Breathing

 Hey Team,

Some of you may have noticed some "conscious breathing" workouts on your Training Peaks schedules. First of all, please feel free to do this for longer than 5 minutes and/or for more days of the week. Focusing on your breath has 2 main purposes that we can all benefit from. 

First- it helps you switch to your parasympathetic nervous system (out of the stressful fight or flight mode that we spend way too much time in). There are too many benefits to list here, but this can help regulate hormones, decrease anxiety, and improve sleep to name a few. 

Second- focusing on using your diaphragm instead of just breathing from your upper chest not only improves oxygen efficiency, but your diaphragm is also a core stabilizer. Training that muscle improves all athletic movement. 

If you're interested in learning more, I recently read a book called "Breath" by James Nestor that has some good info and talks about the benefits of breathing from your nose instead of your mouth. 

Let me know if you have questions or need help figuring out if you're doing it right.

- Coach Laura