Daily Maestroism

DM #423

Thursday, July 20th, 2017

DM #423: Stop working against yourself and start listening to your body.
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When you hold your breath like that, you tell your nervous system “this isn’t safe.” You increase sympathetic drive (flight or fight), and your nervous system just wants to get you the hell out of there. So, if you’re trying to gain more mobility or lock in a new movement, telling your nervous system you’re not safe isn’t the best way to go about things.
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If ya wanna get nerdy, holding your breath and increasing sympathetic drive will not only cause those tissues to tense up because of that flight or fight reflex, you’ll get an increase in the fascial tone secondary to an increase in the production of TGF Beta-1. This cytokine causes contraction of myofibroblasts (smooth muscle like cells embedded within the fascia), which means your aggressive attempts at relaxing your tissues are actually causing them to get tighter. Remember, that nervous system of yours just wants to feel safe.
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Folks will say, “but when i stop I feel better.” Yeah, because you didn’t die. Your nervous system is letting out a sigh of relief and relaxing those tissues because the threat is gone. Perhaps you should consider skipping all that punishment and just jump to the good stuff. Convince the nervous system. Don’t force it.
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Paying attention to breathing is an excellent way to see how well someone owns a movement pattern, and how safe they feel while performing it. Choosing to hold the breath as part of a breathing PNF protocol as popularized by @iamunscared and @preparetoperform is a different beast, and something I can totally get down with. But that's not what I'm talking about here. In general low threshold activities like mobilizing should utilize low threshold breathing strategies. It’s as simple as that. If you’re holding your breath like you’re deadlifting 500 lbs, you’re going too hard. Plain and simple. Back off. Respect the tissue. Respect the nervous system. Your body will thank you.
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