhale on the release(?) When does this apply during the row, since in a perfect rowing movement i'm only bending at the hips and the shoulders?

I've been experimenting with exhaling as I slide down in the recovery position(arms out, back straight, torso tilted slightly forward, legs bending), where i'm supposed to be resting and then inhaling during the drive(reverse of the above), where I am supposed to generate force. Yet in your one of your articles on breathing, you mention that an athlete is weakest during inhalation, so perhaps I should be exhaling on the drive/inhaling on the reverse?

Jesse Wells

[Scott Sonnon]

Jesse, as Performance Breathing just remember the job is to perform. Another aspect of PB is exhalation on gross motor effort - Control Pause on fine motor. Think of the action of your drive. The physical profile of the skill is similar to the double Clubbell preswing clean. Check out the Swipe video on the Olympic Clubbell Sport (http://www.clubbell.tv/clubbellsport.html) page. You can visibly see the exhalation through the leg drive, and the inhalation on the recover slide. Think of your inhalation as stabilizing your core, and exploding backwards once you've anchored in the water.
Report back with your progress.
s

[sin_goodfellow]

Coach Sonnon,

I finally had an opportunity to put Performance Breathing into practice while rowing last night. It was a very useful practice. I focused on inhaling/control pause during the catch and slide and exhalation on the drive. My synchronization with the stroke was greatly increased as well as my overall performance. There were times when I did not even notice my breathing, though i'm not sure if that was due to being in control pause or just being completely focused.

The contrast was very noticeable when I fell out of my performance breathing due to various distractions. I immediately started losing my synchrocity and performance. I am now a firm believer in the vital importance of proper breathing and the difficulty of correcting improper breathing habits.

I was seat seven last night and that was quite the challenge, as I was stroke for every starboard seat. Fear-Reactivity reared its ugly head with thoughts of failure and disgrace. When we had to turn the boat around, it was quite the show initially, but I bit down and cut away the fear and by the end of practice I was leading the boat with much more confidence. My latests hurdle is proper hand placement on the oar...

Jesse Wells

[Scott Sonnon]

Jesse, congratulations on your work with Performance Breathing. Keep me updated on your progress!